Iam Tongi: The American Idol Winner That Broke and Stole Everyone’s Heart

Iam Tongi is the Hawaiian kid who broke everyone on American Idol Season 23. He showed up heartbroken—his dad had just passed 3 months before. Music was always their thing. He almost quit completely. But his mom secretly signed him up for Idol anyway.

Then he sang “Monsters”… and the world felt it. That was the moment. He won Season 23, but losing his dad forced him to find his own voice, live, on television. When his guitar broke during Hollywood Week, he knew—this was his dad telling him he could do it on his own. 

Now? He just dropped “Unbreak My Heart,” plus “Sunshine” that he wrote for his mom, performed at the Opry, CMA Fest, even has a track in Lilo & Stitch, plus an album in the works… All while losing 110 pounds, still grieving, still growing—and singing from a place only he can. Iam Tongi is a true inspiration, lifting hearts around the world with his voice and story.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Add Cary Lone.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
She's a queen and talking and so you know she's
getting really not afraid to feel its episode and so
just let it blow. No one can do we quiet
Carey Lone is sound of Caroline.

Speaker 3 (00:29):
I am so excited to be here at the Tonguey.
How are you?

Speaker 2 (00:34):
I'm good?

Speaker 3 (00:35):
Yes, you are so great? Okay? So you want American
Idol in twenty twenty three?

Speaker 2 (00:41):
Yes?

Speaker 3 (00:41):
And life has been a whirlwind.

Speaker 2 (00:44):
Yeah, pretty crazy, pretty crazy.

Speaker 4 (00:48):
So I have just been watching all of your audition,
all your videos, like your audition video, every single one
of your songs that you sang, and I couldn't.

Speaker 3 (01:01):
Help but just be an emotional wreck.

Speaker 4 (01:04):
Because the thing about you that I think is so
special and clearly the world fell in love with you
for so many reasons. A.

Speaker 3 (01:11):
Your voice is stunning and beautiful.

Speaker 2 (01:13):
Thank you.

Speaker 3 (01:15):
But you are just so.

Speaker 4 (01:19):
Open, like you showed up to American Idol with a
broken heart and you let it you let it be seen?

Speaker 3 (01:27):
Was that? What was that like?

Speaker 4 (01:29):
Because you show up and you're singing the song Monsters
and your dad had just passed away and you were
not planning on like you weren't planning on talking about it.
Why not because you're only eighteen years old too.

Speaker 2 (01:38):
Oh yes, but I was. Yeah, I was eighteen years
old and I went into this. I wasn't buying on
talking about it. I didn't even tell him that my
dad passed away. And then they found out online because
they do check you online. They're like, how come you
didn't tell us your dad passed away? And I say,
I remember telling them I wanted to know if I
was good enough to actually make it in, you know,

(01:59):
to actually get through the rounds.

Speaker 3 (02:01):
So you didn't want to tell your story.

Speaker 2 (02:02):
I didn't want to tell my story. And you do
online rounds right before you actually audition, and the whole
that's the whole time. I didn't talk about it. And
then we were just saying saying, I think, uh, what
I originally had to audition for it was Valerie. And
then they came in and we sang Valerie. Another song.
They say they have another song. You see a lot

(02:23):
of people sing Valerie and I was like, yeah, yeah.
My mom turned to me because she was there in
the room. She said, sing Monsters. I was like, I
don't know if I want to sing monsters.

Speaker 3 (02:33):
Had you learned that one? In honor? Of your dad.

Speaker 2 (02:36):
Actually, I learned it because my dad had kidney failure. Yeah, okay,
So he was already in and out of the hospital, and.

Speaker 3 (02:43):
What was he like on dialysis and stuff.

Speaker 2 (02:45):
Yeah, okay, analysis so he when he was in the
hospital at the time.

Speaker 3 (02:49):
You know, my husband's dad died of kidney failure too.

Speaker 2 (02:51):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (02:51):
Yeah, it's horrible.

Speaker 2 (02:52):
It's horrible, and it's it's like a it's it's painful.
My dad always told me, like, and not only that,
he said that going into like the dialysis was just
so much time taking away.

Speaker 3 (03:03):
Oh you guys, you have to do it like every
day or every other day or something.

Speaker 2 (03:07):
Every other day.

Speaker 4 (03:08):
You have to like get hooked up and like clean
your kidneys. And it's a whole process.

Speaker 2 (03:12):
It's a whole thing.

Speaker 4 (03:13):
So he was on dialysis and eventually kidney feeling really.

Speaker 2 (03:18):
And he was like, hey, like I want to I
want you to learn the song Monsters, and uh, this
is when my dad first got his kidney failure.

Speaker 3 (03:25):
So you learned it when your dad was living.

Speaker 2 (03:27):
Yeah, this, ma'am. And I remember just sitting there, I
listened to the song. I listened to it only ten seconds,
and it taket my gole back. I was like, I
listened to it, and I'm not sure how I feel
about it. It's just like, you know, the song's good,
but I'm just this is not my vibe. And he
was like, text me back because you didn't even listen
to it. I was like no, and I was just laughing.
He comes back and we go and you talk for

(03:49):
my birthday. I wanted you talk for my birthday because
I wanted to get away for home for just for
a little bit. And we're in there and he played
the song Monsters and we're driving and I'm just like
cry and he's like looks at me and he's like what.
I was like, man, what is this song that? It's amazing?
It's crazy? And he said, don't start that with me,

(04:10):
because I asked you to learn the song and you
turned me down. You said no, and now you're gonna cry.
And I was just like laughingel like this get's hilarious.
But we got back to the house ten minutes.

Speaker 3 (04:20):
I learned the song and what did it mean to you?

Speaker 4 (04:23):
Like?

Speaker 3 (04:24):
What did the song? What did it do to you?

Speaker 4 (04:25):
Because the whole lyrics of Monsters are like kind of
like he protected you from monsters. But now you're a
grown man and you're what does it mean to you
with your dad in relationship? Like now you take care
of now you protect him from monsters, right, yes, ma'am.

Speaker 2 (04:38):
Like I guess like the part that I really like,
like relate to is I'm not your son, you're not
my father. I know your mistakes and you know mine. Right,
We're just two men saying goodbye.

Speaker 3 (04:55):
And that's pretty heavy.

Speaker 2 (04:56):
Yeah, it's just that line. It's just like dang, I
was just crying and just that line really spoke to me.
And then also like chase the monster's way, like it's
my turn to chase the monsters with right, just all
of that, that whole song. James Blunt though, by the way,
he's amazing. That song is amazing. He came out singing
it with me. I know.

Speaker 4 (05:17):
Then you're singing it on the finale of Idol with
James Blunt. He's singing Originally everybody's crying. I mean, I
see Jelly Roll in the audience and he's cheering up.

Speaker 2 (05:26):
He's right next to my mom.

Speaker 4 (05:28):
Yeah, I'm just like, but the power of your vulnerability,
I think that that is just so incredible. And you
were saying, and your culture people don't really want to
be vulnerable, right, Yeah, it's like is your Polynesian.

Speaker 2 (05:40):
Yeah, Polynese not really like vulnerable. It's just like a
lot of like those things. Is like like if you're like, man,
I'm feeling kind of depressed, like stop back, think sale,
You're fine, Go get some sunlight, you know what I mean.
That's there. It's like I feel like we need to
like it's okay. Like everyone, like everyone gets to a

(06:01):
point where they feel like that, and it's okay to
feel like that, you know. And just I feel like
if you feel like that, it's just a way to
tell you that.

Speaker 3 (06:10):
Something's really yeah, that you're alive, you're a human.

Speaker 4 (06:14):
And we were kind of talking about that earlier when
I was telling you like how I started this podcast
because I literally like was having a nervous breakdown from
a from being a singer, and I.

Speaker 3 (06:22):
Realized, Okay, that's not my journey.

Speaker 4 (06:24):
And then I thought all these other people had life
figured out, and come to find out, no one has
it all figured out.

Speaker 3 (06:31):
And having someone like you, though get up there.

Speaker 4 (06:34):
And share your heart and share your heartbreak and share
that through song, I think people are just like, so
it touches such a nerve because all of us have
gone through heartbreaks, and so many people aren't willing to
show that pain and to show that it is like
a raw feeling and that it does like hit you

(06:54):
in your soul.

Speaker 3 (06:55):
And you getting up there and doing that.

Speaker 4 (06:57):
I mean it just like it takes us all to
the same level, just connects us all on this one level,
which is where humans and we go through grief and
we go through pain.

Speaker 3 (07:05):
And you were such a voice to be honest about it. Ah, yes, man,
was that hard for you?

Speaker 2 (07:12):
Well, yeah, because you.

Speaker 3 (07:13):
Were like healing on American idol.

Speaker 2 (07:15):
Yeah. Yeah, and I feel like still like still healing,
you know, and it's just on idol. It was just
a really tough time for me because my dad had
just passed away. Just like also like the confidence.

Speaker 3 (07:32):
Wise, you know, tell me why what do you mean?

Speaker 2 (07:34):
My dad was always the one that's like, you know, son,
you're the best. You can win the whole thing, Like
because I auditioned the year before, okay, my dad was
still alive, and then we were like I auditioned and
then he was like, son, I'm telling you can win
the whole thing.

Speaker 3 (07:47):
He just believed in you so much.

Speaker 2 (07:49):
And I'm just over here like his dads are supposed
to do, they're supposed to believe in their sons. Maybe
he was right, Maybe he had a point and uh well,
sang the song and went through the whole process.

Speaker 3 (08:02):
So you didn't make it the first time?

Speaker 2 (08:03):
Guys? No, no, I didn't, and I came back again.

Speaker 3 (08:06):
But you didn't really want to your mom's secretly energy, right.

Speaker 2 (08:08):
Yeah, No, I didn't want to. She just signed me up.

Speaker 3 (08:11):
And did you want you the first time? Or did
you do the first time for your dad?

Speaker 2 (08:14):
First time? The first time?

Speaker 3 (08:16):
I did you wanted to the first time?

Speaker 2 (08:17):
I wanted to because I guess, and for my dad,
But first time I wanted you to, you know, make
my dad proud because my dad was always like a
tough love kind of guy. Okay, you know, like, you know, man,
this is what man's supposed to do. But he was.

Speaker 3 (08:32):
It was kind of hard on you.

Speaker 2 (08:33):
He was also like he's also showed his feelings and
he was hard on me.

Speaker 3 (08:39):
But are you the oldest.

Speaker 2 (08:41):
I'm the youngest.

Speaker 4 (08:41):
You're the youngest of five. Yeah, man, the youngest. Okay,
So what was that like being the youngest of five.

Speaker 2 (08:51):
It was kind of kind of rough. I feel like
a lot of you.

Speaker 4 (08:55):
Said you said you had a little bit of a
Did you have a little bit of a tough childhood?

Speaker 2 (08:59):
Yeah, yeah, we were. We kind of struggled a little bit.
Living in Hawaii is so expensive, right it is, and
just just like the price of living out there, and
you know, it's kind of sad, just the people having
to move out, the natives having to move out from
their own land, you know what I mean. And that
that itself is is like it's a tough thing. And

(09:22):
when I was growing up, we were homeless for a
little bit.

Speaker 1 (09:25):
You know.

Speaker 2 (09:25):
We were living at a farm, my uncle's farm, on
a bus and like a broke down city bus and
it's I'm not gonna lie, it's one of the best
times in my life. Tell me why, because it was
so much fun. You guys, you're a kid, You're going
there's a whole bunch of beds on.

Speaker 3 (09:40):
The beds on the bus.

Speaker 2 (09:42):
Yeah, Like they took all the seats, just whole bunch
of beds. We jump around, sleep, We all slept in
the bus. My mom's supping in the tent.

Speaker 3 (09:49):
So it's all five kids.

Speaker 2 (09:50):
It's like camping you and your mom a few months
it was.

Speaker 3 (09:54):
There, like a kitchen in there, or what would y'all
do to eat?

Speaker 2 (09:56):
To eat?

Speaker 3 (09:57):
And like things where were y'all being called?

Speaker 2 (10:00):
Like umu, Like it's like underground oven.

Speaker 3 (10:03):
Okay, you're living off the land kind.

Speaker 2 (10:06):
Of yeah, yeah, if the land eating fruits and stuff.

Speaker 4 (10:09):
And that's amazing. So tell me why you liked it
so much? Like what would y'all do every day when
you're living on the bus?

Speaker 2 (10:15):
That sound doesn't that sound like fun you know what
I mean? It sounds like funny. Yeah, they're out there
jumping around. We did because we back in the day,
you know, back in the day early two thousands.

Speaker 3 (10:26):
We're going to school or anything.

Speaker 2 (10:28):
Yeah, so we had school, but we never went to
school at that point because we were My mom and
them were trying to figure it out.

Speaker 3 (10:33):
Okay, So kind of wild education.

Speaker 2 (10:36):
For like three four months great and it was just amazing.
And we just run around, play outside, come back from
the beach, just do anything we wanted.

Speaker 3 (10:46):
You know, were you and your siblings kind of free
to go exactly?

Speaker 2 (10:48):
Yeah, we're free for it, Like we go to our
cousin's house, you know, because we have a lot of
family out there, and but my mom and them, they
didn't want to really like bother them and stay at
the house, so they stayed at the farm. Okay, but yeah,
it was a lot of fun. They had a video,
They had an Xbox there, and I was just over there, like, man,
we play Xbox all the time, which is crazy, you know,
I say, we're homeless, but there's an Xbox. But it

(11:09):
was pretty fun.

Speaker 4 (11:10):
So you really kind of from a young age realized
the true necessities of life, which aren't things.

Speaker 3 (11:17):
Yeah, people.

Speaker 4 (11:19):
Did that kind of instill in you that, like like,
so then when you're shot to fame and you're winning
American Idol and you are now like in the middle
of all the things and all the excess, you know,
did that was that a weird contradiction?

Speaker 2 (11:33):
You know? I feel like it was. I feel like
if I haven't been to that place where I was
down and I we're like homeless with you know, and
struggling my whole life, and I feel like if I
haven't been through all of that, like like here's the
thing where I'm at right now. I feel like for

(11:56):
a lot of people, it's easy to get to.

Speaker 3 (11:58):
The head you know what I mean, Yes to I
think I've.

Speaker 2 (12:01):
Seen it a lot. Like you know, I met a
lot of people that are like, man, you know, you
got to remember where you come from, you know what
I mean? And that's what those memories keep me to
other too, like my you know, like trying to stay humble,
you know. And I'm not saying that humble because a
lot of times I would just sit there and I'll
just be like, I'm not gonna lie. I'll be looking

(12:22):
on YouTube like someone reacting to my song. But but
if if it wasn't for those memories, I wouldn't, like
it would be harder for me to try to keep
myself humble, you know. And yeah, just I feel like
a lot of things happen for a reason, you know
what I mean.

Speaker 4 (12:41):
So you entered American autaw the first time with your
dad alive. Yes, the second time, you weren't going to
do it and you didn't really did you even get
to Hollywood the first time.

Speaker 2 (12:52):
The first No, I haven't. I didn't. I didn't even
get to the actual audition. Okay, it was just like
a bunch of online trial like that.

Speaker 4 (12:58):
Crazy how it could be so different from one year
to next. Year, the same person, same voice, but yet
you win it the next year.

Speaker 2 (13:05):
Yeah. But I feel like I feel like it's I
feel like I had to like grow up like faster
on that asterally, just mature faster. I guess I'm still
not mature, but like, you know, I'm getting getting there.
And I feel like going through that experience like made
me like more emotionally connected and to the music. And

(13:31):
one thing my dad always told me is that, you know,
if you're singing songs, if you can do all these runs,
if you can do all these high notes, if you
can do all of this, but you don't have a
soul in it, it's just making noise.

Speaker 3 (13:43):
Amen.

Speaker 2 (13:44):
That's one thing that I learned from my dad. And
when he passed away, it was even more you know,
like almost felt like everything was coming from the soul.
You know. I was just and I've learned to, you know,
make that hurt the pain and you know, not only
hurting the pain, the love and everything, and turn it

(14:06):
into music and it's it's fun and it's a it's
a good way to get things out of your system.

Speaker 4 (14:13):
Yeah, but you didn't even really think you were like
this great singer, right, because then you think you were
just kind of like a fine singer.

Speaker 2 (14:19):
I thought I was, like I can hold a note.

Speaker 3 (14:21):
Yeah, yeah, Like you didn't think that you were this
like epic singer.

Speaker 2 (14:25):
I still feel like that. Really a lot of times
I'll be like, well, because I mean, so many people,
so many singers in there over here, like hitting all
these notes and they got soul in it and and
they and I'm just like, hey, it's just crazy, you
know what I mean, Like these guys are so good,
like it kind of like, you know, I mean, doubts myself,

(14:45):
but Johnny he always tells me, and he it always
like just keeps me like, oh, that's right. He always says,
comparison is.

Speaker 3 (14:55):
The thief of joy joy, right yeah.

Speaker 2 (14:57):
And I'm like, hey, but I just try not to
try not to compare, because when I was on idol,
That's what was really hard for me.

Speaker 3 (15:06):
What is that like to be on idol? And then
I want to give you a few compliments about yourself.

Speaker 2 (15:10):
We're going all over the place.

Speaker 3 (15:12):
It's perfect. And I was told im, I have a
hacking problem, so I try not to hack.

Speaker 4 (15:16):
But every now and then a hacking problem and you
lick your lips so between the two of us, you're
looking your lips.

Speaker 3 (15:21):
I'm hacking. We're going to make our own little like, yeah, what.

Speaker 4 (15:29):
Did you say, I'm hacking?

Speaker 3 (15:38):
Welcome to the podcast.

Speaker 4 (15:42):
But what was that like being just a regular human
You're not like in the spotlight at all. Now you're
competing on American Idol. People are judging you constantly. But
I feel like from the beginning you were so loved,
Like you're talking about soul singing, like your soul is
in every single song you sing, and like from the

(16:06):
second you got up there, like Luke Bryan and Lionel
Richie are crying and Katy Perry and it's like, oh
my gosh, because you're connect You are connecting what your
dad always said to do.

Speaker 3 (16:16):
Did you feel like did you? Did you?

Speaker 4 (16:19):
What did you feel like when you're up there competing
against these people who you think are so great, because
I'm sure some people can whale and like hit these
notes that are like in the stratosphere, you know.

Speaker 2 (16:28):
Yeah, just going in there. I remember when I went
into an audition. We auditioned in Louisiana, and when we
went there, just like I'm like, you know what, like
I'm already like not like had a bad attitude already
going into it.

Speaker 3 (16:43):
You did why because I was.

Speaker 2 (16:44):
Like they didn't take me the first time, you know
what I mean?

Speaker 3 (16:48):
Yeah, so kind of chip on your shoulder.

Speaker 2 (16:49):
Yeah, I kind of like not really like I wasn't
like upset, but I'm just like, man, I'm not even
that good. It kind of like, bring my confidence now.
When I auditioned the first time, it okay, so I
went in this way there, Yeah, you know what I mean.
But anyways, we go in and I remember I'm with
my uncle and we're going with jamming. I'm jamming and
a bunch of these guys is, oh, come just jam

(17:12):
Everyone's around just jamming, singing, and over there I'm having fun. Obviously,
get back to the room. I'm like crying because I'm
like I want to go home. And what do you
mean you want to go home? We're here? We're here.
I was like, now I want to go There is
a waste of time. We should have done this. What
do you mean I'm not going to make it all
these guys are amazing singers, and and he was like

(17:34):
telling me that, dude, we made it this far, and
trust me, your voice is just different from from everyone else.
You have a different tone, you have a different I
was just like, yeah, you're He's like it's unique, and
I was like okay, so we go and do the audition.

(17:55):
Like I remember, I blacked out.

Speaker 3 (17:56):
I don't remember he totally blacked out.

Speaker 2 (17:59):
All I remember is I walked in.

Speaker 4 (18:00):
Like you don't remember the audition and it's gone on
to be like one of the most viral American Idol
auditions at all times, but you don't even remember it.

Speaker 2 (18:07):
No, it's I did. All I remember is me walking
in and saying hello, and then they asked about my dad.
And then after that, I just.

Speaker 3 (18:15):
So they surprised you that because you weren't going to
talk about it.

Speaker 2 (18:18):
No, no, I was. I wasn't going to talk about
I was just going to say, oh, I was just
going to dedicate this song to my dad and then
sing me. And then they asked. They were just like talking, talking,
and it's like they didn't mean to bring it up,
but like they bring it up because, oh, like your family,
and I was like, oh, yeah, my mom too or whatever,
and like, oh, you know, talking about my sister and

(18:41):
they were like I was like, yeah, yeah, they're all
in Seattle. Like, what's your dad? Because I wasn't talking
about my dad. It was your dad, And I was like,
oh passed away. Right when they said was your dad?
I just hit me.

Speaker 3 (18:53):
I think you made it through the song?

Speaker 2 (18:55):
Yeah? Yeah, and if I felt like like I don't
remember much, like I felt like I blacked out, but
I remember feeling like I felt like my dad was
watching me. Man. It was just crazy, and I was
just like.

Speaker 3 (19:07):
Was that the first time you felt like you had
felt him since he passed?

Speaker 2 (19:10):
Yeah? Yeah, And it was just this crazy thing.

Speaker 3 (19:13):
And we got out and what did it feel like?

Speaker 2 (19:16):
I don't know. It just it literally felt like he
was watching me.

Speaker 3 (19:19):
You could just feel the presence.

Speaker 2 (19:20):
Like I felt like he was there, you know what
I mean, Like I believe that.

Speaker 3 (19:23):
No, it doesn't sound crazy at all.

Speaker 2 (19:25):
I felt like he was there, like almost like not
judging me, but you know, like sitting there like like
how was he doing? Like how was he gonna do
with this? And I just felt like kind of pressure
but like.

Speaker 3 (19:40):
Like and it felt good like how it would have
felt if he really was there.

Speaker 2 (19:44):
Yeah exactly, That's why I mean like it felt like
he was actually because I felt pressured. I felt like, man,
you know, I got to get this right. And I
also felt like, man, I feel pretty comfortable too, like
I feel like safe, yeah, yeah, safe, And man, a
lot of people like if you watch the video the audition,

(20:07):
I look to the side, and a lot of people like, oh,
you know he's talking about he looks as he's looking
to his dad, almost like right. And I was like, man,
that's a that's beautiful, but that's not what happened. What
I looked to the side because I don't think I
ever told with it, but I looked at the side
because it was in the room there's like fifty people,

(20:28):
and when you audition, there's like the judges, me, and
there's like not fifty, but like twenty other people like
film crew, and I just singing the song and I'm
like locked in and then I just hear someone like
I just like and I turn around. Everyone's crying in
the room. I was just like, what is going on?

(20:48):
I get out, it's the thing. Everyone's crying in the outside.
And then the person waiting to auditions crying too, And
I was just like, you know what I mean, So.

Speaker 3 (21:00):
You were blacked out.

Speaker 4 (21:01):
You didn't even know you're having a kind of a
spiritual experience talking about your dad, feeling his presence here,
and then all the judges are in tears, everyone in
the rooms in tears, and everyone outside is in tears.

Speaker 3 (21:12):
That's powerful.

Speaker 2 (21:13):
And I'm walking out and I'm not even kidding. I'm
walking out of the like audition thing. We did the
interview after whatever, and they were just all like, thank you,
thank you for that. I just I didn't know. But
they had TVs that you can watch like you had
TVs and like song, like you can hear the sound,

(21:33):
and I know you can hear the song, but I
didn't know there's TVs like in there like showing the camera,
but the camera's showing And basically they watched my audition
before I even remembered and watched it, you know. But
while I was walking out, it was it was crazy.
I was walking out and all the workers were just
like they stopped what they're doing. They just all like
patting my back. He's going on right up.

Speaker 3 (21:56):
And you had no idea.

Speaker 2 (21:58):
No, no, I had no idea. I just like, oh,
they just.

Speaker 3 (22:01):
You're just trying to for me.

Speaker 4 (22:15):
But what do you think it was? What do you
think it was that resonated with everyone. Why do you
think that that you hit such a nerve?

Speaker 2 (22:22):
I just feel like it's so like so many people
has lost someone, no matter who it is, even if
it's your dad, your mom, your uncle or auntie, you know, grandpa.
Someone has lost someone and everyone has lost someone, right,
And I just feel like people relate to it, And

(22:42):
I don't know, Maybe I don't know, Maybe I'm just
making something up.

Speaker 4 (22:46):
Was that the first time you had felt that vulnerable?
Had you ever expressed yourself like that before?

Speaker 2 (22:50):
No? No?

Speaker 3 (22:51):
Was that a big like floodgates opening?

Speaker 2 (22:53):
Yes? Yes, because I just like when my dad had
his kidney failure. I was in the room when it happened.

Speaker 3 (23:02):
Like you watched him cross over.

Speaker 2 (23:04):
No, no, I did. But when I was in the
room when his kidney failure, like when his kidney's shut down,
because we're he was in the room and he was
calling my name, He's like in Tonguean, he's like video
video and I was like, oh, yeah, I come, and
he's like told me something moldy Like I don't know
how to speak Tongan. I understand it. I speak a
little bit.

Speaker 3 (23:24):
Is that like your origin?

Speaker 2 (23:26):
Yeah? Yeah, Tongan, yeah, talking someone born and raising wai.
But he asked me to get him oranges. I was like, okay,
bring him oranges. And he seemed pretty normal and I
bring him oranges. Turned on the light and his eyes
are just like it was scary because he was like
just looking out and he couldn't see. He said, I
can't I can't see. It's dark. As we kept saying,

(23:50):
and then he said, uh, peel these oranges for me.
I was like, okay, I peel the oranges, give it
to him, eating it and I go into my I
was like, I think something's wrong with dad. And because
he's only speaking tongue and he's not speaking English, and
my mom comes and she's like, what's wrong, what's wrong?
And then he's like I don't know. I can't see.
And we call the ambulance. Took it to the hospital
and it was during COVID so we couldn't go and

(24:11):
visit him. It was just like so hard, and.

Speaker 4 (24:15):
You know, that's the exact same thing happened to my husband.
His dad passed away in COVID from kidney failure. He
couldn't get to him.

Speaker 2 (24:22):
That's that's sad. And it was It was sad.

Speaker 3 (24:26):
For me at the time too, and it feels so unfair.

Speaker 2 (24:28):
Yeah, it does, like you feel like it's not my fault,
like you know what I mean, let me go see
my dad, you know what I mean?

Speaker 4 (24:33):
And you it was like that moment was like taken. Yeah, exactly,
did you have along from grief? Did you have anger
about that?

Speaker 2 (24:41):
No? Because because he was after his kidney failure. He
was kicking around for like a year. Okay, so the
kidney failure hit and then he went. And that's when
I really, like, I guess found my faith in like.

Speaker 3 (24:52):
Really, tell me, how did you find it after?

Speaker 2 (24:55):
Because I'm a I'm a member of the Church of
Juice CAUs my Mormon, right, no, there will put word
that everyone says Mormon. And my dad when he had
his kinea failure, he left the thing. And I was
already like kind of bitter at that point because I
was over here having anxiety attacks and yeah, panic attacks

(25:16):
like you were, yeah at that time.

Speaker 3 (25:19):
From your dad or just from life because you were
so worried about him passing.

Speaker 2 (25:22):
Exactly, because I thought, like my whole life, I was thinking, like, man,
my parents are going to live forever, you know, I mean,
you don't think about one day your parents are going
to go, you know, and made me like really scared
and really like just thinking like man, like I had
life not figured out.

Speaker 3 (25:40):
I thought I knew, and you need that presence to
guide you. You're not ready.

Speaker 2 (25:45):
Exactly and you always need you know, whatever it is.
You know for me it is God, you know.

Speaker 4 (25:51):
And so you really had to find your faith because
you realize now it's you.

Speaker 2 (25:56):
Yeah. And I never like I always doubted before then,
you know, I was like, man, you know, this is
just like you know, this is all whatever, like what
if it's not real? Like kind of like the thing.
And because my dad was very religious, man, my mom
was very religious as well, and after he had the
kidney failure, he went into the thingy And I remember

(26:18):
we do a think all like fasting like fast Sunday
where we fast or not only that, even like very fast,
but we don't eat or drink for twenty four.

Speaker 3 (26:25):
Hours every Sunday or just like a certain.

Speaker 2 (26:27):
Time like once like the first Sunday of the month,
and but it wasn't the first Sunday that month. You
just fast when you need help and when you're struggling
with something you fast and it helps you. And I
fasted because I was like, man, I just fasting for
my dad. I was like, I hope it gets better.
So I fasted, and I always cheated my fast. My

(26:50):
whole life every time was fast Sunday. Right when we
start fast, I go to the bathroom and just drink.

Speaker 3 (26:55):
See you can't even drink water, Yeah, you can't drink
water water.

Speaker 2 (27:01):
I was just cheating all the time.

Speaker 4 (27:03):
Because it didn't like really you didn't really know why
you were doing it per se exactly.

Speaker 2 (27:07):
I was just like there's no point, you know what
I mean.

Speaker 4 (27:09):
Yeah, you're kind of more going through the motions because
you're told to. But now you're coming into your faith
where it's like okay.

Speaker 2 (27:14):
So I fasted for real and I know my like
I don't know how to explain it. I knew my
dad was going to be okay before I fasted, but.

Speaker 3 (27:22):
I fasted and I was like committed.

Speaker 2 (27:24):
I was kind of like testing God in a way, like,
I mean, I know that's not good people.

Speaker 4 (27:28):
I was just like, I think it's normal to go
on this journey. If you don't go into spiritual journey,
then how do you know your real faith?

Speaker 2 (27:33):
Yeah, yeah, And I just remember sitting there and I
was just like, you know what if if my dad
is okay and you bring it back home, then I
know you're really you know, and I'll start my own fast.
I'll pray every day. We went and I fasted. My
dad came home the next day and it was just
like like I was like, man, you feel good, feel good?

Speaker 3 (27:56):
So what is your faith like now? How do you
feel like you have a connection on your own?

Speaker 4 (27:59):
Now?

Speaker 2 (28:00):
Yeah, I feel like it's way more stronger than it
was at that point, because when when my dad passed away,
what are you gonna turn to?

Speaker 3 (28:09):
You know what I mean? You can turn to a
lot of things, but you can turn to a lot
of things.

Speaker 2 (28:12):
You can turn to like drinking, You can turn a kind.

Speaker 3 (28:15):
Of so many options, right, but you turned to God.

Speaker 4 (28:18):
Yeah, wow, that's amazing that you really How did you
and how did how did God show up for you?

Speaker 3 (28:25):
How did you feel his presence in that time?

Speaker 2 (28:28):
It sounds pretty my mom. I wouldn't have believed it, honestly,
because I'm not like the type that believes in like
ghost stores or like, oh like I felt you know
you know what I mean, Like I always just like
my whole life. That's just all like make up in
your head, right. My dad was in the like on
his like dying bed, but we didn't know. He just
went in because he was talking like how he was

(28:50):
when he had a kidney failure like a year later
and during Christmas, And I was like, Mom, you know,
no one's here for Christmas, you're working, dads in the hospital.
Can me and Lily go to Hawaii just for the
you know, just for Christmas and then we'll come back
after him. I was like, yeah, we flew to Hawaii.
My mom was like, hey, Dad's not looking good. I
was like, he'll be fine because he got my dad

(29:13):
had a heart attack, two strokes, kidney failure, fine, you know,
and he I mean, it's not that he was fine,
but like he was like pushing, like you know, he
kept he was going. He was still going hard, you
know what I mean. And he went in for like
he had like a cut or something and he went
in and it was infected. Then he went in and

(29:37):
then he was just like talking weird. So my mom
took him into the hospital. Before he left, my dad
says to me, like he comes to his ae, son,
I want you to learn a song. The last song
he asked me to learn, and it was, you know, uh,
what's his song? Outn't on the Fall See because I

(29:58):
miss you.

Speaker 3 (30:00):
And I don't want to miss a thing. Song he
asked me to learn, I want to.

Speaker 2 (30:08):
Oh my god.

Speaker 4 (30:08):
So it's like he was saying, this is how he
felt he doesn't want to miss a thing, and it.

Speaker 2 (30:12):
Was just crazy. That's the last song he asked me
to learn, and he told me, I'm oh my goodness,
it's just crazy to talk about it, but he told
me before he went to the hospital, he said, you know, son,
one day, because he loved this band called Travel Music,
Travel Love or something like. It's like this twin brothers
that they go around the world and they sing on YouTube.
My dad listened to him all the time, and that's

(30:34):
the version he wanted me to learn, was their version
of I don't want to miss I don't want yeah, exactly.
And then he's like, you know, son, one day, when
I come back, we're going to start traveling the world.
I was like, what do you mean. He's like, we're
gonna go and we're going to sing in all these
places and people are going to know our name, and
I was like, all right, he went to the thing.

(30:56):
I went to Hawaii and then yeah, that's the way
came to Idol. And it kind of like, oh, like
he was right, you know what I mean?

Speaker 4 (31:06):
Everyone Brandon, I know his name exactly, and people know
your name.

Speaker 3 (31:11):
Your dad's name is Brandon Rodney. The hell is Brandon?
Look at me trying to have some moment.

Speaker 2 (31:17):
Hey, Brandon Rodney, same thing.

Speaker 3 (31:20):
Everyone knows his name, Brandon.

Speaker 2 (31:21):
Brandon Rodney. But yeah, it's crazy. We just went out
and yeah, let.

Speaker 3 (31:27):
Me kill the moment for you.

Speaker 2 (31:31):
I was just like, you're like, who's Brandon's almost close but.

Speaker 4 (31:37):
Clo Okay, but people, but you talked about Rodney all
the time and everyone's saying his name. I have no memory,
so I got it wrong, clearly. I'm so sorry about that.
But truly, everyone is speaking his name, and everyone is
speaking your name, and your whole journey is you and
your dad. So it's like he literally had a premonition exactly.

Speaker 2 (31:56):
Right, like when we go around, when I go when
I went to Australia, I went to New Zealand, monsters
like saying monsters. Everyone was singing with me, right, like
all the words.

Speaker 3 (32:05):
Like this was like your song now.

Speaker 4 (32:07):
I mean, I know James Blunt saying it, but this
has become like your song.

Speaker 2 (32:10):
Too, yes ma'am, Yes, ma'am.

Speaker 3 (32:12):
And everyone was singing it with you.

Speaker 2 (32:14):
Everyone was singing it with me, and you know, some
people were coming to me, like people still come up
to me back saying to be like, you know, I
really sorry to hear about Rodney, and I'll just be like,
this is crazy, like you know, my dad, maybe my
dad had a point with a lot of this stuff, but.

Speaker 4 (32:29):
It's crazy because like you think it's gonna go one way,
but then it happens, and it's like it's in a
situation you would have never wanted exactly could have it
never could have. It's just like here it is. It's happening,
but it's like it feels like a worst case scenario.
But then there's this whole flip side that's really very
spiritual and kind of like kind of holy, you know,

(32:49):
oh very holy, and it's almost like he he knew
this was going to happen.

Speaker 2 (32:54):
Yes, ma'am. It's a crazy, like crazy thing. Like when
we're in Hawaii, my mom texted me and she's like, hey,
your dad's acting like talking crazy, and I was like,
what do you mean. She's like, oh, he's just I
think he needs to get an MRI scan because he's
not talking right. She's like, I was like, what are
you talking about? She said, he show you like he

(33:17):
flat lined. He flat lined like like four times. And
when he flat lined, like well, apparently my mom. He
called my mom and said like, oh, I could see
the doctors working on me.

Speaker 3 (33:29):
I was just like he was like he was like
his body.

Speaker 2 (33:34):
I like, like I said, I don't talk about Like
if my mom wasn't telling me this before my dad passed,
I would have believe her, you know what I mean, Like, Mom,
you're making it up. But my dad was like, she's like,
Dad said that like he was well, he was like
they were like working on him, like he could see
them like working on him, and he was trying to
talk to him, but they couldn't hear him. And then

(33:55):
she said, then after that, he went like it's like
he went to a place exact words that he said.
He went like I went to a place and it
was so beautiful and I wish I could go back,
And as he told my mom, and my mom was crying.
She was like talking to me. She's like, if he
leaves me, I hate him. I hated I was like, Mom, like,
he's gonna be fine, and she was like, no, he

(34:17):
sounds like he wants to leave me to go to
the better place. No place. Why would he want to
be a place to Why would he want to be
at a place without me. I was just like, Mom's
you know, he's gonna be fine, and she he calls
her again. That's when she started saying he was like
going crazy because he starts today meet these people. Well,
I have visitors today, but it's during COVID, remember couldn't

(34:37):
have visitors. And he's like, some visitors came to visit me.
And I was like, oh yeah, ooh. And he starts
to aiming family members that passed away and came to
visit him.

Speaker 3 (34:45):
Stop that's so incredible.

Speaker 2 (34:48):
Yeah, And I was just goosebumps.

Speaker 3 (34:50):
I was just like, what does that give you?

Speaker 2 (34:53):
Like?

Speaker 3 (34:53):
Does that give you faith?

Speaker 2 (34:54):
Yeah? And I feel like that's what I mean, like
almost like like at that point, it's not faith, you know, real,
it's real, it's real. At that point, and my mom
was telling me that she starts he starts naming these
people and my mom and she didn't know, like who
are a few of them were and like, but she
knew the other ones who passed away. And then my
mom asked my dad's sister, Hey, so who are these people?

(35:16):
And she said, oh, these are people that Rodney hasn't
even met, like they died before he was born. I
was just like what, So, it's just it's crazy. It's
like all these things, it's crazy, it's all coming together.
And yeah, it's just all these stories, all these you know, coincidences,
all these people came to visit, all these Uh, at

(35:39):
that point, you know it's real. It's real. It's not
at that point, it's not faith, you know what I mean? Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 4 (35:46):
Okay, So you want American idol? Are you aware that
you want American idol? Are you in a haze? Like
do you know what it means to an American idol
at this point? Or is it just happening so fast?
Do you know what's about to happen to your life?
What happens to your life? Is it wonderful? Is it scary?

Speaker 3 (36:06):
Is it traumatizing? Is it happy? Is it good? Is
it bad?

Speaker 2 (36:10):
Like? What?

Speaker 4 (36:10):
Because everyone thinks like, oh well, I think people are
doing a great job of showing the truth of situations now.
So like people used to think, oh, let's get famous and
it'll be great. There's a dark side to fame too,
there's a hard side to fame.

Speaker 2 (36:22):
Everything.

Speaker 3 (36:23):
There's everything, you know, and it was is it scary?

Speaker 2 (36:26):
Thing? For me? It was everything? It was scary, It
was stressful.

Speaker 3 (36:30):
Is it scary to be seen by this many people?

Speaker 2 (36:33):
I remember because I played the CMA just like a
couple of days ago.

Speaker 3 (36:38):
Congratulations first, yeah, debut.

Speaker 2 (36:41):
But I went and I played, and then we met
all these people and there's just like go go go pictures, pictures, richer,
like just NonStop. I remember sitting in the car we're
driving back home, and I was just like.

Speaker 3 (36:54):
This is what it's going to be like, you know
what I mean, Just like.

Speaker 2 (36:57):
It was kind of like you think, like man, and
you know it's going to be you know, pretty tough,
you know what I mean?

Speaker 3 (37:05):
What are the tough? What is tough? What's the tough
part to you?

Speaker 2 (37:07):
Like?

Speaker 3 (37:07):
What about that? What does that do to your system?

Speaker 2 (37:11):
No? I feel because I want to I want to
have a family, you know what I mean, And that's
what my goal main goal in life?

Speaker 3 (37:16):
You do you want to be a dad?

Speaker 2 (37:18):
You have a family?

Speaker 3 (37:19):
Are you in love currently?

Speaker 4 (37:20):
Oh?

Speaker 2 (37:20):
Yeah, I have a girlfriend maybe hopefully.

Speaker 3 (37:25):
Have you all been together for a while, yeah, like
a year and a half.

Speaker 2 (37:28):
Okay, Yeah, but we known each other. We were like
really close friends, like uh, and when I was like, uh,
Junior and.

Speaker 3 (37:38):
I Okay, so you have known each other a long time,
that's awesome.

Speaker 2 (37:42):
And we started dating. We started dating like when I graduated,
after I graduated, started dating.

Speaker 3 (37:49):
So before you did this whole journey.

Speaker 2 (37:51):
Oh no, no, after after we did graduate.

Speaker 3 (37:54):
High school, after American Idol.

Speaker 4 (37:56):
Yeah, I mean that's crazy that you hadn't even graduated
high school when you want American Idol.

Speaker 2 (38:03):
Okay, But I told her, I told her like how
I felt and everything, and she said she felt the
same way. And then I went an idle and I
was just like this whole thing where I was always
busy and I was always on the goal, I had
to sleep. I just so I wasn't really talking to
her like every day, like how I wanted to.

Speaker 3 (38:25):
Yeah, because your life is just so so jam packed.

Speaker 2 (38:28):
Yeah, but like man, plan plan one day. Man, that's
that's the ultimate goal in my life, man, to have a.

Speaker 3 (38:34):
Family really because you just love your family so much.

Speaker 2 (38:37):
Exactly, because it's almost like Johnny helped me like realize it.
He said, your manager, Yeah, my manager is sorry, my manager.

Speaker 3 (38:44):
No, I'm just letting people know, Johnny.

Speaker 2 (38:46):
I know I need to keep saying manager Johnny, but no, Johnny. Uh.
He helped me realize, like, why, that's my goal in
life is to have a family because my family was
you know, I have so many great memories of my family,
and I just and he said, you know, it's almost
like a thing where you want to recreate it. And
I was just like, exactly, I want to recreate you know,

(39:13):
my childhood because it was just like you know, it was.
It was a good childhood, man. It was a great
child that we didn't had no phones and nothing, run
around chasing chickens, you know, throwing rocks, you know, just
all kinds of you know, just kids stuff. But nowaday
kids stuff is like everyone all the kids is like
on a screen, on a screen. I'm me too. I

(39:36):
know it's pretty bad.

Speaker 4 (39:38):
But you know when you were in your childhood and
you were free because we did it.

Speaker 2 (39:43):
We couldn't afford the phone. You know what I mean, yeah,
you know, one could afford phones. Were all running around
throwing the rocks. I mean, you sounds pretty crazy, but
we used to have like rock wars. We was just
like throw rocks at each other. But it's just joy
the things, yeah, exactly, enjoying the simple things. And and
when Johnny said that, I was like, that's I feel

(40:04):
like that's that's one of the main reasons. And not
only that, you know, just yeah, I always just wanted a.

Speaker 3 (40:12):
Family, So having all this famous success was never your goal.

Speaker 2 (40:17):
No, It's just like, singing is what I'm good at.
It's like the only thing I'm good at. So that's
I love it.

Speaker 3 (40:24):
You're good at so many things, thank you.

Speaker 2 (40:26):
But you know I love singing too, and I love
to perform, and I love writing songs, and I'm good
at it, like you know, good enough.

Speaker 3 (40:37):
I love your song Sunshine, Oh, thank you so much.

Speaker 4 (40:40):
That song is just it just makes you feel so happy.
And I love that you have just island vibes in
your music because I feel like that is my favorite
kind of music. Is like some some island when there's
just it feels like you're at the beach and it's
like how what is the actual genre called is it
island music?

Speaker 3 (41:00):
Yeah, Regae, Eiland reggae, Yeah, hands down. I feel like
that is the happiest genre.

Speaker 4 (41:05):
But it also is speaking great truths and so few
people are.

Speaker 3 (41:11):
Doing it and doing it well.

Speaker 4 (41:12):
And I feel like you this is like where I
feel like you are just this incredible person that has
come together to bless our generation with this music. Because yes,
some people can wail, some people have all this soul,
and you know, it's like mesmerizing to hear, it's intimidating.

Speaker 3 (41:30):
But you you have this beautiful voice.

Speaker 4 (41:32):
Your voice is so gorgeous, so beautiful, and you have
this truth about you.

Speaker 3 (41:38):
You're from the islands.

Speaker 4 (41:40):
You sing with that truth coming through with this island
music behind you, and it's it's such a unique sound
that nobody is doing and can.

Speaker 3 (41:50):
Do because you can't. I mean, I guess you can.

Speaker 4 (41:52):
Fake it, but you can't, you know, if someone's being
real with it, you know, and that is like who
you are and it is so rare, and that is
like what makes you so special and so unique because
it's just how God made you, where he put you
in the world, what you grew up being influenced by
and then you're sharing.

Speaker 3 (42:08):
Your truth with us, and it's like, man, it just.

Speaker 4 (42:12):
Hits people in the heart because everything about you is
so real and rare.

Speaker 2 (42:18):
Yeah, I feel like a lot of people, a lot
of people aren't doing island reggae.

Speaker 3 (42:23):
Nobody's doing it.

Speaker 2 (42:24):
And a lot of people don't really like know what
it is. And I feel like you're missing out, missing out.
There's so many like good great Island the island reggae. Man,
you got all these and these new up and coming
Island reggae artists amazing. You know, all these guys need
to also.

Speaker 4 (42:43):
It's a genre of music that I feel like is
good for your soul. You want to do so much
music out there. It's just like negative. It's like negative sounds.
The vibrations don't aren't good vibrations.

Speaker 3 (42:54):
It's not.

Speaker 2 (42:54):
The message behind messaging is.

Speaker 4 (42:56):
Bad, bad messaging. And it's like you hear what you're singing.
It's like the vibrations make you feel happy, make you
want to move, make you want to be in nature,
make you want to be with people that you love,
I mean, and make you feel things in your heart.
It's like it's bringing a vibration to the world that
we need to hear.

Speaker 2 (43:14):
And it's a lot of people always like make fun
of me, but like it's just fine. Like on online
we're like, oh this the songs that he writes is
like almost it sounds like you're for kids. I was like,
I mean you kind of want to influence the youth,
the youth in a good way, you know what I mean?
Like what's wrong with that? You know? Go going in
just singing about good things? You don't stop singing about

(43:36):
like this negative stuff.

Speaker 4 (43:38):
Just like getting drunk and like going out to clubs
and all that. You know, it's you, yeah, you know,
but there's plenty of that. We don't have enough of you.
Like what you're bringing. I really feel like I personally
feel like we're in sort of like a spiritual warfare
and there's always good and evil and you, whether you
know it full or not, in my and are just

(44:01):
bringing so much light And you are bringing so and
it's through the music, vibration and who you are as
a human and you are raising you as a one
human being. And the platform, your message, your story, the
platform that you had on American Idol, the way you
are so vulnerable, how you have the Island music behind you.
You are truly raising the vibration of all who hear

(44:22):
you because you are sending out this love and it's
coming out through your music, and that is raising the
vibration of the world, and that is helping to put
light in the world. And that is what you're doing.

Speaker 3 (44:32):
I mean, it's truly like spiritual. It's a big deal.

Speaker 2 (44:37):
Oh have you noticed I keep saying, I like my
trainer and my manager at both Scottish.

Speaker 3 (44:45):
How'd you end up with a bunch of Scottish dudes?

Speaker 2 (44:48):
And it's just it's hilarious because my manager is Johnny Scottish, right.

Speaker 3 (44:52):
So he knows the other Scottish guys.

Speaker 2 (44:53):
Yeah, and his best friend out in Memphis lives there,
and he's my trainer.

Speaker 3 (44:57):
And you've been like working hard. You've lost like one
hundred pounds.

Speaker 2 (44:59):
Undred fifteen pounds.

Speaker 3 (45:00):
Yes, I need to How are you doing. Are you
just like on a regimen?

Speaker 2 (45:06):
Yeah, we're just like five days a week working out.

Speaker 3 (45:08):
Are you liking it?

Speaker 2 (45:10):
Yeah? Honestly at first, like I hated it and I
still hate it. No, I don't think it's never fun, right,
It's never fun, but like you kind of miss it,
you know what I mean? The moment you're like, oh
my gosh, she's just I'm tired of this. But then
you missed the feeling of like being tired, being exhausted.
I don't know what's explained.

Speaker 4 (45:30):
Yeah, you get that rush in your body and you're
you can feel yourself sweating.

Speaker 3 (45:33):
Out of the top, shleps so good, you're.

Speaker 4 (45:35):
Sleeping so good, You're it's like that tiredness. I know
what you're saying, like it's awful, but it's like, oh,
it's a it's a high that you can't otherwise, but
you've been gone it.

Speaker 2 (45:46):
Yeah. Put These guys are cracking up Scottish right. They're
always telling jokes. Roberts always telling jokes always, and it's
always the same jokes every day.

Speaker 3 (45:57):
Do you know the jokes?

Speaker 2 (45:58):
Yeah, probably jokes. Scottish people are pretty uh, pretty vulgar, yes,
but it's funny, man. These guys crack me up. And
he always like, well, were sitting in like I could
do a pretty good I can do it all right, Scottish.
We'll be walking You're like, oh, William, the song is great,

(46:23):
don't break my heart. It's a great song. Oh, thank you,
thank you.

Speaker 3 (46:28):
That was really good.

Speaker 2 (46:29):
I just think that he always. He said to me
one day, and it's it's funny. He said, uh so,
I'm like, when you get to a good way, you
can start having cheat days again. And I was like, yeah,
I think you're having enough cheat days. It's like, I'm
so honest, and I just I love it, you know
what I mean.

Speaker 3 (46:48):
It is nice to be people who are just kind
of brutally honest.

Speaker 2 (46:51):
But it's nice.

Speaker 3 (46:53):
But you realize are not trying to hurt your feelings exactly.
You're just saying you are exactly.

Speaker 2 (46:58):
Man, Robert. I love that guy so much, like man.

Speaker 3 (47:12):
And it's good to have someone pushing you in a
way that like holds you accountable.

Speaker 2 (47:15):
I always like when I'm like working out, I'm like slacking.
I'm like so tired, Like lift the way. She's like,
come on back, band, you got this.

Speaker 4 (47:30):
Okay, So I want to talk about a little bit
more about your music and then we'll wrap up because
we're probably.

Speaker 3 (47:35):
Already at eleven. Okay.

Speaker 4 (47:38):
You just released a song called I Break my Heart
and it's really beautiful, very heartfelt, and it's also tapping
into like your whole journey of like losing your dad.
You also release the song Sunshine a little bit before that,
which is so great. Opposite day it's like talking about
like happiness and like be the sunshine both lives.

Speaker 3 (48:01):
Are you building an album right now? Is that what's
happening I'm working on? Is it going to be an
island reggae album? Please tell me yes? Yes, yes, yes.

Speaker 2 (48:08):
But also it's funny how you said you know it's
so good for the soul.

Speaker 3 (48:12):
Please, I'm just I'm begging you.

Speaker 2 (48:13):
I just wrote a song called good for my soul? Okay,
And it's like a song like I wrote about my girlfriend,
but we put in like island, like island references, like
one of the lines is uh and and we're working
on this record and the record is but it's island

(48:36):
island reggae. It is, yes, ma'am. And I also also
like has we're working on like maybe break my Heart?
In there a few of them battle I Break my.

Speaker 3 (48:45):
Heart isn't totally island reggae?

Speaker 2 (48:47):
Is it? It's not at all?

Speaker 3 (48:48):
I know I felt I heard it. I was like, okay,
are we are we having a departure from from.

Speaker 4 (48:54):
This island sound because you can do it all, but
like my soul is craving the Island reggae because it's
so special.

Speaker 3 (49:00):
So I was wondering, what is the album going to
be Island.

Speaker 2 (49:03):
Reggae with a little bit of you know, here and there,
maybe like a ballot or two and uh and and
like again good for my soul. One of the lines
is U good the bluest of the blue I ever
seen is when your ocean eyes washed over me? Right,

(49:23):
And it's all these like island like references, but it's
a it's a soul song, okay, it's a soul song
with a little bit of island twist and so it's
like a like horn saxophone and it's just crazy. It's
I'm super excited about that one. I don't know even
maybe maybe I should have talked about that, but I
don't know when it's coming out, but it's coming out.

(49:44):
But I feel like it's fine. You know, it's just.

Speaker 3 (49:46):
It's music and you're just dropping it as you have done, right,
you know.

Speaker 2 (49:50):
A pre promoting.

Speaker 3 (49:52):
Totally yeah, exactly.

Speaker 4 (49:55):
So tell me how you decided to do a departure
from island reggae, because pretty much everything you release until
Unbreak my Heart I feel like has been island music, Right,
What inspired, I'll be seeing you, okay, And you did
that on idol, Yeah, and you released that yeah.

Speaker 2 (50:12):
And it was almost like the same vibe as like
breaking my heart kind of thing. Okay, but I break
my heart. It just spoke so true to me, and
it is different from what I've been doing. And I
just but I just the song spoke to me. So
the first line was, I remember when the call came
in telling me you were gone. I remember trying to

(50:34):
pretend that you'll be there when I got home. And
that's exactly how.

Speaker 3 (50:37):
I felt, because were you in Hawaii when he actually passed?

Speaker 2 (50:40):
Yeah, you were, and we were there and he passed away.
My but I had just started my fast. I remember
I told you like when we fast, and I had
just started. Right when I started my fast, my sisters
like crying. You're like screaming. And then I was like,
what's going on? And I come down stairs and all
my cousins. I'm like, because like crying, all my cousins crying,

(51:04):
even we gotta come in there. I was like, nah,
what do you mean now? I was like I don't
want to go there like you and you gotta say
your dad, You got to say good bye to your dad.
I was like, was on the phone, Yeah, they were.
My mom was on FaceTime and she was crying.

Speaker 3 (51:19):
And you didn't want to know why because.

Speaker 2 (51:23):
I just I knew if I saw him like that,
like like because they showed me how he looked like,
and I didn't want to see him like that. These
tubes and all these like you know, trying to keep him.

Speaker 3 (51:35):
Alive, and you wanted to remember him.

Speaker 2 (51:37):
I wanted to remember how he was, you know, not
not through that time that you know. But I eventually,
like you know, I just said goodbye, and it was man.
I was crying like a baby.

Speaker 4 (51:50):
Man.

Speaker 2 (51:50):
I was like screaming, and I went, I remember, there's
a there's a cry that all these tones always make
fun of it. It's like the cry is oh, like
I think, And that's exactly how I was crying. And
I didn't expect it. And I just was like sitting
there just crying like oh.

Speaker 3 (52:08):
It just came out, just came out like and.

Speaker 2 (52:10):
I was just like, what the heck? And then my
uncle never came out to me crying like hey, you're okay,
like we're here for you, and I'm like, I'm sorry
about it, and I'm like okay, like crying, and then
they said, what do you want to do? And I
was like, I want to go to the beach. Right
after my DA last week. We went to the beach
and we swam for like an hour and I came back.

Speaker 3 (52:33):
And then just what did that do for you? When
you were just tell me like.

Speaker 2 (52:39):
I guess like appreciate, like I don't know to explain it.
But for like a brief moment, I was upset. I
was upset that God, you.

Speaker 3 (52:48):
Know what I mean, A brief moment that's okay.

Speaker 2 (52:51):
And I I was like, I kid you not for
like a minute, like I was just like man like
I I fasted and it didn't even work, and then
all this stuff and blah blah blah.

Speaker 4 (53:01):
I was mad, Well, because you did, you held up
You're end of the deal that you're making.

Speaker 3 (53:05):
But here's the thing. God he works in such mysterious ways,
and some.

Speaker 4 (53:09):
Of them are heartbreaking, you know, and it makes no
sense and it's just completely unfair as it feels then,
but then you see circle eventually, now.

Speaker 2 (53:18):
That you know now that all of this, now I
can take care of my family. I can take care
of my mom, and I can take care of my sailings,
you know, if they need help, and it's just all
like it all worked out. So you're right. God does
work in mysterious ways.

Speaker 4 (53:34):
Sometimes it's just so painful. I get I get frustrated
all the time with God. I'm like, literally, God.

Speaker 3 (53:38):
Why do we have to go through this? Why is
it so hard? It's always so hard to get to
the lesson?

Speaker 4 (53:46):
You know, But then you get through it and you
grow and you have like an awakening and you get
closer to God and you understand more. But it's just
literally like it's like why why does it have to
be like that?

Speaker 2 (53:57):
But like, man, it's it's crazy how it works though,
you know what I mean. Crazy, how how it leads
you to Like how you said that, you said like
you didn't know what to do, and you did singing with.

Speaker 3 (54:10):
My whole life. Yeah, I've never known what to do.
I just started and bands I was posting.

Speaker 4 (54:16):
I didn't even podcasts didn't even exist when I started,
and I like had a panic attack quit music.

Speaker 3 (54:21):
Had no idea what to do with my life.

Speaker 4 (54:23):
And then I realized this podcast podcasting was coming about,
and I was like, I want to hear real stories.

Speaker 3 (54:28):
I want to know.

Speaker 4 (54:29):
I want to get into the minds of people who
figured life out, because I sure haven't.

Speaker 3 (54:32):
And then I get into people's minds and I'm like,
no one has figured life out.

Speaker 4 (54:36):
People just have to eventually get in touch with their
intuition and their soul and their inner guidance. And that's
what that's what is is the roadmap, but there is
no roadmap.

Speaker 3 (54:48):
Okay, a couple more questions and we'll wrap up. Why
do you want to quit it all? At one point?

Speaker 2 (54:57):
I feel like a few points I wanted to quit.

Speaker 3 (55:00):
Tell me what made you want to quit it? Because
you're on top of the world.

Speaker 2 (55:03):
Once I quit, once I did quit as.

Speaker 3 (55:05):
You did quit really yeah, like after my dad passed
away and you already won before this is before you
were gonna quits quit.

Speaker 2 (55:13):
I grabbed my guitars, like there's no reason for me
to play anymore. You know. The only reason why I
really did music was for my dad, because that's how
we bonded. Because he wasn't, like I said, he was
a tough love kind of guy. He wasn't really like
a hey son, I love you so much, man, You're
the best. He wasn't. He would just be like look
at me, Like if I did something that made him
probably look at me and just.

Speaker 3 (55:33):
Head you were just trying. You wanted to make it
proud exactly.

Speaker 2 (55:36):
And once she passed away, I was like that there's
no honestly no reason for me to play anymore. Put
my guitar and just you know, people are like, oh,
I put put it, I put it under the bed,
you know what that saying. I literally put my guitar
into my bad. I quit when I was done, and
then my mom came back like I think I'm like
two months after, three months after my dad passed away,

(55:58):
and she was like, hey, son, you know you gotta
keep practicing your music. And I was like, nah, I'm done.
She's like, what are me? You're done? I was like,
I don't want to sing anymore. And then she she's like,
why he's the guy? I told her because when I sing,
I can hear Dad sing because he always harmonizing me.

Speaker 3 (56:14):
You could hear I don't.

Speaker 2 (56:16):
Like it, And she was like, why don't you like it.

Speaker 3 (56:18):
Though it would because it made you sad?

Speaker 2 (56:20):
Yeah, exactly. My mom said, you got to look at
it as you can hear your dad still even though
he's gone wow, so singing it would get you. Like basically,
she was.

Speaker 3 (56:30):
Saying like, do you still hear him?

Speaker 2 (56:32):
Yeah? I do? I do, and maybe maybe in my
maybe in my head, it's just like me hearing the harmony,
like hearing what the harmony is. But I'm so used
to my whole life with harmony, harmonizing with my dad, right,
just hearing the harmony. I guess that might be what
it is, like, just hearing that harmony and like, man, so.

Speaker 3 (56:49):
Now do you feel the love of it or does
it still make sense?

Speaker 4 (56:52):
You do?

Speaker 2 (56:53):
But yeah, she asked me to hey, you gotta learn
so you can audition. I was like, what are you audition?
She I signed you up. I was like, hold up,
what do you mean sign me up? I signed you
up for me for idole of your audition is in
two days. And I was like, what do you mean
online auditions in two days? So I was like, all right.
I grabbed my guitar, sorry, took it out of that,

(57:14):
tuned it up, change the strings, started playing and learning songs.
Then we go in an audition and I'm just like,
still bad attitude, but I don't want to do this.
I'm not even gonna make it I seen made past
the first round. I was like, I made it past
the first round the first time I auditioned, so I'm
still mad. And made it past the second round. I
was like, they're gonna call me and they're like, hey, sorry,

(57:35):
but we decided to take another turn and come back
next year. That's why I thought. They got on a
call and they're like very share. She was like, you know, William.
Uh So they're like, you're gonna be able to audition
in front of Katie.

Speaker 3 (57:50):
Perry, Luke, Luke, Brian and I just started freaking.

Speaker 2 (57:55):
I was like what And I called all my friends,
all my family, I'm auditioning for it, dude. And then
they emailed as you can't tell anyone.

Speaker 3 (58:06):
Sorry about.

Speaker 2 (58:09):
It was just but that's when I started picking up again.
And then when I after Idle, what made me like
kind of like, man, I don't think I want to
do this anymore. Why? I just feel like it was
just it was a lot, you know what I mean?
It was after Idle, it was just and not only that,
just not having the right people around me at the time.

Speaker 3 (58:29):
That's a really hard thing to get the right people.

Speaker 2 (58:31):
You know exactly, And it I went through a lot
of people.

Speaker 4 (58:36):
Did it wear on your soul? Were they trying to
take you in different directions?

Speaker 1 (58:40):
Like?

Speaker 2 (58:40):
It just like it just didn't feel right to me.
I was just like I just felt like, man, like,
what's the point of me even doing this, because like
I don't even have a say anymore? I don't even
have You know, you.

Speaker 3 (58:50):
Felt like you lost your voice? Exactly how did you
find it again?

Speaker 2 (58:53):
And I found it because you know, I learned. I
learned about like the music industry. You know, I started
learning through Johnny. Johnny was teaching me.

Speaker 3 (59:04):
Johnny my manager, Johnny Reading, he's a big Canadian artist.

Speaker 2 (59:07):
Yeah, so he's.

Speaker 3 (59:08):
Weathered some storms. So did he help you find your truth?

Speaker 2 (59:12):
And it's hard to find like like people like great
people out there that are in it, like for the
right reasons. And when I met Johnny, I was like, man,
I really liked this.

Speaker 3 (59:24):
He felt good to your soul.

Speaker 2 (59:25):
Yeah exactly, it felt like like, man, this is what
I needed. But at the time, you know, just not
having the right team around me, not having the right
people and.

Speaker 4 (59:35):
Trying to tell you what you need to do to
be successful. It's all about successful and money.

Speaker 2 (59:39):
Yeah, And it was just like almost like like they're
like like some people like I remember at one point
there was a person like she was saying like, oh,
like it doesn't matter, like kind of like talking down
on me.

Speaker 4 (59:53):
And I was just like, like, what doesn't matter doing like
your opinion?

Speaker 2 (59:57):
Yeah, no, like they're saying, like, doesn't matter how how
big your numbers are, Like all that matters is what hard.

Speaker 3 (01:00:04):
Te hard sells.

Speaker 2 (01:00:07):
And you know you can be as big as you want,
but you're not going to get anywhere if you if
you think that you're too I was just like, and.

Speaker 3 (01:00:14):
It just like kills the joy of the music, doesn't it.

Speaker 2 (01:00:17):
I'm just at some point just like just close your mouth.
I was just like at that point, I was like,
what's the point? Why am I doing this? You know
what I mean? Everyone I meet is like this. I
don't want to do this anymore?

Speaker 3 (01:00:29):
You know, yes, like what is the what is the why?

Speaker 4 (01:00:32):
Because you did it for the love of music, for
your dad, for your family, to express yourself through song,
and then it's like what it changes into an industry
and all about the bottom line.

Speaker 2 (01:00:42):
It has to be this, it has to be this.
You know you need to do this, you need to
sing this and it turns into like a thing where
it's not even it's not you don't there's no soul.

Speaker 3 (01:00:53):
In it anymore, you know what I mean, Yes, I
do know what you mean. And I was just like,
it's not for you because you're also know.

Speaker 2 (01:01:00):
I mean exactly because my dad taught me was music
is you got to sing with your soul or you're not.
You're just making noise singing with your soul. And I
was like, yeah, I just feel like I'm making noise
at this point.

Speaker 4 (01:01:11):
So I was just gonna so you that's when you
want to step away.

Speaker 3 (01:01:15):
And then you got the right people around.

Speaker 2 (01:01:16):
You know, like you know these guys, Hey, there's this
guy that we want to world that we want you
to write with. It'll be cool. I was like, yeah,
all right, you go see like you know, at that point,
I was like, you know, I'll just try and just
like kind of just waiting around to see what.

Speaker 4 (01:01:30):
Happens, you know, because you're kind of already like feeling
like you might just like.

Speaker 2 (01:01:33):
I don't belong like and we go in and we
get into right session, and I'm just like, you know,
I'm always trying to be like a positive guy and
I went in. I was I wasn't feeling great, but
I was like, you know, I'm going I'm gonna have fun,
you know, just have fun. Stop like I'm not gonna
be Niggan. I'm just gonna go and have fun. Just
make this whole thing just a good vibe. We go

(01:01:54):
in Right Road to Hannah.

Speaker 3 (01:01:56):
Oh, I love that song, The Right.

Speaker 2 (01:01:57):
Road to Hannah, and Johnny was over there. Hey, I
got this and started like dud and I was just like,
this guy is crazy and his writing honestly one of
the best writers I've ever met.

Speaker 3 (01:02:10):
And he understood you.

Speaker 2 (01:02:12):
Exactly Andy, and he understood like me, and he understood
what I loved, and he understood like he and.

Speaker 3 (01:02:20):
He understood like what you want to say?

Speaker 2 (01:02:22):
Yeah, and he would like you know. I was just like, oh, shoot,
all right, and then he wrote another song. Then we
wrote another song, then he showed me this, he pitched
me another song, so I had four songs off of
like what's six hours.

Speaker 3 (01:02:37):
I was just like, Dann, dude, you got to reinspired.

Speaker 2 (01:02:40):
Yeah, And I was just like, man, this is good,
Like this guy is what I want to be, you know,
And I didn't. I didn't know who Johnny was you know,
I didn't. I didn't know that he was an artist.

Speaker 3 (01:02:50):
I thought he was just like the songwriter, songwriter, you
know what I mean.

Speaker 2 (01:02:53):
And then he showed me some of his music and
I was just like what. We listened to his music
all the time, like at that point, like we left
going back home and we were just jamming his music
because we love where I grew up. We love country,
we love like soul and all their lives. That's what
Johnny does. And my mom was like, I really like Johnny.

(01:03:15):
And then this other song that I was working on
called I Do that Johnny pitched me and it's just beautiful.
So I cried when he when he played it, I
want to show you this song and played the song,
I cried.

Speaker 4 (01:03:26):
It was like hitting your soul again. You're finally back
to music. Does hitting your soul?

Speaker 2 (01:03:29):
Yeah? And I'm just crying and I'm like, this is
what music is about, you know what I mean. Then
kind of like forget and and he's like, I think
that this song would be good for you, right, And
we go in and we record the song and then
I played it. He came because I was playing that
song at the nineteen takeover like American Idol takes over

(01:03:50):
like CMA like two years ago, like a year ago
or something that I play, I do and they invite
Johnny out. Johnny comes with Jen, and my mom was
there too, and just the way Johnny was like treating
jan just like man, you know what I mean.

Speaker 3 (01:04:07):
His wife wife, he has good values, you know what
I mean, family valus.

Speaker 2 (01:04:11):
Exactly like he was like they would be like they're
always like there they came when he came in there,
oh Johnny, like Johnny this like Johnny, can you come in, Hey, Johnny,
we got this for you. And then Johnny was always like, well,
this is my wife Jen, and you know, and he's
like Jen, Like when they like, oh Johnny your r
V this way, Johnny's like, you know, Jenny, oh you
go come with me, Come with me. And then they're like, oh,

(01:04:32):
they want you to meet em up front. He's like,
come on, Jame's goal.

Speaker 3 (01:04:36):
Yes, it's priority straight.

Speaker 2 (01:04:37):
Exactly, Priority straight.

Speaker 3 (01:04:38):
And you're like family, like family first.

Speaker 2 (01:04:40):
What you want.

Speaker 3 (01:04:42):
To surround yourself with people is to have a family.

Speaker 2 (01:04:45):
I go, right, I just seen Johnny very family oriented. Man.
My mom saw that and she was like I really
like Johnny. I was like, what do you mean. It's like,
She's like, you, like, you got to ask him to
be a manager?

Speaker 3 (01:04:56):
Have you ever managed before?

Speaker 2 (01:04:58):
I don't think so.

Speaker 3 (01:04:59):
Okay, So it was just a moment in time You're
just meant to be.

Speaker 2 (01:05:02):
It was just meant to be.

Speaker 4 (01:05:04):
Do you feel ever since you've started aligning yourself with
people like Johnny, do you feel your spark back?

Speaker 3 (01:05:08):
Yes, and you feel excited again.

Speaker 2 (01:05:10):
Honestly, like like a month right after meeting Johnny, I
was already like, I was like ready to go again.
I was.

Speaker 4 (01:05:21):
It is so true who you surround yourself with is
what do they say? You're the sum of the five
people that you spend the most time with. So whoever
you're spending the most time with, it wears on you
no matter what, even if, even if you're trying to
be something different, If your the main key influences in
your life are taking you down a road that you
don't want to go, it's gonna wear on you. Well,
good for you for staying true to yourself navigating this

(01:05:42):
journey that is so hard.

Speaker 2 (01:05:44):
A lot of the questions, I don't remember what you
asked me. You just went totally. She asked one question,
I answered something else.

Speaker 3 (01:05:50):
You're amazing. No eam You're incredible and you're so You're
just such a beautiful human.

Speaker 4 (01:05:57):
Your heart and your soul and your store and the
way that you are just so willing to share it
is so powerful.

Speaker 3 (01:06:04):
That is your superpower.

Speaker 4 (01:06:05):
The fact that you have I mean, the fact that
you have this voice, this soul of this story, you
have the Island music and it's just I'm telling you,
you are raising the vibration of the world with your
music and your heart and your story. And don't ever
forget that. And like you said, comparison is a thief
of joy. But you are in your own lane and
you are so special. Like when I literally preparing for

(01:06:28):
this interview with you, I was like, what an amazing
human you are.

Speaker 3 (01:06:33):
Like you're just not like everybody else. You're really not.

Speaker 4 (01:06:37):
And I know you think everybody is like this where
you're from and everyone's singing, but like you are very
rare and what you have to say is so important
and the way you say it resonates and so as
long as you're staying true to you, that's that's it.
That's your superpower.

Speaker 3 (01:06:51):
Iam. Thank you so much for joining me tell me
where everyone can find your music. Okay, so I am
am M t O n G I. It's everywhere, but
it's like on Instagram.

Speaker 2 (01:07:03):
It's like w onst my name is William.

Speaker 3 (01:07:05):
Right, okay, W t O n G I, W t O.

Speaker 2 (01:07:08):
N G I. That's why Instagram all platforms, I believe. Okay.

Speaker 3 (01:07:12):
And are you touring right now? Are you just recording.

Speaker 2 (01:07:16):
Right now? I'm just recording.

Speaker 3 (01:07:18):
We're getting ready for this album?

Speaker 2 (01:07:20):
Yeah, yes, ma'am. But we'll working on this album, okay.

Speaker 3 (01:07:22):
I am looking forward to this.

Speaker 4 (01:07:23):
I will be playing it all the time because Island
music is truly my favorite of all times. So and
I cannot wait to hear what you come up with.
I love what you put out so far.

Speaker 3 (01:07:31):
And break my.

Speaker 4 (01:07:31):
Heart is out, Uh, Sunshine is out. You're making your
grand old opry debut this week this week.

Speaker 3 (01:07:38):
Huge. You just played c M A fast Monday, right, yeah,
this week on Wednesday?

Speaker 2 (01:07:43):
Wednesday?

Speaker 5 (01:07:43):
Yeah, congratulations, congratulations on everything, and may the Lord just
continue to bless you and guide you because you are
truly a shining light and it's been an honor to
get to chat with you.

Speaker 4 (01:07:56):
Can we answer a few questions I played this little
game called Tell Me More. It's gonna be a bonus episode,
am tnkie. Thank you so much, Dan,