Jada Gomez

The cameras were not rolling for a TV show, and there were no judges sitting in front of them. Just a backstage hallway, a moment between friends, and three voices that apparently cannot help but worship. Hannah Harper, Chris Tungseth, and Braden Rumfelt gathered backstage and broke into an unscripted, acapella worship session — no … Read more

While the world was still celebrating Hannah Harper’s American Idol win, Hannah was already thinking about one person. Not the judges. Not the fans. Her husband, Devon. DEVON MENDENHALL WALKED AWAY FROM HIS ENTIRE CAREER SO HANNAH COULD CHASE HERS.  He left law enforcement, moved back home, and became a full-time stay-at-home dad to their … Read more

When Lauren Alaina posted a video of herself holding her newborn daughter, tears streaming down her face, whispering “Hannah Harper, thank you for writing this song for us mommas” — nobody could have predicted what would happen next. That moment of one mother reaching through a screen to thank another was raw, unscripted, and deeply … Read more

On American Idol Hannah Harper had something most artists never get. A built-in audience that already loved her before she sang a single note each week. She had millions of people who had voted for her, cried with her watching every performance, rooted for her through every elimination and every close call.  A judging panel … Read more

When Ryan Seacrest called her name and the confetti started falling Hannah Harper could not see any of it. She was already weeping before the words even landed and by the time she opened her eyes there was a star stuck in her eyelash from crying through the entire moment. WHAT CAME NEXT WAS NOT … Read more

The Season 24 finale of American Idol was three hours long and packed with some of the biggest names in music. Alicia Keys. Lee Ann Womack. Jelly Roll. Carrie Underwood performing with Mötley Crüe. Every performance that night was built to be memorable. HANNAH HARPER’S WAS BUILT IN A SINGLE MENTORING SESSION THE WEEK OF … Read more

Nobody warned Hannah Harper that the song she wrote on her couch during postpartum depression would one day chart higher on iTunes than the most streamed children’s song in history. SHE WAS NOT THINKING ABOUT CHARTS. SHE WAS BARELY THINKING AT ALL. Hannah was going through a hard stretch after the birth of her third … Read more

Hannah Harper just won Season 24 of American Idol. And until she auditioned she had never seen one minute of the show she just conquered. IN A POST-FINALE INTERVIEW WITH TV INSIDER, HANNAH SAT DOWN WITH RUNNER-UP JORDAN MCCULLOUGH FOR AN AMERICAN IDOL TRIVIA CHALLENGE.  The results were exactly what you would expect from someone … Read more

Clay Aiken has been around American Idol long enough to have seen everything. He finished second on Season 2 back in 2003. He has watched the show crown winner after winner for over two decades.  He has seen the trends come and go, and the gimmicks fade and the moments that actually stick. He came … Read more

Most people who audition for American Idol spend months preparing. The outfits. The image. The version of themselves they want America to fall in love with. Hannah Harper showed up in a dress she sewed herself and talked about sitting on her couch crying while her toddler asked her to open string cheese. That was … Read more