Check It Out: Woman wins big with the most relatable song Carrie Underwood ever heard

By Joan Janzen

I have a confession to make. I don't watch any of the talent shows. But a friend posted a clip of the recent American Idol winner, so I took a minute to listen. Hannah Harper was singing about a typical day with two toddlers and a baby while she struggled with postpartum depression.

By the end of her performance, the judges were crying, the audience was crying and I was crying. Carrie Underwood, a judge and the last female country artist to win the show before Hannah, back in 2004, wiped away her tears and said, "Well, that was the most relatable song I've ever heard."

"My dream was to be a stay-at-home mom," Hannah told the judges. "I was sitting on my couch wallowing. I was having a pity party. My son kept asking me to open his cheese. I opened his cheese and I realized where I was in my house was the biggest ministry I could have, being a mom. I got up off the couch, and I kind of kicked postpartum in the butt and said I ain't doing it, and I wrote 'String Cheese.'"

The comments from people listening to Hannah sing spoke volumes. Every mother feels seen and validated. From one mama to another, thank you for singing for all of us. I'm sick and pregnant with a toddler who has an injury, and this is what I needed this morning.

A man wrote: "This song makes me think about my mom and the struggles of a single mother. What an amazing song."

Before her audition, Hannah balanced music with family life. She grew up travelling and singing with her family's band but never expected anything more. That changed after she began posting videos and fans encouraged her. Her audition video was viewed more than 120 million times.

"How did a humble mother of three with a banjo guitar, bluegrass vocals and open faith in Jesus become crowned the new idol?" Kirk Cameron asked on his show. "She didn't try to become what the culture told her to be. She stayed true to who God made her to be."

He speculated that what set Hannah apart was her genuine faith, which produced humility, kindness, moral beauty and a desire to use her gift to touch the hearts of others.

Kirk said that in a world obsessed with image, branding and performance, people are starving for something real. He pointed out that we live in an age of perfect performance, where everybody is curating an image, studying the algorithm and trying to be popular, have influence and get attention. Yet a young mom with a simple style won with a song expressing her love for her kids and her struggles.

"It wasn't the flashiest performance," he observed. "She didn't reinvent herself into something that would sell. She did almost the opposite. She stayed rooted in who she really is, and people connected with it. Even people who don't share her openly Christian faith were drawn to her authenticity, her humility and her emotional honesty."

She captured her audience with her storytelling. The lyrics by themselves are simple, yet combined with her delivery they are very relatable.

It was a bold move to audition with her original song, because people like to hear something they've heard before. But Hannah said, "I took a risk. But it was more about connecting with the audience rather than performing. Being a storyteller is my passion, so I'm glad I had the opportunity to do that."

She described the moment before she wrote the song. "I think it took that moment to open my eyes to motherhood and all the joys behind it. It was hard, but it was definitely one of those things that I needed to happen in order to appreciate the role that I was given," she said during an interview on Live with Kelly and Mark.

Kirk Cameron, who has navigated Hollywood himself, weighed in. "She is staying true to her conviction, and I think that is the key to Hannah's victory. You have to have the right definition of success. If your goal is popularity, if success equals applause, if your target is becoming everybody's favourite, trust me, you're headed for disappointment. The applause of people is always going to be a moving target. If your identity depends on people's approval, your soul will never rest. But if your definition of success is discovering who God made you to be and then faithfully honouring him with your life, that changes everything."

If you're like me and don't watch the talent shows or American Idol, be sure to grab a tissue and listen to Hannah Harper.