William Tongi will be in the next season of American Idol 2023. While the 18-year-old Hawaiian exhibited his singing prowess in front of the judges during the audition stage, the contender got the judges weep with his painful story of losing his father a few months before his audition. The gifted young guy specializes in folk-indie love songs.
American Idol’s current season will include famous judges Luke Bryan, Lionel Richie, and Katy Perry. The schedule of American Idol season 21 comprises auditions, Hollywood Week, Showcase Rounds, and the Top 24 rounds, in which contestants will perform solo and celebrity duet performances. After the Top 24 round, participants will be reduced to the Top 16, then the Top 12, who will be allowed to participate in the live events.
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Meet William Tongi, an 18-year-old American Idol 2023 participant.
William “Guy” Tongi, 18, is of Tongan/Samoan/Irish origin and was born on September 1, 2004, in Kahuku, Hawaii, to parents Rodney Guy and Lillie N Rodney Tongi. The adolescent has a unique blend of musical abilities that few can equal. Despite his early age, the American Idol candidate has already released a track called Dreams in 2020. He wrote it, particularly for his sister’s wedding. His sister told him about her and her now-husband, her then-fiancé, and turned it into a great love song.
Tongi is a senior at Washington State’s Decatur High School. He grew interested in music after obtaining ukulele lessons from a teacher in the fifth grade. William then took up his guitar and started to play. While singer/songwriter Lauren Gruwell describes his music as a combination of country and alternative, he believes that fans often relate it to an island. Tongi also plays the guitar and ukulele.
On Tiktok and Instagram, Tongi regularly publishes song covers. His profile has received over 500,000 likes, and he has over 77,000 TikTok followers. Bonnie Raitt’s “I Can’t Make You Love Me” and Vince Gill’s “Look at Us” are among the tunes he has covered. According to the preface of a 2020 appearance on the Rikishi Driver Talk Show, William believes that music helps him concentrate and that he has ADHD.
According to William’s social media profiles, his father, Rodney, who died in late 2021 at the age of 50, had a huge effect on his musical taste. William said that his father was a musician. William is the youngest of his siblings, along with sisters Cassandra Alvina and Leilei Tongi and brother Leorod Tongi.
When competing for American Idol, William described how he dealt with grief and how his father’s hands introduced him to music. At his audition, Tongi sang “Monster,” a song written by musician James Blunt for his father. The judges were moved by Tongi’s performance.
Viewers of American Idol are aware that some Hawaiian artists have advanced beyond the audition round and participated in previous seasons. Jordan Segundo placed 26th in Season 2, Jasmine Trias third in Season 3, Camile Velasco ninth in Season 19, and Eli-Mac third in Season 3. Will William Iam Tongi outperform them all to take the top spot? We’ll have to wait and see.
American Idol 2023 will debut On Sunday, February 19.
American Idol is returning for its sixth season on ABC and the show’s 21st overall. The countrywide search for the show’s next version began with auditions in Las Vegas, Nashville, and New Orleans, where hopefuls battled for the opportunity to attend Hollywood Week. Ryan Seacrest, the Emmy-winning presenter of American Idol season 21, has indicated that the season will be “really amazing” and will have many contestants who are sincerely devoted to their trade.
Before the show’s launch, Idol published teaser footage of one of those participants, 16-year-old Haven Madison. Her father, the lead singer of a Christian band, reared her in a tour van. He played the guitar throughout her interview. Her performance of an original song, “Fifteen,” was a risky move.
Platinum seats for the performance are expected to be available again. The judges will hand out platinum tickets at each audition location. During Hollywood Week, the applicant obtains a position and has access to other candidates’ performances in order to choose the best duet partner. Season 21 of American Idol starts on ABC on Sunday, February 19, at 8 p.m. ET. New episodes will be available on Hulu the day following their ABC broadcast, at 3 a.m. ET.
