‘Idol’ Winner Laine Hardy Staging a Comeback After Avoiding Jail Time

Season 17 “American Idol” winner Laine Hardy is slowly returning to the spotlight following a tumultuous couple of years, including parting ways with his record label after his highly-publicized 2022 arrest for eavesdropping on an ex-girlfriend.

After completing a months-long diversion program for non-violent offenders, according to The Advocate, the Louisiana native has kicked off 2024 with a clean record, newfound passions, and an eye on releasing new music.

Here’s what you need to know:

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Laine Hardy’s Excited for Fresh Start Now That His Record is Clean

Hardy, 23, has kept a fairly low profile since an April 2022 arrest when he was “accused of putting a listening device in his ex-girlfriend’s college dorm room” at Louisiana State University (LSU), per the Associated Press.

In early 2023, he enrolled in a months-long pretrial diversion program designed to rehabilitate first-time offenders as an alternative to jail time, according to The Advocate.

By October, East Baton Rouge District Attorney Hillar Moore had confirmed to The Advocate that Hardy successfully completed the program, which means the 2022 incident has been scrubbed from his record.

“I’m still constantly working on myself,” he told the paper ahead of an October concert in his home state. “It doesn’t mean who (fans) see is like the finished product. I’m gonna work on myself for the rest of my life, you know? … I have a goal and I have a motivation.”

Hardy also reemerged on social media in October, feeling hopeful about his future, telling his Instagram followers he’d spent the year leaning into his faith and learning from his mistakes.

“I’ve learned to just simply be grateful for anything, good/bad, positive/negative,” he wrote. “It shapes you from who you were to how you were to how you are to who you are now.”

On January 19, Hardy told Baton Rouge radio station 100.7 The Tiger that he’s been working closely with multiple successful songwriters in Nashville and has plans to release new music by mid-summer.

“I finished the final mix of a song called ‘That Man’ that will be released first, before this next one, called ‘Dancing on the Moon,” he said.

Hardy first shared a snippet of “That Man” with his fans online a year ago, but hasn’t officially released it as a single. Co-written with Kylie Sackley and Grant Vogel, the lyrics speak of redemption, including the line, “I want to wake up and be proud every day of the way I’ve been living.”

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Laine Hardy Has Spent Time Out of the Spotlight Exploring New Passions & Writing From the Heart

Hardy rose to fame in 2019, winning “American Idol” during his second time on the show.  Though he was cut midway through the competition in 2018, he made quite an impression on judges Katy Perry, Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan. When his cousin decided to audition the following year, Hardy agreed to accompany her on guitar.

The judges instantly recognized Hardy and, much to his surprise, urged him to audition, too. He not only earned a golden ticket to Hollywood, but wound up winning the season at age 19.

Laine’s career was taking off at the time of his arrest, with his first album, “Here’s To Anyone,” released in August 2021, per Taste of Country. But months after his arrest, in October 2022, he shared on social media that he’d parted ways with 19 Entertainment and Disney Music Group.

In addition to working independently on his music over the last year, from songwriting to playing gigs around Nashville and his hometown, Hardy told 100.7’s “Off the Record” host Brittany Rose that he’s also been expanding his worldview by exploring other passions.

“I don’t like talking about myself much,” he nervously told Rose, but eventually shared that he enjoys hunting (mainly turkeys), loves to read (because it helps him “communicate with people better”) and is particularly passionate about archaeology.

When he started reading up on “pre-Columbian” artifacts, he said it sparked his curiosity and has inspired him to do his own digs, during which he’s found “really cool arrowheads” and other tools that he hopes to share with the Louisiana Archaeological Society, of which he is now a member.

However, Hardy said nothing quite compares to the joy that making music brings him, and hopes he can provide others with inspiration and insight about his journey through his upcoming releases.

He told The Advocate that songwriting has allowed him to “convey my emotion in just a positive way on paper to hopefully influence people to feel the same way.”

“That’s what I’m learning how to do,” he continued. “I want to be positive with the music and just kind of lift people up with my gift.”

He also told Rose that he hopes people understand where he’s coming from when they hear his new singles later this year.

“Every time I write a song, I put a lot of creative effort towards it,” he told Rose. “And I’m not looking for acknowledgement or recognition, but when y’all hear the songs, when I release them, listen to the meaning in the lyrics. Because some songs can be written and…they say something but they don’t mean anything.”

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