You may remember 17-year-old gospel singer Canaan James Hill from the past season of American Idol. This Texas native has been busy since the show wrapped working on his music. He’s been making sure to stay engaged with his supporters, his promise family. As many might expect he’s been sticking close to his faith-based music, but we are told he is branching out with his new material. “It’s still in my lane but it’s also not in my lane. It’s a mixture and I think people will love it” Canaan tells us. He also has some shows coming up, where you can catch him performing live.

Canaan is deeply rooted in his faith, and it shows. “Everything that I do when it comes to music, my faith is going to be right there in my center. If I don’t have a feel of how I feel in my spirit, if I don’t have God with me on what I’m doing it’s not going to work.”

As someone who watched this past season of Idol, I told him that he often brought us to church. Hill laughs like he’s pleased and says “Thank you so much. That’s all I can do. That’s what I was raised up on.”

He has been getting more involved in the ministry. Churches have been asking him to come and do travel preaching which he’s really excited about. In the future Canaan would love to preach at his grandpa’s church. “What I’ve already heard from some of the churches that I’ve already been to, and even some of the contestants on American Idol, my friends such as Kolbi, Jamaal, Gabbi, Victor, Slater, Breanna, all these different amazing contestants. They are all like ‘when you start preaching let us know because we are coming to your church'”. 

The biggest lesson Canaan learned from Idol was to have fun and to engage. “No matter what you do, no matter what I got out of it do what you love to do. But if you ever do anything out of your comfort zone, make it your own and own it.” Idol definitely pushed Hill out of his comfort zone, and it was his strong faith that helped him get through. “I will say this God can work in uncomfortable places. That’s the time when God tends to work the best is outside of our comfort zones. Many times, in our lives we get too backed up into a corner, where we’re stuck with something and we don’t want to get out of that place. So, we try to keep from doing anything that will take us out of that place that we seem to be so at ease and rested in.”

When you look back at all the things that Jesus did in the bible, I don’t believe that everything was a comfort zone. I believe everything he did was doing different things. He wasn’t just stuck in one place. He had other things that he was doing. Other adventures he would go on. He’d go places he’d never been before and meet people that he’d never met before. All of these different things he would do. Even when he was on a fast, he was out walking around, and the devil came to tempt him. He was doing things that other people probably would not have done and would probably not do this day.”

Hill’s favorite show memory was faith night. “When we all came together and we all sung songs that celebrated our faith. I really enjoyed that. Getting to meet the people that I met. Cece Winans was a huge blessing to me. I love her so much, so getting to meet her I was like oh my gosh” He excitedly tells us the story of meeting Cece. They were doing rehearsals. Canaan went over to the area where they take out their inner ears, and she was getting ready to walk out. Cece saw him standing there with one of the people that worked for American Idol. Hill had asked him is there any way that he could get over to talk to her, and he did. “She was like ‘oh there you are’. I almost melted right there where I was because ma’am, you’re sitting there that very moment and you’re like you’re looking for me little ole me? It was such a blessing because she was so kind, and she was so nice. It was admirable and I pray I get to run into her again.” He adds that she was so encouraging and inspiring and it was something he will never forget. He also loved getting to meet Roman Collins and sees a lot of similarities in himself. “I would say he could be an older version of me in a way in a couple of years. He’s so fun to be around. He’s so inspiring as well and so admiring because of everything he did on American Idol before I came on. I saw him and he inspired me to go on and do some of the things that I did.”

Hill recently had the opportunity to attend the BET awards and had the time of his life. “The BET awards were amazing. I got to meet some of my favorites. Some great conversations.”

Last month he had the opportunity to visit Nashville and perform at Franklin Summer Bash. “It was great. I got to have such a great time supporting all my friends.” It was his first visit to Nashville, and he loved it. “It was very relaxing, very calming. Kind of made me feel like I was at home. I really love it out there.” He admits they didn’t have much downtime, but they did get a chance to drive around Franklin a bit. And he got to ride a scooter, which he was determined
to do before they left. He is looking forward to coming back for the Stellar Awards.