Harper Grace | Performance Studio

98.5 KYGO’s latest Performance Studio artist is none other than Harper Grace, a 24-year-old Texas native, and she performed “Dear Heart” – the title track of her upcoming project – “Boys Will Be Boys” and “if daddy says no.”

Grace took the hometown-to-Nashville pipeline familiar to many artists who share her passion, and she’s called Music City home for four years. Her passion for country music can be attributed to her grandma and dad, who listened to the genre frequently during her childhood.

Before a piano was donated to her family at age six, she had another passion and potential career occupying her time: gymnastics. Grace’s mom was an elite gymnast and had a vision of her daughter following in her footsteps, which wasn’t too far of a stretch given that Grace trained in an Olympics-hopeful group at the time.

Her mom’s literal prayers asking whether or not Grace should pursue music were answered with the piano, which prompted her to acquiesce to the “Dear Heart” singer’s dreams. From there, as a homeschooled girl from the Dallas suburbs, Grace embarked on her first of many work trips to Nashville at 14 years old.

Her first big step toward stardom? After her rendition of the “Star-Spangled Banner” at age 11 went viral for all of the wrong reasons, she redeemed herself and then some on the season 1 reboot of “American Idol” in 2018 by making it to the top 50.

Since her time on the show, she’s released a multitude of singles and an EP in 2024, “Break It Like A Man.”