![\"\ud83d\udd25\"](\"https:\/\/s.w.org\/images\/core\/emoji\/17.0.2\/svg\/1f525.svg\")
<\/p>\n2 AMERICAN IDOL FINALISTS JUST MADE MAJOR CAREER MOVES\u00a0<\/p>\n
While the finale may be over, Hannah Harper and Keyla Richardson are proving their stories are just getting started.<\/p>\n
New opportunities, growing momentum, and unexpected next steps are already putting both singers back in the spotlight.<\/p>\n
![\"\ud83d\udc47\"](\"https:\/\/s.w.org\/images\/core\/emoji\/17.0.2\/svg\/1f447.svg\")
\u00a0Fans are saying this is only the beginning.<\/p>\n
Pensacola became Pensakeyla for the past few months as the\u00a0community rallied behind Florida native\u00a0and gospel singer Keyla Richardson during her time on \u201cAmerican Idol.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now that the show\u2019s over, Richardson\u00a0hints where her career might take her next.<\/p>\n
Richardson, a\u00a0frontrunner in Season 24 of the reality singing competition,\u00a0made it all the way to the show\u2019s three-hour finale, ending her journey May 11 as second runner-up. Jordan McCullough was crowned runner-up later in the episode, and\u00a0country singer Hannah Harper\u00a0from Southeast Missouri took home the gold.<\/p>\n
Check out what the Top 3 finalists are up to following the show\u2019s finale.<\/p>\n
Since returning home, Richardson said she has been back in the studio working on music, with lots of opportunities for both her and her son, Drew, hinting that they\u2019re \u201cgoing to be on the road a lot\u201d and maybe even seeing her face on some talk shows.<\/p>\n
While\u00a0she can\u2019t say yet what her plans are\u00a0for the next few months, she doesn\u2019t think her schedule will allow her to continue teaching at Life Shifting Academy next school year.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love my students, I\u2019m always going to visit my students\u2026they\u2019re my kids. As far as right now, my schedule is so busy I don\u2019t see myself being able to even go back to the school and teach the kids,\u201d Richardson said. \u201cBut I can come back and maybe have a program; we can schedule that time.\u201d<\/p>\n
When her newest music is released, fans may even see her transition into a genre outside of gospel.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve always sung gospel music, and now, I\u2019m just open to more. I\u2019m an inspirational person, and everybody just won\u2019t come to where I\u2019m at, I have to go to where they\u2019re at. That\u2019s how I think about it,\u201d Richardson said. \u201cI\u2019m just not in the gospel lane anymore. I\u2019m in the country lane, I\u2019m in the pop lane, I\u2019m in the rock lane, the soul lane, you name it. I can do different kinds of stuff, but I\u2019m just really leaning toward pop\u2026I\u2019m just a little bit of everything, I guess.\u201d<\/p>\n
Richardson had previously grown her career as a gospel artist, climbing the charts with original songs like \u201cSo Good,\u201d which placed No. 1 on Billboard Gospel Airplay in 2020 and was Richardson\u2019s soulful account of praise for God\u2019s goodness, rescuing her from even the darkest moments of life.<\/p>\n
Tickets are still available on Ticketmaster for\u00a0Richardson\u2019s Pensacola concert at the Saenger Theatre at 7 p.m. on July 25.<\/p>\n
Take a stroll down memory lane and watch\u00a0all of Keyla Richardson\u2019s \u201cAmerican Idol\u201d performances\u00a0this season, beginning with her audition.<\/p>\n
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2 AMERICAN IDOL FINALISTS JUST MADE MAJOR CAREER MOVES\u00a0 While the finale may be over, Hannah Harper and Keyla Richardson are proving their stories are just getting… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27233,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27232","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27232","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27232"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27232\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27234,"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27232\/revisions\/27234"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/27233"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27232"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27232"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grow24.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27232"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}