Season 13 winner Caleb Johnson said he formed “so many amazing memories and experiences” with Harris, adding, “Life is so fragile!”
“This hurts so much,” Johnson wrote on Instagram Jan. 16. “CJ was my roommate on @americanidol during Hollywood week and then lived right next door to me and @realalexpreston during the live shows. We instantly became friends and formed a brotherhood pack,” alongside contestants Alex Preston and Sam Woolf.
Jess Meuse, who finished in fourth place, said she felt “completely shocked.”
“Your talent and smile will be missed, and the world is definitely a darker and eerily quieter place without you in it,” she said on Instagram Jan. 16. “I’ll miss your random phone calls asking for life advice and talking about the music world. When you go through something like Idol together, it brings everyone involved together like a big, weird, dysfunctional family.”
