Iam Tongi Hits a Nerve with ‘American Idol’ Audition Dedicated to His Late Father

Iam Tongi’s audition for American Idol was nothing short of emotional.

Auditions for season 21 kicked off Sunday night (Feb. 19), one of which brought judges Lionel Richie, Katy Perry, and Luke Bryan to tears. Tongi is an 18-year-old native of Hawaii who is now living with his family in Seattle, Washington. He chose “Monsters” by James Blunt as his audition song, in honor of his father Rodney, who passed away a few months prior and is the one who got Tongi interested in music.

“I can tell he meant a lot to you,” Richie said as Tongi wiped tears from his face. “When you love so deeply, you feel so deeply. So what you’ve just given us right now is the fact that you love that man so much, we’re there with you.”

This led to Tongi’s touching rendition of the song, which he dedicated to his father. Blunt wrote the song in honor of his own father after he was diagnosed with stage four kidney disease. It was released in 2019 as the fourth single off his album, Once Upon a Mind. Accompanied by acoustic guitar, Tongi’s voice shone as he sang such tear-inducing lyrics as I’m not your son, you’re not my father / We’re just two grown men saying goodbye. It didn’t take long for Bryan to start tearing up, soon followed by Richie. Tongi himself gets choked up at the final lines don’t be afraid / It’s my turn to chase the monsters away, earning a standing ovation from the judges.

“I feel like you could’ve written this song,” Perry raved. “You sang it, you delivered it…you hit a nerve and that’s what great storytellers do, that’s what great artists do and your voice is just so magnificent.”

Tongi’s performance struck a personal chord with Bryan, as it caused him to reflect on the loss of his sister, Kelly, and her husband, Ben Lee Cheshire. Following their deaths, their children, daughters Kris and Jordan Cheshire and son Til Chesire, lived with Bryan and his wife Caroline.

“I cannot handle your heart breaking about missing your dad,” Bryan professed with tears in his eyes. “My nephew lost his dad and he came and lived with me and just seeing you missing your dad just sucks. You got a great voice, you did everything perfect and I love you and I just want to see you have fun in this whole thing. It’s awesome what you just did.”

“The story is one thing, your delivery of your story was phenomenal,” Richie praised, adding “your daddy’s very proud.” Tongi got three resounding yeses from the judges, along with some final encouragement from Richie.

“Young man, you take this into the world and you’re going to fracture some souls,” he professed. “The greatest thing we can say to you at this moment–you’re going to Hollywood,” all three judges cheered at once. Tongi didn’t leave the room without getting a hug from Bryan.

“For all my life, my dad told me that singing is the only thing that was meant for me,” Tongi says in a voice-over while a clip of him and his dad singing plays on screen. “The main reason why I do music is because of my dad.”

The second round of auditions airs on Sunday (Feb. 26) at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.

Photo Credit: ABC/Eric McCandless