American Idol‘s latest installment has come to end. After a notable season that brought contestants to Hawaii and featured a tribute to Taylor Swift, Season 24 wrapped with a three-hour long episode that saw hopefuls Jordan McCullough, Hannah Harper, and Keyla Richardson compete for the final spot.
In the end, Missouri native Harper took the crown. In the first round of the finale, Alicia Keys stepped in as a guest mentor for contestants, and Harper performed a bluegrass rendition of the Grammy winner’s chart-topping hit, “No One.” In the second turn, Harper sang a song she wrote herself, titled “Married Into This Town,” and reprised “String Cheese,” another song she penned and memorably sang for her audition, for the last round.
During a previous interview with Music Mayhem, Harper said that she grew up playing “bluegrass gospel music in churches every single weekend from age nine until I was 16.” She was drawn to singers like Dolly Parton and Shania Twain, who impacted her approach to music.
“I was raised super conservative, and so I knew of Dolly Parton, and we didn’t listen to a bunch of her music, but she was definitely somebody that I was drawn to. So extravagant. It’s so fun. And she’s such a good showman,” Harper said. “But I was a big Shania Twain fan, like early ‘90s Shania. That was the one tape that we had on, on the regular that my mom let me listen to.”
This year’s season saw judges Lionel Richie, Carrie Underwood, and Luke Bryan relocate the famous “Hollywood Week” for contestants who make it past auditions — trading Los Angeles for Nashville. There was also a special Ohana round in Hawaii that brought 30 finalists before an “industry” panel that included Kelly Sutton, the first female host of the Grand Ole Opry, and Cheryl Porter, a vocal coach and Broadway star, and Rolling Stone‘s own Co-Editor in Chief, Shirley Halperin.
Halperin wrote about the experience, while detailing how the show had evolved since its debut over two decades ago. “Each hopeful brought their A game and looked fabulous doing it. How were we to choose? As it turned out, the ones who took the biggest risk — by performing an original song — had an edge,” Halperin noted. “As for our panel, we discussed the contestants’ ages and how they handled the stress of competing. We took note of their backstories, and were inspired by them. We recognized unique voices and range. But in the end, we favored musicianship over potential.”
