Dimitrius Graham, 27, gave a beautiful rendition of Bette Midler’s “Wind Beaneath My Wings”, but there was something that was troubling him. His mother Lorraine was having surgery and wouldn’t be able to be there to witness his performance. 

He asked the judges if he could video chat with her before singing, and of course they said yes. He dedicated his performance in her honor. Katy Perry told Lorraine she hoped she was being watched over by angels before adding, “And speaking of an angel, your son is about to sing for us, and we want you to be a part of this moment,” she added.

After her kind words, the singer held up the phone, pointed in the direction of the stage, so Lorraine could proudly watch her son perform via FaceTime. Katy was so overcome by emotion, that she couldn’t look towards the stage, and was wiping away tears by the end of the set as her fellow judge Luke Bryan handed over some tissues.  

“Your boy did it, sweetheart,” Lionel Richie told Lorraine.

That wasn’t the only tear-jerking moment of the night. When 19-year-old aspiring country singer Colby Swift took the stage, the singer had never had a formal vocal lesson, or sang to an audience so large, yet his audition blew the judges away. After the performance, Luke Bryan asked the singer to lift up his feet and show him the soles of his shoes. They were tattered and worn out, with holes that went straight to the bottom. 

The country superstar is known for being an all-around nice guy, so it was no surprise that afterwards he performed an act of kindness that once again, moved the audience to tears.