Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Gabby Barrett will perform her latest single Sunday on American Idol.

Released independently back in February, “I Hope” has nevertheless spent seven weeks on Billboard’s Hot Country Single chart, climbing as high as number 37.

It’s also earned more than 3 million streams on Spotify, and hit number one on Radio Disney Country’s Top 50 Chart.

It’s flat-out one of the best post-singing show songs I’ve heard this year, and I’ve heard a lot of them.

Gabby wrote the song with Zachary Kale and Jon Nite. In it, she wishes bad fortune for a guy who did her wrong.

“I remember this very vividly,” she says in a Facebook post of the writing session that produced “I Hope.” “We came to the idea of writing a song about a guy and a girl and it didn’t work out, but the girl kind of wishes him well, even though he’s moved on. She’s still being nice.

“I said, ‘That’s not how girls really think. We’re really like, ‘Well, I hope she winds up cheating on you because you did me wrong.’

“That’s kinda what this song is about. I wanted it to be the things that we never say, for it to be the song that just kind of empowers girls when they hear it,” says Gabby, the third-place finisher in Season 16.

If you missed it, here’s the music video for “I Hope.” And major kudos to American Idol for inviting Gabby back to perform the song.

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