Abi Carter

Abigail "Abi" Carter (born July 31, 2002) is an American singer and musician who won season 22 of American Idol in 2024. She is the first woman in four years to win the competition. She is from Indio, California, and graduated summa cum laude from Cal State San Bernardino, Palm Desert Campus, with a degree in Marriage & Family Therapy.

Early life and education
Carter was born on July 31, 2002, and raised in Indio, California, and is the second oldest of seven children in a "very religious family" living with a single mother, Andrea Engel Carter. She has three sisters and three brothers, one of whom, Daniel, is a YouTube video creator.

Carter says that her mother has always supported her in music; Andrea bought Abi her first keyboard. Abi began private piano lessons when she was 7 or 8; Marta Basham, her former piano teacher, spoke to the press and was in the audience for an American Idol show. Referring to her mother's help, Carter told the Coachella Valley Weekly that she "wouldn't be the person I am today without her guiding me along the way".

Carter said that when she was about 11, while cleaning her house, she was listening to "Battle Scars" by Guy Sebastian and Lupe Fiasco. At the time, she noticed patterns in music and music theory principles in pop music. Since then, she has continued playing by ear and improvising.

She went to school at George Washington Charter School in Palm Desert, California until third grade and then was homeschooled. She attended La Quinta High School in La Quinta, California for less than a semester and returned to being homeschooled. About that time, her parents separated. She said that she left high school so that she could also work part-time, help care for her siblings, buy a car, and chauffeur her siblings to school and appointments.

She finished high school early and studied psychology at California State University, San Bernardino, Palm Desert campus. In May 2023, she graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor's degree in Marriage & Family Therapy.

Before Idol
In 2016, Carter and her mother, who is also a singer, performed for the McCallum Theatre's Open Call Talent Competition, an annual event in Palm Desert. Abi was 13 and her mother 35, and they won "Best Vocal Act" that year. She tried out for Open Call to help her mother overcome her stage fright. Abi has been an Open Call finalist five times.

When Carter was 19, she decided to devote more time to her passion for music, so she quit her job as a gymnastics instructor and started busking. She also gained valuable experience performing at country clubs in the Coachella Valley, as well as at the bar at Tommy Bahama Marlin Bar in Palm Springs, and at Kitchen 86 + Bar in Palm Desert, the "first restaurant that hired her to play music". Her goal was to earn a living by singing, and when local restaurant owners encouraged her to sing in their restaurants, she thought she had reached her goal.

She also performed at VillageFest, a weekly street fair in downtown Palm Springs. When she first began playing at VillageFest, she started with "12-30 songs" she already knew and just "played them on repeat for four hours straight". Then she began to realize she knew more songs and "actually could play anything that people asked for as long as I had heard it before. I didn't know I could do that."

When some social media videos of her playing were well-received, she was pleasantly surprised and encouraged, so she decided to post cover videos to see what would happen. When she posted a video of her singing the 2023 song "Vampire", by Olivia Rodrigo, American Idol casting producer Ariel Panzer saw the video and invited her to audition for the show. After a couple Zoom meetings with American Idol producers, she decided to audition in Santa Barbara, and, as she puts it, "The rest is history."

Her music is inspired by the following artists: Taylor Swift, Sara Bareilles, Gracie Abrams, Lizzy McAlpine, Carrie Underwood, My Chemical Romance, Paramore, and Billie Eilish. She has been a fan of Billie Eilish since she was a young teenager. Her favorite American Idol alums are: Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, David Archuleta, Adam Lambert, and Jordin Sparks.

American Idol contest
In late 2023, after the judges had listened to two days of auditions, Carter performed as the last person of the Los Angeles auditions. She sang Billie Eilish's "What Was I Made For?", a rendition that impressed all three judges, with Lionel Richie declaring, "We don't have to vote." Wide Open Country reported that she made the song personal by adding complex runs to the melody and using her falsetto range. When she finished the song, Katy Perry approached her and said, "Thank you for being an example of singing from your heart. What were you made for? You were made for this. One hundred percent." Luke Bryan said to Lionel Richie, "That may be the winner of American Idol." Perry turned around and said to Bryan: "Luke, she's Top 10, right?" Richie and Bryan agreed that Carter could win the show. Bryan also mentioned that he had never heard the show's crew clap before. Richie said to Carter's family: "That's the best we've ever heard on this show.   ... I'm not kidding." Carter was awarded a golden ticket without the judges voting, and a week later her golden ticket was upgraded to a platinum ticket.

On March 23, Carter's first concert was held in her home town of Indio. It was a fundraising event where nearly 1,000 people attended.

On April 7, after making it into the Top 24, she sang "Oceans (Where Feet May Fail)" by Hillsong United. Perry told Carter, "I don’t know if I'm allowed to say it, but you're my favorite. I just think you're so gifted."

In the Top 20, Carter sang a slowed-down version of "Welcome to the Black Parade" by My Chemical Romance, and Perry cried a little during the song. Carter sang the song as a tribute to her grandfather, who died in 2021, and to her grandmother, who died after American Idol filmed in Kapolei, Hawaii.

In an interview after she had made it into the Top 3, when Carter was asked if there was a particular performance she was most proud of, she mentioned two songs: her audition performance of "What Was I Made For?" because the song relates to her true identity as a performer; and "Bring Me to Life" because it helped her to perform outside her normal comfort zone and discover many layers of herself.

A hometown visit is a tradition for the Top 3 contestants, with a parade and concert, and one stop in the Coachella Valley was at her old school, George Washington Charter School. She described the impact of her story on children:

During the Grand Finale, Billie Eilish expressed her love and support for Carter in a prerecorded video message: "Hi Abi, it's Billie. I wanted to say congratulations for making the 'Top 3' on American Idol. This is such a big deal. I'm so happy for you. It's so amazing to see you in the finale after you sang my song, 'What Was I Made For?' in your audition. I love you so much. I wish you nothing but the best, and I just can't wait to see what happens tonight. I'm here to support you forever, and I love ya. Have fun."

Carter sang three songs in the season finale of the contest, ending with her original song, "This Isn't Over". On May 19, 2024, Carter became the season 22 winner and sang "What Was I Made For?" again. Will Moseley came in second and Jack Blocker finished in third place. Carter is the first recipient of a platinum ticket to win the competition, the first woman in four years to win, and the eighth female winner overall. Immediately after her win, Bryan said to Carter: "I think this is the first time the person that we thought was gonna be the winner actually was."

Carter was frequently predicted to become one of the Top 3 contestants or possibly even the final winner. Parade Magazine wrote: "The bottom line is that any of the three could win it and be deserving of the honor, but my prediction is it should be Abi. As stated above, she's got it all, she's the whole package, and most importantly, enough experience to go with it."

After Idol
After her win on May 19, she was flown to New York City for a publicity tour. There she was able to take in a Broadway theatre show. She also appeared on Good Morning America and Live with Kelly and Mark. There she performed her new single, "This Isn't Over" and revealed she had expected Will Moseley to win, describing him as "amazing". She also sang and threw out the ceremonial first pitch at a New York Mets baseball game.

On May 31, 2024, her first time returning home after her win, Carter sang "The Star-Spangled Banner" and dropped the ceremonial first puck at the opening of a hockey game between the Coachella Valley Firebirds and the Milwaukee Admirals at the Acrisure Arena in the Coachella Valley.

On June 20, she performed during the first intermission of the American Hockey League Calder Cup playoffs for her hometown team, the Coachella Valley Firebirds, where she also announced her first full concert, "No Amount of Dark", which will be held at Acrisure Arena on July 27. The concert's title comes from the lyrics of one of her songs, and the concert will feature a lot of new, original, music from Abi. Canadian pop singer Laur Elle will be the concert's opening act.

On June 27, she sang the national anthem at the 2024 United States Olympic trials for gymnastics.

Public image
Katy Perry said her "voice is unlike anything I've heard in pop music" and compared Carter to Ariana Grande, whom Perry considers "the best singer of our generation".

Personal life
Carter is in a relationship with boyfriend Cooper McCollum from Allen, Texas.

After American Idol, she moved to Los Angeles, where she is writing songs and working in studios with writers.

Discography

 * "It's All Love", lyric video
 * "This Isn't Over", music video, lyric video