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Accustomed to performing under the bright lights of concert halls as well as TV studios during her time as a finalist on “The Voice,” country music star Karen Waldrup of Nashville never anticipated the darkness and despair that would accompany a divorce.
But she told Fox News Digital this week in a moving interview how she got through the most “awful” times in the fall of 2025, even while recording new songs, including “Keeping the Faith” and “Just in Case,” which is out Friday, Sept. 18.
The songs and the phrases have deep resonance with her Christian faith, she said.
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“‘Keeping the Faith’ is one of my favorite songs I’ve ever been a part of,” she said.
It’s not just about “keeping the faith, it’s about keeping the hope, keeping the dream, keeping the focus, keeping the optimism. I went through a really challenging time in the fall of 2025. … It was awful. So many people know the disheartening horror of that experience, and it was terrible.”
“But I decided to make a song, ‘Keeping the Faith,'” said the Louisiana-born singer-songwriter.
“And the day that I tracked that song was a tough day. It was the toughest day that I’ve ever been in the studio. And I didn’t know if it was even going to come out good because I felt so broken.
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“But I think in the end, the song came out great because of the brokenness,” she said. “I think you can kind of hear it in the vocal, the desperation of keeping the faith and saying, ‘Hey, you know what, no matter what goes on, you got to get back up and go, you got it. Pick it up. You got to keep the faith.’ And so I’m proud of that song.”
“It’s so heartbreaking. But after you come out of it, I truly believe that you are stronger.”
Waldrup was not only a top 5 finalist on Season 25 of “The Voice,” she’s a BMI songwriter and a member of the Recording Academy (NARAS) and the Country Music Association (CMA). She’s won 12 Nashville Industry Music Awards and has seven studio albums and over 50 songs released worldwide.
“After a lot of time, reflection and prayer, I’m ready to share that my marriage has ended in divorce,” she wrote to fans in February on her Facebook page. “This has been a deeply personal journey, and I’ve taken the time I needed to process it privately. I’m grateful for the love, grace and support around me, and I appreciate kindness as I continue to move forward.”
She told Fox News Digital, “There’s a bridge [in the song ‘Keeping the Faith’] that says, ‘There’s a reason I’m still standing here stronger than I ever knew.”
“And I think after you go through something like that, your whole dream of a lifelong marriage goes away and is no longer a part of your life — it’s so heartbreaking. But after you come out of it, I truly believe that you are stronger. People are stronger from this experience.”
“My faith definitely carried me through that season, the fall of 2025. I was very vulnerable,” she said.
“I had to keep going. … My faith was the foundation of what got me through that.”
“We were working on the record, and I had to keep going. I look at people like Dolly Parton or Reba [McEntire], and I think about how many times they had somebody pass away, and they had to get back up on stage — or they had their mom in the hospital or something, and they had to go play a show,” she added.
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“And when I was going through that, I was actually sleeping with my Bible every single night, in the bed with me at night. I was waking up every morning, opening my scripture and reading it. My faith was definitely the foundation of what got me through that.”
She said her friends made a difference as well.
“My friends believed in me. They believed I would get through it. They never doubted me. And one of the things I did, I made a list of the top six people — one being God, so God plus five people — that I felt like I could really talk to about what I was going through without them making me feel worse.”
“And I tried to really only talk to those five people,” said Waldrup. “Sometimes when you’re going through something like a divorce, everyone has their opinions. Everyone has all these different things that people want to say. And so I found that was a really helpful thing.
“When you’re going through something tough in life, rather than listening to the opinions of 50 people, you can kind of go, OK, these are the five people that, when I talk to this person, make me feel like I’m gonna get through this. And those are the people that I really leaned on. So my faith, my scripture and my friends.”
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Waldrup said she believes she is “living God’s purpose for my life.”
“I do think part of my purpose in music is to inspire. I don’t make my musical experience all about me,” she said. “This music is a gift, this show is a gift, this moment is a gift.”
“My friends believed in me. They believed I would get through it.”
And “I believe in giving,” she added.
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“I don’t really need to be important. All I need to do is do God’s work. … He gave me this voice. And we’re talking about faith, we’re talking about music, we’re talking about joy, we’re talking about friendship, and about love — or the lack thereof.
“There are so many things that we are called to talk about in life. And I do feel like I’m living God’s purpose for my life.”
Waldrup has performed in more than 15 countries.
Her newest single “Just in Case” is available now.
