Since being named runner-up on season 20 of ABC’s American Idol, HunterGirl’s authenticity, unwavering tenacity and heart of gold have positioned her as Country’s next star, earning praise she’d only dreamed of. More important, HunterGirl wins hearts. Skyrocketing to No. 1 on iTunes All-Genre and Country charts with her earnest and deeply personal original track “Red Bird,” she’s performed on Live with Kelly & Ryan, appeared on Good Morning America, and was named a 2023 Artist to Watch by Music Mayhem. Signed to 19 Records/BBR/Wheelhouse Records, HunterGirl, who is working her first-label project, just released her latest single “Ain’t About You,” written before she auditioned for Idol. “I wrote that song two weeks before my American Idol audition and two weeks before my life changed forever,” HunterGirl said. Obviously, I have a ton of breakup songs, but the ‘life songs’ for me, I reach down pretty deep for that,” HunterGirl offered. “I call them my ‘heart songs’. ‘Ain’t About You’ is a heart song. Those are the songs I think about when I’m reaching down real deep.” A few weeks after being crowned runner-up, show offers were coming in to UTA faster than she could put a band together. “That was a huge year of my life. I learned so much about myself as an artist and as a person. I vividly remember the flight home from New York after doing the talk shows after the finale, and I hadn’t been in Tennessee for four months. It was the moment where everything stopped for a second and you think, ‘Wow, this has all just happened.’” Still dressed from doing morning media, she was walking through Nashville’s airport when someone wished her a happy birthday. She had forgotten it was the next day. “People coming up to me, cheering me on. People hugging me. Telling me they were proud of me – people I had never met before,” she enthused. “And that’s when I realized how much had changed.”People are drawn to her heart out, head up, boots on approach to everything she does. She’s a gutsy songwriter who works with veterans’ organizations where she uses music therapy to transform worrier’s stories into songs.
