September 25, 2026 — The service ends. The microphone comes down. Monday arrives. That is where ANTHNY’s Worship Leader’s Diary begins.
Today, the GRAMMY-nominated songwriter and producer releases his 13-track debut studio album, Worship Leader’s Diary, via Sony Music/Provident Entertainment. Written and produced entirely by ANTHNY, the record asks what happens when public worship becomes private life, when there is no stage to stand on and faith still has to hold when there is no audience.
Warm R&B sits at the center of the album, but its emotional language comes from somewhere deeper. Worship Leader’s Diary is intimate without being precious, spiritual without hiding the mess. ANTHNY writes about the distance that can exist between what someone sings on Sunday and what they actually believe on Monday. The title becomes revealing in that sense. Across 13 songs, he lets listeners into a journal that was never meant to sound polished from the inside.
“Worship Leader’s Diary is a collection of songs I’ve woven together through honest language and emotional melodies to highlight a young man’s relationship with God,” ANTHNY says.
“My life as a worship leader is used as a metaphor that others can hopefully find themselves in, no matter where they are in life, and begin a journey of reconnection and intimacy with God.”
The album is also a conversation with the music that made him. Rather than treating the songs he grew up with as artifacts, ANTHNY pulls pieces of that musical memory into the present and reshapes them through his own R&B vocabulary.
On Dove-nominated “Imposter Syndrome,” ANTHNY interpolates Donald Lawrence’s “Spiritual,” turning a recognizable piece of gospel history into part of a song about the disconnect between the person standing onstage and the person left alone afterward. The track confronts the mental fight to believe your own calling when confidence disappears, ultimately moving toward repentance and redemption. That instinct continues throughout the record “Prepare Me” with Naomi Raine reimagines the familiar melody of “Sanctuary,” while “Show Up” with Kierra Sheard-Kelly draws from John P. Kee’s “Show Up!” ANTHNY does more than revisit those songs. He pulls familiar musical ideas apart and rebuilds them through a contemporary lens, allowing generations of gospel and R&B to sit in the same room. It is part homage, part reinvention.
Elsewhere, “Pass Me By” featuring BJ The Chicago Kid pushes deeper into the album’s R&B sensibility, pairing two expressive vocalists inside a slow-burning arrangement. Ahjah Walls also appears across the project. The album’s collaborative cast extends the world around ANTHNY without ever pulling focus from the intensely personal story at its center.
Worship Leader’s Diary arrives during a breakout year for ANTHNY, who enters the 57th Annual GMA Dove Awards with three nominations. “imposter syndrome” is nominated for Contemporary Gospel Recorded Song of the Year, while his diary entry 1 EP is up for Contemporary Gospel Album of the Year. His work as a songwriter also appears in Traditional Gospel Recorded Song of the Year through Tasha Cobbs Leonard and John Legend’s “Church.” The latter earned him a GRAMMY nomination, placing his songwriting on one of music’s biggest stages before the arrival of his own debut album.
His growing profile extends beyond awards season. This summer, EBONY named ANTHNY to its 2026 STAMPED: Gentlemen of Sound class, recognizing him among a new generation of Black male artists making their mark in music. His breakout song “Mercy” has generated more than 30 million views across social media since taking off in 2024.
Long before his own name sat at the top of the artwork, ANTHNY was already helping shape songs from behind the scenes. A Berklee College of Music alumnus, he began touring nationally at just 11 years old. He has since written for artists including DOE and Kierra Sheard, while also working with Chandler Moore and Jubilee Worship. His credits include Jubilee Worship’s “No Bondage,” and his career has taken him on the road with Maverick City Music. Most recently, he opened for Tye Tribbett on the We Outside Tour alongside Jonathan McReynolds.
Now, Worship Leader’s Diary puts the person behind those songs in full view. It is not a record about having every answer. It is about what faith sounds like when there is nobody left to perform it for.
About Anthny
ANTHNY (Anthony Brown) is a GRAMMY-nominated songwriter, worship leader, producer, and arranger pioneering a distinct fusion of contemporary worship and Christian R&B. A Berklee College of Music alumnus who began touring nationally at age 11, the multi-hyphenate creator has spent over a decade collaborating with the world’s leading faith-based music movements. ANTHNY’s self-written and produced studio debut, Worship Leader’s Diary, marks his most definitive artistic statement to date.
