Jennifer Hudson dishes on her new Christmas album, sparkling romance with Common: Theres nothing like it

Twenty years ago, Jennifer Hudson had hit bottom.As in the bottom three of “American Idol” — where she was shockingly up for elimination on the third season of the singing competition with fellow presumptive front-runners Fantasia Barrino and LaToya London.

After her powerful pipes had carried her through with covers of Aretha Franklin, Elton John and Whitney Houston, Hudson was the vocalist booted on that night that shook up America, finishing a surprising seventh in the 2004 season ultimately won by Barrino.“I feel like everything happens [for a reason], and I wouldn’t change any of it,” Hudson, 43, tells Alexa.“Everybody has their own track, and it could only be one winner at the time.

And, you know, I think Fantasia was deserving to have won — and I’m deserving to have done everything that I’ve gotten to do as well.”Indeed, that controversial elimination would turn out to be “a gift” for the Chicago native who went on to score an Oscar-winning role in 2006’s “Dreamgirls” and Grammy gold for her 2008 self-titled debut album.After winning a Daytime Emmy for her virtual-reality venture “Baba Yaga” in 2021, she would complete EGOT status as a producer of “A Strange Loop” when it won the Best Musical Tony in 2022.Not bad for an “American Idol” also-ran.She wasn’t kidding when she famously told us: “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going.” As she chats up other stars on the third season of “The Jennifer Hudson Show,” she’s also returning to her roof-raising roots as a singer with a new holiday album: “The Gift of Love.” While she clearly  hasn’t gone anywhere, it’s been 10 years since Hudson’s last LP (2014’s “JHud”).“I feel like it hasn’t been [a decade] because I sing through everything I do,” says Hudson.

“Through films, commercials, different things, I have never stopped singing.So I didn’t notice that I hadn’t had an official Jennifer Hudson album … But time flies, especially...