From the moment Abi Carter secured her Golden Ticket to Hollywood with a haunting spin on Billie Eilish’s “What Was I Made For?” everyone knew she would be the next American Idol. Everyone, it seems, but Carter herself.

“Winning was definitely the most unexpected part,” the season 22 champion told American Songwriter in a recent phone call. “I was waiting every week to get voted off and it just didn’t happen.”

Five months months later, her victory still has yet to sink in. But that hasn’t stopped the 22-year-old from forging her musical path. After dropping singles like “Peppermint Sky” and “some people need drugs,” Carter already has a full-length record on the way. Her debut album, Ghosts in the Backyard, hits the airwaves Nov. 15.

Abi Carter Confronts the “Ghosts” of Childhood

Abi Carter began writing material for what would become Ghosts in the Backyard while still filming American Idol. The record sees the Indio, California-born artist plumbing the depths of childhood nostalgia, long-gone relationships, and words unsaid. Carter summarizes her debut album as “a lot of thoughts and feelings and pain and happiness and sadness.”

Graduating high school in 2020, Carter’s experience couldn’t have looked more different than the halcyon examples found in pop culture. Ghosts in the Backyard was born at the intersection of the inevitable nostalgia and longing. For example, the singer-songwriter penned the album’s title track about a childhood friend who abruptly moved across the country in spring 2020.

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“I didn’t get the closure to say goodbye to her,” Carter said. Driving around her hometown, seeing all the places they’d once frequented together, the American Idol winner couldn’t help feeling haunted.

“It felt like there was still a piece of us in all this places,” Carter said.

Thus, the album’s title. “I’m still in that backyard that I grew up in,” she said. “But I don’t know if I’ll ever be there again.”

What’s Next After ‘American Idol?’

Since completing her debut album, Abi Carter has another goal in mind: a 2025 tour.

“Whether that’s gonna be January or November, I’m gonna make sure it happens,” she said.

In the meantime, the American Idol champion can’t wait to release her original songs into the world.

“I worked so hard on every single [song,] and it really just comes from me,” she said. “I hope that they hear them all.”

Featured image via Instagram