By Movieguide® Staff
Hannah Harper won Season 24 of AMERICAN IDOL on Monday night, closing the three-hour finale in tears with a worship performance of Chris Tomlin’s “At The Cross (Love Ran Red)” while fellow contestants and judges gathered around her onstage.
“I’m beyond thankful for the doors the Lord has opened,” the 26-year-old said in an Instagram post hours after host Ryan Seacrest called her name. The Willow Springs, Missouri mom of three quoted Jeremiah 29:11 and thanked viewers for carrying the dream further than she ever imagined.
Movieguide® has tracked Harper’s faith-forward run all season — from her viral January audition to her tearful “Songs of Faith” episode back in April. At that performance, she told Seacrest the song was an “opportunity to give an invitation” to Jesus.
Related: AMERICAN IDOL Favorite Sings About Power of the Cross Days Before Easter
Harper attends First Baptist Church of Birch Tree in rural Missouri, and she has been singing in church since she was 9. She grew up touring the country with her family’s bluegrass gospel band before stepping off the road to raise her three sons.
She defeated worship leader Jordan McCullough — who performed “Goodness of God” as his final song — and singer Keyla Richardson to take the title. On a season where producers built more open faith moments into the show than usual, Harper kept being the artist they could build around.
“I think it’s important for people to know you’re never too far gone,” Harper said. She added that God can meet anyone anywhere, no matter their walk of life.
Her audition song, “String Cheese,” came out of a real low. Harper has said she wrote it on her couch during a hard week of postpartum depression, with three little boys crying around her — until one of them climbed into her lap asking her to open his cheese.
That moment, Movieguide® reported earlier this year, reminded her that motherhood was the biggest ministry God had given her. “String Cheese” has since charted on iTunes and helped push her Instagram following past 400,000.
Judge Carrie Underwood, a believer herself, broke down during that audition and praised Harper’s authenticity all the way to the finale. Underwood used Monday’s broadcast to publicly affirm Harper as a singer, a songwriter, a daughter, and — pointedly — a mom.
For her final night onstage, Harper revisited “String Cheese,” debuted her latest single “Married Into This Town,” and teamed with country veteran Lee Ann Womack on “I Hope You Dance.” Picking up a duet with Womack — one of the genre’s most respected voices — is the kind of Nashville co-sign that doesn’t go unnoticed.
Then came the win, and Harper turned the spotlight straight to the cross. The closing performance of “At The Cross (Love Ran Red)” was the kind of moment Hollywood usually trims for time. AMERICAN IDOL let it breathe.
That’s the through-line of Harper’s whole season. She has called raising her three sons her biggest ministry, and she has refused to treat the stage and the home as competing assignments. For Christian families watching, that posture — not the trophy — is the real story.
Harper now heads to Nashville with a recording contract and a viral catalog. She will soon find out whether the entertainment industry has room for an artist who keeps quoting Scripture in her captions and putting the cross at the center of her biggest songs.
Read Next: AMERICAN IDOL Contestant Embraces Ministry as a Mom
Questions or comments? Please write to us here.
Share:
– Content: +4