This Is My Now

This was the 2006 American Idol finale song. When the show got down to the last two contestants, each performed a new song created for the show, and the winner released that song as a single. In 2006, Jordin Sparks and Blake Lewis were the last ones standing, and both sang "This is My Now" for the judges. The song is far more suited to Sparks, and she won the competition.

Sparks won the sixth season of American Idol; in each of the previous five years, a contestant from the show had reached #1 with their debut single (the only non-winner: Clay Aiken). With a big marketing push and exposure from the show, these songs each debuted at #1 with the exception of "A Moment Like This," by Season 1 winner Kelly Clarkson, which took two weeks to reach the top. Sparks broke the streak when this song topped out at #15. The Idol machine didn't seem very interested in pushing it to the top, and it was released as a digital download only and spent just four weeks on the Hot 100. Sparks' next single, "Tattoo," got more attention and reached #8.

This song was the winner of the American Idol Songwriter Competition, which was announced midway through Season 6. The competition followed the Idol concept of finding undiscovered talent and putting it to a vote. For $10, anyone could upload a recording (of any quality) of a song they wrote, and 20 finalists were chosen by judges. "This is My Now" was among those 20, and it won an online vote to become the winner's first single. The Fox network claimed that over 25,000 entries were submitted, and more than 500,000 votes tallied. The winning song was written by Scott Krippayne and Jeff Peabody. Krippayne is a professional musician based in Seattle who had released six album by this time; Peabody was the pastor at New Day Church in Tacoma, Washington. Peabody wrote the lyrics, which he described as "encouraging for people who might be discouraged." The American Idol Songwriter Competition lasted just one more season, with Reggie Hamm winning for "The Time of My Life," released by Season 7 winner David Cook.