Hawaii man in Top 26 of American Idol, sings popular local song

HONOLULU (KHON2) — There are now 26 contestants left singing their hearts out for the winning title of American Idol Season 21, one of them being Kahuku man Iam Tongi.

Disney announced in February that two episodes of the singing competition television series would be filmed at the Aulani, Disney Resort & Spa in Kapolei.

Night 1 of the Top 26 at Disney’s Aulani Resort premiered on Sunday, April 16 and it was only fitting for Tongi to sing a well-known reggae song to Hawaii.

Tongi sang and played his guitar to Don’t Let Go by Spawnbreezie. Click here to view the performance on American Idol’s social media page.

There are three ways you can vote for Tongi to make it into the Top 20:

• Vote through the American Idol website
• Use the American Idol App
• Text 13 to 21523

According to American Idol, you can vote up to 10 times for each contestant that performed during night 1 — voting closes on Monday, April 17, 6 a.m. Eastern Time.

Tongi’s first performance on the show went viral on social media gaining over 20 million views. He dedicated his cover of Monsters by James Blunt to his father who recently passed away.

The singer not only secured his golden ticket to Hollywood but left the judges in tears as seen during the season premiere of the show on Feb. 19.

During his introduction, Tongi explained his connection to Hawaii and being raised there before he and his family moved to Seattle, Washington a few years back.