2026 Awards

Forest Blakk

Talent

Multi-Platinum Singer-Songwriter & Recording Artist

Forest Blakk is a Canadian-born, Nashville-based multi-Platinum-selling singer/songwriter and spoken word artist whose work is rooted in one thing above all else: connection. Whether through a song, a poem, or a story, Blakk has built his career around turning the parts of life we often struggle to talk about into something that makes people feel seen and a little less alone. That instinct comes from experience. Long before more than 1.7 billion career streams, Platinum records, and sold-out shows, Blakk knew what it meant to have life fall apart. While living out of his car and on friends’ couches in Los Angeles, he wrote what would eventually become his breakout hit, “If You Love Her.” The song went on to become 2× Platinum in the U.S. and 4× Platinum in Canada, with duet versions featuring Christina Perri and Meghan Trainor. Blakk has never been afraid to take the darker chapters of his past and turn them into words. Raised in a chaotic household by a mother struggling with addiction and a stepfather involved in organized crime, he found refuge in poetry and music through an upbringing marked by instability and homelessness. That honesty runs through his songwriting and spoken word, transforming deeply personal experiences into opportunities to connect. His song “Fall Into Me,” co-written with Matchbox Twenty’s Rob Thomas, has amassed more than 290 million streams and is Platinum in Canada and Gold in the U.S. His collaborations also include “You’ll Be The Proof” featuring Joy Williams of The Civil Wars, which led to a performance on the 2026 finale of Love Is Blind. His music has appeared across film, television, and major campaigns, and he has toured alongside James Arthur, James Blunt, and NEEDTOBREATHE. For Blakk, those milestones are a consequence of something much simpler. The point has never just been to write songs. It’s to tell the truth about where he’s been, turn it into something beautiful, and create the kind of connection that reminds people they aren’t going through this life alone.

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