"Desperate" is a song by American

alternative pop Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

musician Jamie MacDonald. The song was officially released as a single on , through Capitol CMG. It peaked at No. 10 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

Hot Christian Songs Hot Christian Songs is a music chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. It ranks the popularity of Christian songs using the same methodology developed for the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, the magazine's flagship songs c ...

chart and No. 1 on the

Christian Adult Contemporary Christian adult contemporary, also known as Christian AC, CAC, or Christian Adult Contemporary Airplay, is a form of radio-played contemporary Christian music, ranging from 1960s Jesus music and 1970s Christian soft rock music to predominately ...

chart. On June 6, 2025, an extended single was released, featuring four remixed or alternate recordings of the song.

Writing and production

The song was written by MacDonald, Jonathan Gamble, and Jordan Sapp with Sapp as producer. Its central theme is the importance of having faith in difficult times. MacDonald said of the song:"Desperate" is in the key of F with a speed of 70 beats per minute and a time signature of .

Chart performance

"Desperate" debuted at No. 39 on the ''

chart, later reaching No. 11 on the chart. Additionally, the song reached No. 3 on the

Christian Airplay Christian Airplay is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States since June 21, 2003. This chart lists the 50 most-listened-to records played on multiple Christian radio stations across the country as monitored by Ni ...

chart, and topped the

chart. It peaked at No. 3 on the

Christian Digital Song Sales The ''Billboard'' charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs and albums in the United States and elsewhere. The results are published in ''Billboard'' magazine. ''Billboard'' biz, the online extension of the ''Billboard'' charts, p ...

chart.

Track listing

Accolades

"Desperate" was nominated at the 2025

K-Love Fan Awards The K-Love Fan Awards (stylized as K-LOVE Fan Awards) is an annual American Christian music fan-voted awards ceremony show that is produced by K-Love. The show honors the most popular names in Christian music, sports, books and movies. The K-Lov ...

for Song of the Year and Breakout Single of the Year.

Personnel

Adapted from

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

. *

Aaron Sterling Aaron Sterling (born July 9, 1980) is an American drummer, producer, engineer, and session musician who lives in Los Angeles and Nashville, Tennessee. The son of professional musicians, Sterling grew up in Texas and Nashville, before moving to L ...

—

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

* Austin Davis —

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

* BC Taylor — percussion * Becca Bradley —

cello The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), tuned i ...

Bernie Herms Bernhard "Bernie" Herms (born March 26, 1972) is a Canadian composer, songwriter, and music producer in Nashville. He has received Grammy Awards, GMA Dove Awards, and GMA Canada Covenant Awards and been nominated for them, due to his songwriti ...

—

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

* Cara Fox — cello * Dan Machenzie — vocal editing * Devonne Fowikes — BGVs * Dom Liberati —

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

* Jamie MacDonald —

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles, genres and techniques to communicate ideas, to inspire feelings and emotions, or to entertain. Writers may develop different forms of writing such as novels, short sto ...

lead vocalist The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of t ...

, BGVs * Jason Eskridge — BGVs * Jonathan Gamble — composer, producer, BGVs * Jordan Sapp — composer,

acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked, its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external electric Guitar amplifier, sound amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar. It uses one or more pickup (music technology), pickups ...

, keyboards, percussion,

programming Program (American English; also Commonwealth English in terms of computer programming and related activities) or programme (Commonwealth English in all other meanings), programmer, or programming may refer to: Business and management * Program m ...

, recording * Kiley Phillips — BGVs * Kristin Weber —

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

* McKandree Tucker —

arranger In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchestrat ...

* Sam Moses — mastering,

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...

Writing and production

Chart performance

Track listing

Accolades

Personnel

Charts

Release history

References