Abi Carter wins Season 22 of ‘American Idol’

(Additional reporting by Phyllis Thomas)

The “American Idol” finale took place on Sunday, May 19th. The winner for Season 22 was Abi Carter, a 21-year-old musician from Indio, California. Will Moseley was named runner-up. Jack Blocker took third place.

Carter first impressed the judges since she auditioned to Billie Eilish’s Oscar winning song “What Was I Made For?” from the “Barbie” movie soundtrack. Carter earned her one of the three platinum tickets. Carter stated at her audition that she has watched the show since she was younger and said that she told herself that when she got older she would try out for the show. She performed the song at the piano with the judges standing up. Perry said it was an example of singing from your heart and she was definitely Top 1o.

Idol judge Luke Bryan said after her audition, that they might have just seen the winner of “American Idol.” Lionel Richie agreed. During the finale, a video message from Billie Eilish was shown giving her approval of her rendition of the song. Carter was so touched that she fell to her knees.

This has been my favorite so far. I was sure that I was going home, for sure. American Idol has always favored the country artist, there are not many non-country-ish artists left so I just kind of figured…the math mathed and I guess it did not this time. This has been the best night, not only because it was Disney but I get to go and do hometowns. I don’t know what to say.
I’m a massive fan of Disney though. When we were doing rehearsals earlier today and they were playing the music and they had the backdrops. I was like “Oh My God! I am in heaven. Just was so happy to be a part of it.”
Carter dedicated an episode to her older sister who was in the audience to see her perform.
“This was her first live performance, that she was able to come to,” Carter shared. “She lives in Texas with her husband. They were like ‘if you get far enough, we’ll come. Then I made Top 5 so they said, ‘guess we’re coming. The opportunity to do a hometown, they were so happy to come here. It made me want to cry to see her in the audience. She’s my only older sibling and she was someone I always looked up to. I sang the song we grew up singing together and being stupid together. It was amazing!”

Carter’s only strategy for winning over the audience is a simple one. “I want to be myself,” she says. “I think with past performances, I’ve had so much fun. I’m finding different parts of myself. But I was not only doing it to prove to America that I could do it, but also to myself…If you are going to make it [as an artist], you have to grow and have to be open to it.”

The show also gave a farewell to judge Katy Perry who is leaving the show after six years and seven seasons of the show. The show showed a video montage of Katy Perry’s time on the show with her fellow judges Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan and host Ryan Seacrest cheering her on. The girls from the Top 12 performed a medley of her hits.

There’s no word on who will replace her, but Perry has some advice for who may join the chair after her.

“Don’t read the comments because you want to just stay authentic and sometimes that’s polarizing, “Perry told TVMusic Network after the show. “You may not always face it and you’ll make mistakes along the way and you’ll get a couple pies in your face but it’s fine. It’s better to have a couple of pies and still have a lot of authentic moments than to just be boring and obvious and placating the contestants and them not learning anything. I’m excited. I hope whoever it is…they’ve got some shoes to fill, and the viewers will let them know if they’re not filling them, so be authentic.”

“American Idol” returns in the Spring of 2o25 on ABC. Audition submissions are open now.

Watch Abi Carter’s performance of her original single “This Isn’t Over.”