In early February, ABC’s “American Idol” viewers were introduced to 25-year-old Hannah Harper, a stay-at-home mom from Southeast Missouri who arrived at her audition in a colorful patchwork dress that she sewed herself. As she told the story behind the song that she was about to perform, she started to cry.
Harper, who has three sons, said she suffered from postpartum depression after her youngest was born. One day she was sitting on the couch — and, as she explained, “having a pity party and praying that the Lord would calm my spirit” — when one of her kids started badgering her to open his packet of string cheese.
“I’m like, ‘Leave me alone with the dadgum cheese!’” Harper said, her voice choking up. “And I finally opened his cheese. And when I did, I realized that God had put me in that place, and that where I was in my house was the biggest ministry that I could ever have. And being a mom. … I realized that that was exactly what I wanted, and I kind of kicked the postpartum depression in the butt and said, ‘I ain’t doin’ it.’”
That moment spurred Harper, a singer who grew up performing on the road with her family’s bluegrass gospel band, to write a song called “String Cheese.” She sang the acoustic ballad for the judges: “To those days I wanna cry, run away and hide, but I’d worry about their every need / When I’m overwhelmed and touched out, they come climbing up on the couch, saying, ‘Mama, can you open my string cheese?’ / I smile because I know, meeting their needs fills my soul / Being their mama is who I’m meant to be.”
The momentum from this audition, which soon went viral, helped propel Harper through the season, where she impressed the voting audience every week with her covers of country and Christian songs. On Monday’s season finale, she was named the winner of “American Idol” Season 24, triumphing over runner-up Jordan McCullough, a 27-year-old worship director from Tennessee, and third-place finisher Keyla Richardson, a 29-year-old music teacher from Florida who once competed on BET’s “Sunday Best.”
“You’re a true artist,” judge Luke Bryan told Harper at one point in the three-hour episode. “You’ve been a true artist this whole year, from the day that you sang your original song that connected with so many people.”
Harper’s victory was a likelihood after that first episode: “Idol” contestants sing original songs all the time, but rarely do they cause a stir like this one. Host Ryan Seacrest later said that the video of Harper singing “String Cheese” is one of the most-viewed clips in “Idol” history; in the finale, he said it had more than 120 million views across platforms. Countless moms posted comments about how they felt understood by her lyrics, which Harper explained was the point: She hoped to reassure other women that they were not alone, and she wanted to serve as an inspirational example how they could raise children and still pursue their dreams.
The reaction from the celebrity judges in Harper’s audition also provided a hint that she was one to watch as a potential winner. Carrie Underwood, a mom of two boys, grew emotional as she listened to the ballad: “Well, that’s the most relatable song I think I’ve ever heard,” she said, wiping her eyes, and complimented Harper’s bluegrass-inflected vocals. Lionel Richie called her “great,” while Bryan compared her to Kacey Musgraves and Alison Krauss with a dash of Dolly Parton.
They all voted yes and sent Harper on to the next round, and the trio continued to compliment her even after she left the room to go celebrate with her family.
“Some real juice on that one,” Bryan said.
“Unassuming, sweet,” Underwood agreed.
“Perfectly moldable into stardom,” Bryan added.
That comment unwittingly summed up another reason why Harper won. Over the season, the judges raved that Harper sounded beautiful, but it was nothing compared to how much they were wowed by the skills of the third and second-place finishers.
Richardson’s voice brought Bryan to tears in her audition; Richie nearly had a meltdown in one of the preliminary rounds when Richardson expertly belted out “With a Little Help From My Friends” from the Beatles and Joe Cocker. Meanwhile, the judges called McCullough’s pristine tone one of the most incredible voices they had ever heard and compared listening to him to a spiritual experience — “anointed,” Underwood said after his cover of U2’s “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For.” (The three finalists, who were all raised singing in church, reflected how religious the show has skewed in recent years, including hosting another “Songs of Faith”-themed episode this season around Easter.)
But even if Richardson and McCullough were the superior performers, the “Idol” viewing audience is often drawn to the singer who still has room to grow — also known as “moldable.” Harper’s other storyline this season was that she struggled with seeing negative online comments that criticized her stilted stage presence. She admitted the critics had a point and gained confidence through the season, even labeling one performance with a bit of choreography as her “redemption moment.”
Social media may have been a challenge for Harper, but it was also an advantage: This was the first year that “Idol” incorporated voting via social media. During each episode, the show would publish an official “voting” post on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok, and fans could comment the first name of the singer that they wanted to keep. This resulted in mixed reactions from viewers and one instance of delayed results when producers couldn’t keep up with the number of votes coming in.
Though some contestants with popular social media accounts were voted off earlier, Harper’s online following was undeniable. Harper had already earned a fanbase from posting videos of herself singing over the years, and had around 1.8 million combined followers from Instagram, Facebook and TikTok on the eve of the finale; Richardson had nearly 300,000 and McCullough had about 116,000.
Near the beginning of the season, Harper said she didn’t see a dream for herself outside of raising a house full of children. During the finale, she repeatedly thanked her husband for taking care of the kids while she was busy competing on the show. (Producers also showed her a video from her sons, all holding pieces of string cheese and rooting for their mom.) With her victory, Harper also now has the muscle of “Idol” behind her, a show that is known for minting breakout stars in country music.
“If you want to,” Bryan said after Harper’s standout performance of “That’s the Way Love Goes” by Merle Haggard, “You’re gonna get to do this for a very long time.”
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