AMERICAN IDOL Winner Jokes About ‘Awkward’ Music Video Shoot: ‘I Chose Chaos’

Published: June 30, 2026

By Movieguide® Staff

AMERICAN IDOL winner Hannah Harper is getting ready to drop the music video for new track “Married Into This Town.”

“Y’all, lip-syncing for a music video is awkward,” she joked in an Instagram caption, revealing that she sang an “unhinged” joke version of the song while filming the video.

Harper added, “This was the only way I could make it through without feeling ridiculous so naturally, I chose chaos.”

View this post on Instagram

The video also features footage of Harper and her husband Devon Mendenhall walking and dancing in a field in their Missouri hometown. The song features lyrics about their love story, including, “I wasn’t born with roots in the ground, but you can bet I’ll be sticking around,” and, “Some people can’t wait to get out, oh, but I married into this town.”

Harper has praised Mendenhall for being her emotional support during her time on AMERICAN IDOL.

“Just the emotional weight at the end of each night…just being able to take it off and be like, ‘Here you go,’ and he would take it every single week,” she told Swooon. “That was probably the best. I was thankful I had that. Most of the other contestants were carrying it until the end of the competition, and it was like a blanket that I got to take off each night. That was the best part.”

Recalling the moment she was named the winner, Harper said, “I can’t believe they had us sing as the confetti was falling. That was nuts. We were worshipping, though, and it was really good. So I opened my eyes, and all of the contestants were behind me, so I was looking for my husband. It took me a minute to find him. But he came onto the stage within minutes, so I got to share that moment with him shortly after.”

In an interview with Lyndsanity, Harper shared, “My husband has had to sacrifice everything so that I could be here, and we basically just had to reverse roles — which has been confusing for everyone, because a man is not ‘built’ to do that. He’s had to give up his entire life, his work, to be Mr. Mom. And he’s stepped up admirably and done a great job.”

“I could never repay him for all the things that he has sacrificed,” she explained. “I think that more importantly, my boys needed that in life, because men having a father-son relationship is so crucial for the kind of man that they grow up to be. I love getting to watch it, and I don’t regret any of it. I hope that he feels the same way and he’s still excited to do it, but there’s no way I could do it without him.”

Harper’s new music video is a love letter to her husband, praising him for his support as the couple navigate the IDOL winner’s newfound fame.

Questions or comments? Please write to us here.

Add Movieguide® as preferred on Google