Jake Owen Gets Real About the Dark Side of ‘Making It’ in Nashville

Jake Owen is opening up like never before in the latest episode of God’s Country Podcast, reflecting on his Florida roots, moving to Nashville with no real plan, his longtime admiration for country supergroup Alabama, and the realities of fame—including the toll it’s taken on his family life. 

Sitting down with Dan and Reid Isbell, known as The Brothers Hunt, Owen’s conversation turned deeply personal as he looked back on arriving in Music City as a young, naïve dreamer and reflected on where he is today. 

“I came here with nothing and yesterday I was like, you know, looking out over my farm in my pool. By myself. Because weird… ’cause I came here with nothing and I’ve gained a whole lot when it, you know, when it comes to the, the business side of it, I feel like I’ve, I’ve done a lot of incredible things, but, I also came here with no children, no relationships 20, 22 years ago,” he shared. “And now I’m blessed to have two children. I’m blessed to have had two relationships that were fruitful and amazing.”

Owen, 44, went on to acknowledge the unexpected weight that came with his success in Nashville and even admitted he may not have moved there to chase his dreams if he had known how things would turn out.  

“But I’ll say that like everything that I thought I moved here for… that I was looking for, I definitely fulfilled, but I also have been given a lot of things that I never, never signed up for or didn’t know that would come along with it. And I think if people would’ve told me that I may have just stayed in Vero,” he admitted. 

The “Journey of Your Life” singer quickly added, “I’m glad they didn’t,” clarifying that he’s grateful he didn’t know the path his life would take him down, as he might have missed out on many of the opportunities his career ultimately brought him. 

“I think people, people put emphasis on making it in Nashville, put emphasis on like, are you sure you wanna do that?Man, you know, there’s a lot of people up there, blah, blah. That’s not what people should put the emphasis on when people move to Nashville,” he stated, later adding that they should put emphasis on “What happens when you make it.” 

He continued, “Let’s talk about when you make it. What are you gonna do then? Life goes on, friends get lost. You know, relationships get broken.  All kinds of things that no one talks about other than if you make it and then they think that when you make it, it’s all, glitz and glamor. And so long answer to your short question, 22 years here has taught me a lot about people, myself, the business, just, you know, life. It’s been amazing, man.” 

Owen got especially candid about hitting a breaking point around Christmas 2025 reflecting on the end of his second relationship, taking responsibility for his role while also admitting just how much it hurt. He spoke about the contrast between the success people see on the outside and the personal struggles he’s dealt with behind the scenes, sharing that it all became too much in that moment and he ultimately broke down.

Following this extremely vulnerable moment, Owen returned to social media to clarify his mindset. Since then, Owen received overwhelming support from fans, fellow artists, and more and told The Brothers Hunt 

“When I looked back at that video that I posted, I was like, ‘I don’t even know that dude. I don’t know who that guy is, but that guy’s, that guy’s hurt. That guy’s lost and it made me realize in that moment, like, you know, that I wasn’t who I think I thought I was trying to become, but it set me on a different path of understanding that like, we’re all like, broken in ways and you gotta find out how to, how to, you know, fix yourself.”

Jake Owen’s latest album, Dreams to Dream, is out now.  

For more with Jake Owen on the God’s Country podcast, click the video above.