Since her initial audition episode, Hannah Harper has solidified herself in the front running as America Idol’s next season 24 winner.
Wowing both the judges and viewers at one of the premier episodes hosted at Belmont University, Harper took a bold risk performing an original song. Donning a Holly Hobbie doll-esque patchwork sundress, she immediately stole the hearts of everyone with her touching postpartum-inspired, “String Cheese.”
Bringing judge Carrie Underwood to tears, the highly personal performance quickly went viral following its February 2 airing, now garnering a whopping 18.4 million views and 2.6 million likes on TikTok. Well put by fellow country artist and judge Luke Bryan in the comments, “String cheese? More like tuggin on my heart strings. Great job.”
With Harper now advancing to the Top 14 and hopefully making next week’s Top 12 cut (with the voting results postponed to Monday nights, April 6 episode) she continues to be a promising prospect stunning with her performances of Lee Ann Womack’s “A Little Past Little Rock,” Vince Gill’s “Go Rest High On That Mountain” and Bethel Music’s “Ain’t No Grave.” The young mother of three reflected on this incredible dream-chasing journey and the song that started it all in a recent Instagram post, celebrating a momentous 1 million streams on Spotify.
Harper shared a clip of the saw mill turned studio where the heartwarming motherhood anthem was recorded. The bare bones office she reveals was transformed by her brother and most likely a product of their family bluegrass band, Harper Collective.
While she’s been performing with her siblings and parents since she was a child, she noted, “Songwriting was something I envied for years. It came so naturally to everyone in my family… and for the longest time, it just didn’t come to me.” Finally, thanks to an interpersonal communications class in college, she said that the writing prowess finally clicked in her brain. “Finally found words for emotions I didn’t even know how to name before. Writing became a place of healing.”
The song, which was originally released almost a year ago on Mother’s Day 2025, Harper hoped at the time would be an encouragement to her inner circle of fans, aka her friends and family. She also said she wanted it to be a reminder to enjoy the “fleeting years with my boys,” whose babbling voices adorably kick off the recorded version, saying “mama.” Now with the song becoming a growing success, she hopes that showing the raw, humble behind-the-scenes of its conception will be an inspiration to aspiring artists.
“It’s far from glamorous, but I hope it encourages other artists not to let their circumstances or lack of resources hold them back from creating music. People want to hear what you have to say.”
As Harper continues to put her faith in God as her career flourishes, she’ll return to the Idol stage next week to discover her fate in the competition as well as perform a 90s song following the episode’s “90s Judges’ Song Contest” theme on ABC.