Ahead of her performance, the 25-year-old stay-at-home mother of three boys opened up about the surreal experience of having her family with her in Hawaii for the performances, including her husband, Devon, and their three sons.
“I think it’ll be surreal to be up on the stage and see my kids. All of it feels like a dream to be able to share this with them. Everyone’s so happy to be here,” Harper explained to Idol producers. “They got their hair a whole bunch of different colors and it was all crazy and fun. They got tatted up, and had a meet and greet with Mickey. It was a sweet experience. I’m just soaking it all in.”
She then met with Idol mentors Brad Paisley and Keke Palmer, where she reflected on her first Hawaii performance during the “‘Ohana Round.”
“‘Ohana Round was incredible. It was really exciting, but also terrifying,” Harper told Paisley and Palmer. “I’m not used to not having my guitar in my hands. This time, I wanted to do the same thing from the last round and put the guitar down. I’m having a hard time getting out of my body. And especially bluegrass. You stand in one spot, you do your thing and then you walk off stage.”
Palmer applauded Harper for “challenging” herself to perform without a guitar in hand to showcase a different side of her artistry, to which Harper admitted that her goal for this round was to “be more comfortable in my body.”
Paisley praised her talent, saying, “Your voice is everything I love about this style of music,” while Palmer encouraged her to focus on engaging the audience. “Instead of maybe thinking to yourself about, I got to move around the stage, more so think about I got to get the folks engaged,” Palmer advised.
Paisley continued, “She’s definitely seasoned, but I think she’s feeling like, how do I do what I do on a show like this? Look for your family and the audience,” with Palmer adding, “Capture the feeling that you have when they’re up there with you.”
Midway through her mentorship session with Paisley and Palmer, Harpers three sons joined her. “My kids stepped in, getting to have that moment with my family just to breathe for a second, calms all your anxiety,” Harper shared. She continued, “The entire journey through all of this, I’m having to just constantly peel layers off. I hope that I’m showing my boys that no matter how old they are, be open to learning and to just be resilient.”
Hannah then took to the Idol stage for a rockin’ cover of “Ain’t No Grave,” a song written by Claude Ely and famously recorded by Johnny Cash and Bethel Music and Molly Skaggs, among others.
“Ain’t no grave/ Can hold my body down/ There ain’t no grave/ Can hold my body down,” Harper sang of the anthemic track.
Idol judge Lionel Richie praised the performance, noting her storytelling ability. “She delivered. See, here’s the whole point…When you can actually be the storyteller, and then sometimes in the middle of that performance, you went from singing to preaching. I mean, what I’m saying to you is at that point when you see everybody going, okay, that means we’re listening and you got our attention. You did a great job.”
Palmer agreed. “First of all, everybody performs different. I think that’s the big part of this competition, right? It’s like not doing what you think you should do, really embodying what you bring to the stage, and that’s what you did,” Palmer gushed. “You don’t have to do what nobody do because when you start singing, girl, and you was pointing, you was commanding to us, we were locked in. It was excellent. It was very moving.”
Luke Bryan joked that Harper may have created a whole new genre with this performance. “I think you started a new genre, Resurrection Rock.” He continued, “I love the whole performance. I think your voice is so listenable. It’s so easy on the ears. And then finally, we see you get a little more power behind that voice. So you’re showing me you’re ready to branch out and grow. Definitely my favorite performance I’ve seen you do.”
Carrie Underwood praised her song choice and vocal talents. “Great song choice. Your voice gave me chills the entire time. We got a glimpse of like a fire that is in you that I feel like the more you go through this whole process, I hope to see more of.”
Underwood also said Harper reminded her of herself when she competed on Idol in 2005 and offered some advice.
“You remind me a lot of myself when I was on the show. When I would be on stage, I’d look out and I’d be like, ‘What are you doing out there hand? What’s going on? Why are you pointing?’ And all of a sudden it’s like things would kind of start falling apart because I would start thinking about what I was doing. Try not to. Just tell the story. And don’t worry about what any of this is doing because I feel like we got some glimpses of that and it’s awesome. So keep at it.”
Fans first met Hannah Harper during her now viral Idol audition, where she performed an original song inspired by her postpartum struggles, titled “String Cheese.” Her audition brought Carrie Underwood to tears and Luke Bryan compared her vocals to Dolly Parton.
During Hollywood Week, Harper delivered a goosebumps-inducing cover of “A Little Past Little Rock” by Lee Ann Womack, and ultimately scored a spot in the Top 30 with that performance. While competing for a coveted spot in the Top 20, Harper paid tribute to her late grandpa with an emotional cover of “Go Rest High on That Mountain” by Vince Gill.
Voting has changed this season, and fans have three ways to support their favorite contestants: online at AmericanIdol.com/Vote, on social media (@AmericanIdol) by commenting the contestant’s first name on the pinned post on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, or by texting the contestant’s number to 21523.
For Hannah Harper, that number is 8. Fans can cast up to 10 votes per contestant per method and platform. Voting opens when the contestant appears on TV and closes at 6 A.M. EST on March 17.
Over the next week, the remaining Idol hopefuls will perform for America’s votes from Disney’s Aulani Resort & Spa in Hawaii, vying for a chance to advance to the Top 14 while guided by superstar mentors Brad Paisley and Keke Palmer.
Follow Hannah Harper’s journey on American Idol Mondays at 8/7c on ABC, or stream the episode the next day on Hulu.