Country Music TV Awards

American Idol leaned into the Easter Sunday (April 20) holiday with a three-hour episode in which this season’s top 20 sang anthems of faith and devotion, with one contestant turning heads thanks to his original song dedicated to a lost friend.

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“No words can describe how I truly feel/ But I hope these will try/ It’s a feeling that I can’t explain/ Deep and endless like the sky,” sang 18-year-old Addis, LA country singer John Foster on “Tell That Angel I Love Her.” He said he wrote the song for his late friend Maggie Dunn, who was killed, along with another friend, on New Year’s Eve in 2022 when a police officer ran a red light during a high-speed chase and slammed into their vehicle.

“Though we may not know the reason/ It’s not for us to understand/ Lord, won’t you tell that angel/ I love her as soon as you can?” Foster crooned before hitting the moving chorus: “Sure the sun will come up/ But it won’t shine on her skin/ And I’d give anything I have/ To talk to her again/ Each tear that falls on my guitar/ Is a hug from afar/ Lord, won’t you tell that angel that I love her?/ As y’all live in the stars.”

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At the end of the performance, Foster said, “I love you Maggie” as his eyes got watery.

“There’s something wonderfully throwback about your voice, about your style. And I think it’s something that’s lacking in country music today, to be honest. I love that you keep it very traditional,” Underwood said of Foster’s old school country balladeering. “I feel like that’s who you are. I love that in this song, we got to hear a sweet, tender side of your voice that honestly I didn’t know you had.” Bryan noted that Foster had been a “wild card” for him from the beginning but that with that song he’d “removed all doubts in my mind that you deserve to be here.”

The episode opened judge Lionel Richie performing his song “Eternity” accompanied by a full gospel choir and the top 24, just before four of those singers — Grayson Torrence, Kyana Fanene, Penny Samar and MKY — were sent packing. In addition, fellow judge Luke Bryan sang “Jesus ‘Bout My Kids” and Carrie Underwood brought down the house with a moving “How Great Thou Art.”

Also performing on the episode were the rest of the top 20: Canaan James Hill, Drew Ryn, Desmond Roberts, Filo, Josh King, Thunderstorm Artis, Amanda Barise, Mattie Pruitt, Olivier Bergeron, Breanna Nix, Victor Solomon, Baylee Littrell, Isaiah Misailegalu, Gabby Samone, Slater Nalley, Zaylie Windsor, Jamal Roberts, Ché and Kolbi Jordan.

The top 20 will be cut down to the top 14 on Monday night’s (April 21) episode, which airs at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.

Watch John Foster’s performance below.