Is This the Most Faith-Filled Season of American Idol Yet?

American Idol announced that a special three-hour episode, "Songs of Faith," will take place on Easter Sunday featuring performances by the Top 20 contestants of this season. The night will include special guest star appearances from GRAMMY® winner CeCe Winans, Idol alum Roman Collins, country star Jelly Roll, Christian artist Brandon Lake, and The Brown Four.

As the long-running singing competition is closer to announcing this year's American Idol winner, viewers will vote on the performances of the Idol Top 20's faith-inspired songs, Parade reports.

This Sunday (April 6), American Idols will participate in "Hollywood Week: Showstopper," when the remaining competitors will deliver performances that will determine whether they will advance to the next level. 

The competition will reconvene the next day (April 7) airing the brand-new "Head-to-Head" round the competitors face off in intense head-to-head battles. Meanwhile, Jelly Roll will debut as this season's new artist in residence.

A post shared by RELEVANT Magazine (@relevantmagazine)

Current American Idol contestant Baylee Littrell, the son of Backstreet Boys' singer and professing Christian Brian Littrell, delivered a powerful ballad during Hollywood Week on "American Idol" in an original song titled "Hey Jesus," which he wrote following the loss of his grandmother. 

"This is called 'Hey Jesus.' This is an original," the 22-year-old told judges. "I wrote this song when I was going through a pretty tough time in my life. I lost somebody I loved. …My grandma was my best friend. With my dad being away on tour, she would always step in. She understood me like not many people do. My grandma passed away three years ago, almost," Littrell said, detailing how the song came to be.

"I thought she was going to be around for moments like this. I never expected to lose her. So when I did, I questioned everything, and I had pushed away faith. I thought I would not find it again. This song kind of helped me find it."

The lyrics of the song include the lines: "Hey Jesus/ I broke my wings again/ could you help me up one last time old friend/ oh cause I surrender everything to you/ Oh, I've tried to fight all my battles without you by my side/ in the dark depths of the night/it's where I've been without your beautiful light/ oh you gave me wings to fly/ Hey Jesus."

The song brought both his parents to tears in the audience and received a standing ovation from the Idol judges. 

"Baylee, you're so good. Your heart and genuineness just coming through. You're so good," Underwood said.

"Boy, that's great lyrics," Richie said, while Underwood added, "a conversation with God."

The performance was a success as Littrell advanced to the Showstoppers round of Hollywood Week.

"Y'ALL!! I made it past the #Idol Arena! Next up is SHOWSTOPPERS! Tune in next SUNDAY and MONDAY for more Hollywood week on @AmericanIdol!🎤✨ Let’s keep this #BayleeTrain going 🚂”, he wrote on March 31. 

A post shared by Baylee Littrell (@bayleelittrell_music)

Photo Credit: ©Instagram/Luke Bryan/American Idol

Milton Quintanilla is a freelance writer and content creator. He is a contributing writer for CrosswalkHeadlines and the host of the For Your Soul Podcast, a podcast devoted to sound doctrine and biblical truth. He holds a Masters of Divinity from Alliance Theological Seminary.

Originally published April 04, 2025.