‘American Idol’ Contestant Leaves Carrie Underwood, Lionel Richie, and Luke Bryan in Tears with Original Song
“I have a special student of mine, Slater Nalley, and he wrote a song for my son who was killed eight years ago,” Mrs. Davis said.
Published Feb. 28 2025, 11:58 a.m. ET
‘American Idol’ contestant Slater Nalley
The upcoming season of long-running competition reality series American Idol is just days away — but one teenage contestant is already making waves online following a sneak peek of his emotional performance.
Slater Nalley, a 17-year-old singer from Atlanta, Ga., left American Idol judges Carrie Underwood, Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan filled with tears after his acoustic performance of his original song titled “Traces of You.”
‘American Idol’ contestant Slater Nalley
Who is Carter Davis? The teen’s tragic story is featured on ‘American Idol’s’ newest season.
Before Slater entered the audition room with the judges, he was introduced by his high school English teacher, simply known as Mrs. Davis. The woman went on to explain that her son Carter Davis passed away, and Slater composed the song as a tribute.
“I have a special student of mine, Slater Nalley, and he wrote a song for my son who was killed eight years ago. Slater had heard the story about my son,” Mrs. Davis said.
Carter Davis
“I had written a poem and the second year that I taught him I asked, ‘Would you mind looking at the poem? I would love to see what your thoughts are and how you turn a poem into a song.’ And so, two weeks later, he did, and that’s the song he’s going to sing today,” she explained to the judges.
Slater explained why he decided to write the song.
“It is 100 percent the most deep thing I have ever written,” he said. “I didn’t know Carter before this happened and when Miss Davis told us, I just felt this presence come into my life essentially and I knew I needed to do something.
“I went home and I started working away on little notebook pages. Eventually, it turned into a song. She was happy with how it turned out. I am happy to be able to be here and play it and at least put a little joy in a dark place,” he added.
The American Idol judges showered Slater with praise for his performance.
Carrie, wiping away tears, told Slater following his performance “I couldn’t imagine you doing that any better.” Lionel added his own thoughts, saying “That one line, ‘Your life was like a river running home,’ got the blues man. That’s the one.”
Luke also chimed in, adding “You just stick to walking on stage and singing with your heart and the rest will take care of itself.”
‘American Idol’
Slater’s performance earned him a ticket straight to Hollywood, with Lionel saying “Sometimes we don’t have to vote.”
American Idol premieres March 9 at 8 p.m. EST.