It’s been slightly more than two months since Jamal Roberts was crowned the winner of American Idol 2025, and he’s already making headway on his music career. His initial single from the competition, “Heal,” debuted at No.1 on Billboard’s Hot Gospel Songs chart, marking the first time an AmericanIdol winner has ever claimed the top spot on that chart.
Today, he’s releasing his powerful new single, Mississippi, a soulful tribute to the state that shaped him. Blending gospel roots with heartfelt R&B, the track captures the ache and beauty of remembering where you come from. In Jamal’s case, that’s Meridian, MS.
“It paints a picture of why I miss home and why a lot of people miss home, and what really just takes their minds back to that moment or to that place or someone,” Jamal describes his new single to Parade in this exclusive interview.
Jamal Roberts
Disney/Stewart Cook
“It’s a good song,” he continues. “It’s mixed with R&B and soul, and it’s mixed with gospel, and it’s mixed with country. I just got all of it and put it in one. There’s a pinch of almost every genre in this song and I’m so excited about it. If you’ve been watching me post-Idol, you know I love fishing, you know I love my kids. All that is my peace, so ‘Mississippi’ has all my peace inside of it.”
Not that he has any plans to move away from his hometown. He was adamant when he won the American Idol title that he wasn't inclined to relocate, especially since he is the father of three daughters – Harmoni, 6, Lyrik, 4, and Gianna, almost 3 months – so he wants to remain close to his roots.
Jamal Roberts with daughters Harmoni and Lyrik
Disney/Christopher Willard
“I had already said that I was going to find a song post-Idol and dedicate it back to my hometown, Meridian, and back to Mississippi,” Jamal says. “So, when we were thinking about it, it was like, ‘What about “Missing You in Mississippi”? I was like, ‘Yeah, okay, set it up.’ We went through the lyrics, I started changing things. I was like, ‘No, this will work, this will work, this will work because this explains me.’”
So, although Jamal didn’t originally write the song, he contributed to it sufficiently in order to make it his own to earn a writing credit on the single, and he’s appreciative that his record label paid attention to what he had to say that enabled him to do that.
“They’re never trying to overpower me or do what they think is best,” he says. “They’re always listening. I think that’s amazing that they listen to the artist, get the feedback and then put all of it together in one picture. When I went into the studio to sing it, I actually sang it in one take. I went through it, and I was in the moment. I guess just like ‘Heal.’ When I sang ‘Heal,’ I was in that moment, and all the emotions and all the memories popped up in my head. Some songs will take you back to memories, they’ll take you back to a place or a moment or a time, and that’s what that song does for me.”
Jamal Roberts, Lionel Richie
Disney/Christopher Willard
It also doesn’t hurt that Jamal has the ability – as Idol judge Lionel Richie coined it -- to “Jamalerize” a song, to make it uniquely his own. And with his record label and producers embracing him and letting him be himself, he discovered that he is capable of more than he knew.
“Every time they let me be myself, I found out there’s new things that I can do that I didn’t really know, because I hadn’t really been in the studio like that before,” he said. “I just used to sing, but there’s things that I can do, and I can turn around and flip and make my own.”
“Mississippi” is available today across all major streaming platforms.
