“This song is dedicated to anyone whose life might’ve taken a turn for the worse or anybody who’s afraid their magic is gone,” said Jewel mid-way through her performance. “Take heart. The story is not over yet.” Performing her original song “The Story,” Jewel competed on American Song Contest, representing her home state of Alaska.
The stage was set to a shimmering cherry blossom inspired tree backdrop, Jewel, dressed in jeans and a feathery white flowing vest topped with a pink cowboy hat, sang the very pop song of hope, which built around the chorus This part makes me so emotional / Just a girl in a lonely world / Just praying for a miracle / Afraid she won’t see / But that’s not the end of the story.
The four-time Grammy winner who is about to release her 13th album Freewheelin’ Woman and recently won the last season of The Masked Singer, returned to her hometown and talked about her Alaskan pride and how it taught her to be different in a pre-recorded video shown prior to her performance.
The singer also reflected on her journey since her 1995 debut Pieces of You. “That album went on to sell 15 million albums,” she said. “My song ‘You Were Meant For Me’ ended up breaking all the records as the longest pop in the industry.”
She went on to talk about the magic of music, setting up her new song. “The thing I love about music is it’s the great leveler,” said Jewel. “Anybody can come up with a great song and it can be a hit, but I wanted to rapidly for this show to reintroduce myself to people who might be new to my music. My song is called ‘The Story.’
This week, Jewel joined other contestants, including Ni/Co (Alabama), Riker Lynch (Colorado), Nitro Nitra (Delaware), Ale Zabala (Florida), Brittany Pfantz (Louisiana), Brooke Alexx (New Jersey), Sabyu (Northern Mariana Islands), Jesse LeProtti (South Carolina), Judd Hoos (South Dakota), Tyler Braden (Tennessee) and Grant Knoche (Texas).
Following her performance, a video of fans cheering Jewel on from her hometown of Homer, Alaska came on-screen before hosts Kelly Clarkson and Snoop Dogg reacted to her song.
“That was such a cool song, I love that,” said Clarkson after her performance. “We all have plot twists.” She added, “I love her modulation. It went in all different places.”
Dogg added, “She is such a great storyteller. I love her swagger.”
Photo: Trae Patton / NBC
