Jessica Meuse

Meuse states she is, "influenced by virtually every genre of music." More specifically though, she has called her style "a blend of southern rock with alternative and rock n’ roll." Mary Colurso of AL.com has described it as "rock...infused with country and metal." Meuse's musical influences include Coldplay, Miranda Lambert, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Stevie Nicks, Death Cab for Cutie, Bruno Mars, and Shinedown.

Although Meuse expressed on Twitter in late 2016 that she considered Los Angeles to be her "second home", she continued to reside primarily in Slapout until the end of that year, when she moved to Houston, Texas for a position with the Lone Survivor Foundation. Around that same time, she announced that she had an EP in production. Within a few months, the EP had been expanded into a full album. Titled Halfhearted, Meuse's first post-Idol album was released through Warrior Records on August 3, 2018.

Meuse returned to the American Idol stage for the season 13 finale, where she performed with Jennifer Nettles. She then performed in the American Idol summer tour, which began on June 24, 2014 and went through August 23. Following the tour, Meuse went back to performing shows mostly in Alabama and Georgia, although she also played occasionally in California and Tennessee. In early 2015, she told The Hollywood Reporter that she had intentions of moving to Los Angeles. Her debut single, "Done," was released independently on April 21, 2015, and her second single, "Rio Grande", was released on January 5, 2016.

Meuse's mother, Sheila, worked as the assistant director of the Central Alabama Veterans Health Care System, where in 2014, she became a whistleblower exposing mismanagement in the VA. Her efforts, and the VA's subsequent retaliation against her, have been detailed by the Montgomery Advertiser and NPR.

Meuse began writing music at age eighteen. Her first song was called "What's So Hard About Bein' a Man". She went on to self-release a CD by the same name in 2011 and had already written around sixty original songs by the time of her American Idol audition.

In October 2010, Meuse won the Stars of Alabama Artist Showcase, a statewide music competition that was judged by professionals from Montgomery, Atlanta and Nashville. In October 2013, Meuse was featured by the Alabama Media Group in the Birmingham Sessions, an online showcase for musicians around the Birmingham, Alabama area. She auditioned for The Voice before her American Idol run, but did not pass the judging rounds of the mentors.

Jessica Rose Meuse (born October 19, 1990), also known as Jess Meuse, is an American singer from Slapout, Alabama. After spending several years as an unsigned musician, she finished in fourth place on the thirteenth season of American Idol. Her debut album, What's So Hard About Bein' a Man, was self-released in 2011, three years before she gained national exposure on reality television. While competing on American Idol, she became the first person in the history of the series to perform an original song during the finals. Her second album, Halfhearted, was released on August 3, 2018, through Warrior Records.

Meuse was born in Round Rock, Texas, on October 19, 1990 to Charles Edward and Sheila Arlene (Strobel) Meuse. Her mother's government job led to the family moving several times when Meuse was a child. As a way to be more outgoing as a pre-teen, she recorded CDs and gave them to friends. While living in Zephyrhills, Florida in 2002, she attended St. Anthony Catholic School in nearby San Antonio, Florida. It was there, at the school's talent show, that she acknowledges performing publicly for the first time. When she was in the seventh grade, she moved to Slapout, Alabama, where she joined the Montgomery Youth Orchestra, eventually becoming principal second violin. She also played shows of her own at various festivals, fundraisers, schools, and public events. In addition to the violin, she plays both guitar and piano.