American Idol Season 21 was a three-month-long journey across a span of 20 episodes. It featured great showcases of songs with passion and talent in them. In the end, the Hawaiian Iam Tongi won the competition.
However, reality shows and talent shows alike always merit answers to a singular question after all the dust has settled. That question is, “What happened to the participants after that show?” This list attempts to answer this question for the top 5 finalists of American Idol Season 21.
5. Zachariah Smith
Before taking the leap of faith toward American Idol, Zachariah Smith used to flip burgers at Bill’s Hamburgers in Amory, Mississippi. Sometime after the competition, Smith visited the place and found it full of people, indicating that the place was too behind. He hopped onto the grill to lend a helping hand.
In terms of his musical career, Smith revealed his plans to go to Nashville, also known as “City of Music.” Though he intends to stay in Mississippi for a while, he has already found a way to contact music-makers in the said city. Smith also said that during the creation of his “American Grace” album, he was pressured to keep it solely in one genre, something he preferred not to do, as he did not want to be encapsulated by one category.
4. Wé Ani
Wé Ani‘s “loss” in the season made her fans clamor that the competition was rigged. Ani, however, expressed to her fans that everyone voted for the person they wanted to win, and she understood if it wasn’t her. Ani receiving the 4th place can not be regarded as a loss as it has always been a great feat to get into the top ranks of American Idol.
The competition aside, Ani released a song 175 lbs (around 80 kilograms for metric users). It began with her saying that she lost 175 pounds yet nothing seemed to have changed at all. The song does not talk about weight loss, but rather, losing the weight that drags somebody down, be it a toxic lover, unhealthy relationships, or something else.
3. Colin Stough
Colin Stough has already established himself in Nashville. This is confirmed by his Instagram post dated August 9, 2023. In the said post he gave thanks to the Lord as he has experienced a complete life turn. He revealed that it was not really in his full intentions to audition for the show. His mother signed him up for it, though it was not against his will, and the rest was history. He now hopes to launch his debut album in the future.
2. Megan Danielle
The runner-up Megan Danielle used her position in American Idol to springboard herself even further. She released a new single, “Dream Girl.” Moreover, she is going on tours, as stated in an Instagram post. According to Danielle, her Idol appearance made her a better musician. Before, she would get discouraged often in writing. But now, she got inspired and could write her heart out. Her single “Dream Girl” talks about achieving one’s dreams by persevering and not caring about how the world can be “mean” at times. It talks about defining one’s own goals and claiming it theirs, as said in the chorus, “Paint your sky ’cause it ain’t like someone could paint it brighter.”
1. Iam Tongi
While some people did not like Iam Tongi’s win because of suspicions of bias, his dynamic performance during the finals would prove the haters wrong. Tongi’s heartfelt performance was for his father, who believed in him, but unfortunately wasn’t able to live long enough to see his son win. Tongi’s mother was also to thank, though, as she secretly listed him up for the auditions for American idol Season 21 after he failed on Season 20. Right now, Tongi plans on writing and releasing new music with fellow finalists, though he cannot say an exact date and title at the moment. Personally, he has plans of performing live as he prefers it. His advice for future contestants is, “Just do it.”
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