{Photograph} courtesy of Slater Nalley
Slater Nalley was a typical pupil at The Lovett College till Hollywood got here calling earlier this 12 months. He’s now one of many high 14 contestants for the hit present American Idol.
Nalley has at all times had an ear for music, choosing up the piano about 5 years in the past when he was 13. “I didn’t prefer it as a result of I can’t learn music,” he says. “I attempted my finest to show myself chords.” His aunt gave him a guitar shortly thereafter, which modified issues for him. “It was quite a bit simpler. I discovered to play guitar on YouTube and wrote music. It’s after I knew that music was my factor,” he says.
From there, he started enjoying gigs and fine-tuning his songwriting expertise. In the future final 12 months, whereas sitting in an English class, his instructor, Michele Davis, gave him a poem about her son Carter, who handed away in 2016. “She mentioned, I do know you write music, right here’s a poem,” he recollects. “So I took it residence and scrolled by means of it with my buddy Rebecca Powell, and we simply wrote this tune. It felt like we had instantly accomplished an excellent factor.”
He determined to play “Traces of You,” the tune he wrote for Davis, at his American Idol audition. Figuring out it was a threat to play an authentic tune, Nalley felt assured in what he was doing—and rightfully so, because the second went viral with 5.9 million views on TikTok alone. He even made judges Carrie Underwood, Lionel Richie, and Luke Bryan cry.
Due to his confidence in himself and his skills, he’s now spending the second half of his senior 12 months in Los Angeles. He’s performed every little thing on the present from “Over the Rainbow” to “Soulshine” by the Allman Brothers, a tune he used to sing along with his dad.
“This has been an enormous alternative, and with that comes stress, however I’m able to take it on and get everybody’s vote,” he says. He credit his dad and mom for “elevating him very effectively” and to “at all times respect and love everyone,” which retains him grounded.
As for what’s subsequent—an enormous query to ask a highschool senior—he says he’s taking it someday at a time. “As of now, it appears to be like like music goes to be it for me. It’s what I’ve at all times wished to do. I lie down and give it some thought each night time.”
Catch him this Sunday on the following episode of American Idol at 8 P.M. on ABC.
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