The Tragic Reasons You Don't Hear From American Idol Winner Jordin Sparks Anymore

We first met Jordin Sparks back in 2007, when the 17-year-old singer became the youngest ever winner of "American Idol." After captivating audiences during season 6, the Arizona-born beauty scored more votes than runner-up Blake Lewis. Notoriously tough judge Simon Cowell told ABC News that year, "Jordin was the most improved over the whole season — didn't start the best, but midway through this was the girl who suddenly got momentum. Young girl, likeable, and the singer won over the entertainer [Lewis]."

After her win, Sparks seemed to enjoy some impressive momentum, culminating in the smash hit "No Air" with Chris Brown later that year. Sadly, over the next few years, a series of tragic events made it difficult for her to thrive in Hollywood. 

Fortunately for Sparks fans, she may be ready to return to the spotlight. The singer told E! News in September 2025 that she would love to return to "American Idol" as a judge, sharing, "I've gone through so much. I like being a mentor. I like being able to help someone and encourage them and say, 'Hey, why don't we try this? Did you ever think about trying it this way?' So, I would love to, if that opportunity ever arose. Put my name in the hat, please."

Just one year after Jordin Sparks won "American Idol" in 2007, the singer scored a major gig for a young artist — opening up for Alicia Keys. Sparks was selected to open for Keys when her "As I Am" tour kicked off in North America in April 2008, but a devastating health problem had other ideas. An announcement from her label, Jive, downplayed the injury, as their spokesperson told Billboard, "Jordin is on a vocal rest, but she's expected to make a full recovery and join Alicia on tour in May." 

Sparks herself set the record straight with an email to MTV News (via OhNoTheyDidn't), explaining she was actually dealing with a career-threatening vocal-cord injury, an acute vocal cord hemorrhage. "My career COULD HAVE BEEN in jeopardy if I hadn't done anything about it. But I knew something was wrong and that I needed to get it checked out... I knew something was seriously wrong when I tried to rehearse and my voice wouldn't work. THAT was scary," Sparks explained in the email. She ended things on a positive note, writing, "I should be back on tour in a few more days!! I'll be alive and kicking ... and who knows, maybe my voice will be better than it was before!"

Jordin Sparks made a scandalous decision in 2008 while introducing performer T.I. at the MTV Video Music Awards. The singer, who wore a purity ring like other fellow pop stars at the time, took issue with the show's host, Russell Brand, joking about the jewelry earlier in the broadcast, going off script to say, "I just have one thing to say about promise rings. It's not bad to wear a promise ring, because not everybody – guy or girl – wants to be a slut."

The bold statement didn't sit well with everyone, and Sparks later told Entertainment Weekly (via news.com.au), "I wish I would've worded it differently – that somebody who doesn't wear a promise ring isn't necessarily a slut – but I can't take it back now." The outburst put a spotlight on Sparks' own purity ring, a decision that she doesn't think fared well for her career. 

In June 2023, Sparks opened up about the controversy on the podcast "Good Moms Bad Choices," revealing, "When I was younger, I had a purity ring. That was all anybody wanted to talk about." Sadly, Sparks believes this decision had a negative impact on her career as a whole, revealing, "It played a lot into my decision-making on the type of music that I was allowed to do ... My third album was way more R&B and way more sensual. I think it was one of my best albums, to be honest."

While Jordin Sparks' fame seemed to peak with the 2008 release of "No Air," it wasn't for lack of trying. Unfortunately, one of Sparks' potential hits ended up being one for Ariana Grande early in her career. At the 2013 BET Awards, Sparks opened up about this little-known fact — she actually wrote Grande's song "The Way" about her then-boyfriend Jason Derulo. While speaking to That Grape Juice, she explained, "It was gonna go on my record, and somehow her people heard it. She loved it, she cut it. She did an amazing job, and it keeps on rising, and I'm like, 'What just happened?'" 

In 2020, Sparks took to Instagram to share her demo of the song, alongside a lengthy caption that said in part, "truuuuust me when I say I wanted it. I played this at the start of all my other sessions to show what direction I was headed. But, honestly, I'm not trippin. Ari is amazing and if it wasn't going to be me, I'm glad it was her!"

Harmony Samuels, who produced both artists, didn't have quite the same diplomatic take, telling Rated R&B in 2003, "I was working on those records for Ariana Grande, but they weren't Ariana Grande records — they were Jordin Sparks record. Jordin Sparks is the originator of those records and the blueprint behind who Ari is now." Samuels also pointed the finger at Sparks' record label for the reason her career stalled.

The same year Jordin Sparks' song "The Way" was released by Ariana Grande, Sparks was waiting patiently for her label to make a move. Although she originally signed to Jive Records, it was disbanded and she felt lost within its parent company, RCA Records. Sparks spoke to HuffPost Live (via BET) about the five-year delay in putting out an album, explaining that it wasn't her decision. After waiting on her label, she dabbled in acting, appearing on Broadway and starring in the film "Sparkle," a fact that RCA used to further delay her music.

"It's like any other business, they start the year and they have their budget and then they go and they put their money and finance in artists that they have on a schedule ... I technically wasn't on the schedule this year, but I have an album finished, so I'm ready to go," Sparks told the outlet. She remained positive, adding, "They've done so many amazing things for me, so I don't want this to come off like I hate them, 'cause I don't. It's just I'm a little bit frustrated 'cause I really want to put this music out for my fans. It's really good."

Her producer, Harmony Samuels, would later back up her claims, telling Rated R&B in 2023, "Unfortunately, RCA didn't see the value in what I was producing for Jordin, and they proceeded to go in a different direction." 

By 2014, RCA Records continued to stall Jordin Sparks' career. She self-released a mixtape, "#BYEFELICIA," in November of that year, a month before she parted ways with the label. She released her much-anticipated third album, "Right Here, Right Now," in August 2015, under her new label, Sony Music's Louder Than Life. After the album didn't make waves, Sparks took to X in May 2016 to announce she no longer had a label, tweeting, "For the 1st time in my life, I am free. All the way around. Nothing personally or professionally limiting me. It's an amazing feeling."

The following year, she gave up on Hollywood for good and was packing to move to Nashville, when she serendipitously met her future husband, Dana Isaiah. Sparks told People in 2024, "I was really about to go. I met him for the first time, and he was like, 'Why are you running?' In my head I'm like, 'You don't know me well enough to be asking me this question. But whoa, he was right. I was definitely running because I had just dealt with so much and I was tired."

Sparks credits Isaiah with keeping her in California, revealing, "He really loved me back to life. He encouraged me and was like, 'No, we need your voice. He really helped me flip the script on myself again, and remember who I am."

After meeting Dana Isaiah, Jordin Sparks took some time to focus on her personal life. In November 2017, People exclusively reported that the star not only secretly married Isaiah, but the couple was expecting their first child. Sadly, months later, the singer would be rocked with a series of horrific tragedies during what should have been a happy time in her life. She first faced the loss of her 16-year-old stepsister, Bryanna Jackson, who passed away from sickle cell anemia complications in February 2018. Then, just one day later, Sparks lost fellow "American Idol" alumni, friend Leah Labelle, and her husband, NBA player Rasual Butler, to a horrific car accident. 

In a since-deleted Instagram post (via BET), Sparks would later share that she also lost her cousin, Q, that same week, writing, "Four Angels in a week. My heart is just so heavy & broken. I'm in shock, numb and feel everything all at the same time ... The world is less sparkly without you in it. Rest In Peace and Power. I love you forever." 

After dealing with a string of deaths among her loved ones, ending with her stepfather, James Jackson, dying in 2019, it seemed Jordin Sparks was finally ready to get back to music in 2020. The problem? COVID-19. Sparks still attempted to release music, including an EP entitled "Sounds Like Me," her first project in five years. She told ABC Audio at the time, "If it charts, it's a bonus. If it sells a million copies, it's a bonus. I don't do it for those things." Sadly, the album wasn't a hit.

Despite having a hard time making a name for herself in the industry again, Sparks remains positive about her music. While speaking to Hollywood Life in 2023, Sparks revealed that the forced pause wasn't all bad — it actually helped her "fall in love with music again." Sparks explained, "When lock down happened, I had time to actually just sit and think and experience time with my family... It helped me reconnect with myself, with my family, and also connect with that magic that music is."