With her signature grit and jagged edge, Courtney Hadwin has never followed the path most expected of her. At just 13, she shocked America’s Got Talent audiences with a raw audition that set her apart from the pack.
But instead of being polished into another manufactured pop star, Hadwin chose to carve her own lane—one rooted in authenticity, lived experience, and a refusal to compromise her sound.
Now 21, Hadwin has finally unveiled her debut album Little Miss Jagged—a record she describes as her “personal diary,” written over the course of five formative years.
Among its most striking tracks is “Sixteen,” a song with a history as jagged as the artist herself. Originally penned when she was 16, the track was dismissed by industry voices who told her it was “not good enough” and would never make an album. Around the same time, her label folded, leaving the teenage singer in an even tougher spot than before her breakout AGT run.
But Hadwin didn’t let those voices silence her. Instead, she returned to “Sixteen” years later, rewriting its lyrics from the perspective of a 20-year-old looking back at her younger self.
That decision transformed the song into a powerful reclamation of her voice—and a bold clap back at the critics who doubted her. “I love that I’m sticking my fingers up to the people who said it wasn’t good enough,” Hadwin recently shared. “Because look—it made the album! Track No.10, baby!”
Lyrically, “Sixteen” captures the whirlwind of adolescence: identity, confusion, self-doubt, and the rush of growing up too quickly. Lines like “She’s 16, not 21 / You don’t believe her / She’s feeling sorry for herself ’cause you forget how it feels to be” ring with the sharp honesty of someone who has lived through that turbulence and come out stronger. The track pulses with raw emotion, a mix of vulnerability and defiance that makes it impossible to ignore.
For Hadwin, recording the song again wasn’t just about proving a point—it was about reclaiming her own narrative. In a music industry that often pressures young artists to conform, “Sixteen” stands as a testament to the power of holding onto your truth, no matter how jagged it feels.
It’s a theme that runs throughout Little Miss Jagged, an album built on unfiltered stories of coming-of-age, heartbreak, independence, and resilience. From the electrified highs of “Electric” to the unvarnished self-reflection of “Sixteen,” Hadwin has cemented herself as an artist unafraid to let her scars show.
And while many still remember the shy 13-year-old who nervously took the AGT stage, today’s Courtney Hadwin is no longer that girl. She’s a woman who has turned rejection into fuel, doubts into anthems, and jagged edges into her own kind of sparkle.