Country music icon Carrie Underwood is no stranger to emotional music, but during a recent episode of American Idol, the “Before He Cheats” singer found herself deeply moved by a contestant’s audition. What made Hannah Harper’s audition memorable wasn’t just her talent, but that she sang an original song about what many mothers, even Underwood herself, can relate to: postpartum depression.
Hannah Harper’s Story
Harper shared the story behind the song, “My youngest is 1, and shortly after he was born, I had postpartum depression, and so I was sitting on my couch — I said I wasn’t gonna cry,” she recalled, tearing up.
“I was sitting on my couch wallowing, and you have boys, you know. Everybody wants to touch you, and I didn’t want to be touched. And my youngest son, I was just having a pity party, praying that the Lord would calm my spirit, and my son kept coming up to me,” she added. “He said, ‘Mom, open this. Open my cheese.’ I’m like, ‘Leave me alone with the doggone cheese.’”
She continued, “And I finally opened his cheese, and when I did I realized God had put me in that place, and that where I was in my house was the biggest ministry that I could ever have in being a mom. So, I gathered myself, and I got up off the couch, and I quit throwing a pity party, and I realized that was exactly what I wanted. And I kind of kicked the postpartum depression in the butt, and I said, ‘I ain’t doing it.’”
Moved to Tears
After Harper’s audition, Underwood, visibly emotional, said, “Well, that’s about the most relatable song I think I’ve ever heard.” The Oklahoma native, who’s been vocal in the past about her own difficulties as a mother, added, “You might be my favorite person that’s walked through those doors in the past three days… I just think you have a beautiful simplicity to your voice.”
She continued and said what every American Idol aspirant wishes to hear, “I feel like I’m gonna be just rooting for you. I love everything about everything you just did. I’ll go first, it’s a yes from me.” Fellow judges Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie also voted yes.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source backstagecountry.com ’
