“I know in my bones that I have to sing. It doesn’t matter if it’s just for my son or an arena full of 30,000 people. I'm supposed to use my voice to bring joy and healing to people.”
Joy is just the beginning with Jordin Sparks, the Grammy-nominated, multi-platinum recording artist who is full-to-brimming with love, curiosity, faith, and a full, powerful sound that makes her voice feel positively restorative. Over her 20-year career, Sparks has starred alongside Whitney Houston, graced untold numbers of magazine covers, and collaborated on one of the most successful duets of all time — and connecting all of these accomplishments is that one, unabashed throughline: joy.
Sparks soared to fame in 2007 when, at age 17, she became the youngest-ever winner of American Idol. Her self-titled debut album landed on the Billboard 200, with the chart-topping duet with Chris Brown, “No Air,” earning Sparks a Grammy nomination. Since then, she has released five additional albums, played a leading role in two Broadway musicals, appeared on Dancing with the Stars, and launched a popular podcast, “What’s Your Spark?”
Through it all, singing has remained not just her passion but her purpose. “It’s a release,” she says, “and it brings me a lot of joy.”
Lighting Embers
Sparks began earning attention for her prowess and skill on stage when she was still a child. At 16, she won the title of Torrid retail chain’s “America’s Next Plus Size Model” and was featured in Seventeen magazine, which she embraced. Sparks credits her parents for fostering a healthy body image and strong sense of self-assurance. “I never saw my mother picking at herself or comparing herself to other people,” she says. “Because I didn’t see that, I didn’t really do it.”
Later that year, Sparks’ teen dreams were realized when she earned a spot on the singing competition show American Idol. “I was just so excited to be there, doing what I loved on my favorite show ever,” she remembers.
Elation quickly mixed with sweat. Sparks calls the experience “the ultimate boot camp,” entailing jam-packed days of rehearsal, commercial shoots, wardrobe design, and performance — as well as three hours of school daily.
“It was a crazy schedule for an adult, much less a kid who was trying to do school,” she says. “I’m grateful for everything I learned because now, any kind of schedule is a cakewalk.”
In the end, the high-intensity collaboration of American Idol forged bonds that have endured. “We all got really, really close,” Sparks says. "To this day, we all are on a group message thread. It’s really nice to be able to have that family — then and now.”
Catching Fire
These early sparks of success ignited an illustrious career that has now spanned three decades and several artistic domains. Sparks’ newest album, No Restrictions, released in 2024, and she has won an American Music Award, a People's Choice Award, a BET Award, an NAACP Image Award, and a BMI Songwriting Award. She has starred in television and feature films including Left Behind, with Nicolas Cage, and as the titular character in Sparkle, opposite Whitney Houston. She’s taken on leading roles in Waitress and In the Heights on Broadway. She has launched perfumes, developed baking shows, and hosted a podcast.
But the role that’s been most fulfilling for Sparks is that of mother. In 2017, she married model, athlete and entrepreneur Dana Isaiah, with whom she welcomed a son, D.J., in 2018.
“I think I'm a pretty good singer,” Sparks says. “But I think I'm a much better mom.”
A New Flame
Sparks loved being pregnant and describes her son’s water birth, facilitated by a midwife and doula, as transformative and empowering.
“After D.J. was born, I felt the strongest I have ever felt,” she says. “I thought I could do anything. I could run a marathon. I could lift up this car. It was wild.”
The months that followed, Sparks says, were not all “rainbows and butterflies.”
“Hormones are definitely wild, and I was not prepared for that part,” says Sparks, who experienced the “push and pull” between work and home that is familiar to working moms everywhere. Once the fog of the postpartum months cleared, though, Sparks says she found a new clarity: “Things that I thought mattered before didn’t matter as much.”
Fuel for the Fire
After family and faith, health is a top priority for Sparks. “I really like to sweat,” she says. “Exercise is a great way to take care of myself. Sometimes I don’t get to sing my big battlefield song to get that cathartic release, so working out does that for me.”
Recent muscle tears in her leg have complicated Sparks’ workout regimen, prompting her to focus, for now, on yoga and breathwork. Though she’s eager to return to higher-impact workouts, she tries to practice patience with her healing. “I don’t dwell on the fact that my leg isn't working the way it used to but focus on how I'm better than I was yesterday,” she says. “I appreciate my body for everything it’s carried me through.”
This commitment to living in the present is central to her well-being and spirituality — with nature playing a pivotal role.
“We have a little garden with a little swing. If I'm feeling stressed about something, I sit on that swing,” Sparks says. “I don't put a time limit on it. I just look at the trees and the birds. It really helps ground me.”
She recounts a recent rainy day when she headed out to play at the request of her 8-year-old son. “We were outside for 30 minutes, jumping in puddles. We had mud all over us. It was the best,” she recalls. “That rain was very symbolic of cleansing whatever it was I was feeling that week.”
Burning Bright
Sparks is scanning for and manifesting joy constantly. On most days, she doesn’t have to try hard — whether because of her natural optimism, her commitment to gratitude, or a combination of both.
While putting her son to bed recently, she and D.J. were looking at pictures and videos from his younger days. “I got all teared up and he was like, ‘Mom, don’t cry,’” she recalls. “And I said, ‘It's OK; it's happy tears. How lucky are we to have such love in our life that it makes us feel like this? That we’re just overflowing with love?’”
