Watch the official music video here
LONDON, U.K. – (4 October, 2023) – The winner of the latest season of American Idol, 19-year old Iam Tongi, has recently released his latest single ‘Why Kiki?’, available to stream/download worldwide. Watch the official video here.
Speaking on the release, Tongi shared “‘Why Kiki?’ is one of my favorite songs right now. It’s about those moments when you’re first dating a girl and she’s playing hard to get. It’s that back and forth flirtation. Those butterflies in the stomach trying to see if she’s into you or not… I guess, it could also be that feeling of that summer romance ending. It’s coy. It’s playful. It’s summer. It’s those first moments of love. I can’t lie, it’s also fun that it’s a play on Waikiki.”
Tongi continues, “I mean, with a song called “Why Kiki?” we had to film the video in Waikiki. So, we hit up all the famous spots and had a lot of fun with my friends and family. Hawaii is so key to who I am as an artist. It’s where I was born and it was important for me to shoot my video there to show the beauty and joy of my home and the Hawaiian people. Yessah!”
Prior to releasing ‘Why Kiki?’, Tongi shared his debut single ‘I’ll Be Seeing You‘ in early September, which has already received over 4 million streams.
Tongi is the first person from Hawaii and the first Pacific Islander to win American Idol. His audition of James Blunt’s ‘Monsters’ has received over 200 million views – available to view here. Tongi went on to perform the same track at the finale alongside Blunt, and they have since released the studio version together – official lyric video here.
As told by Rolling Stone, “During his first time in front of the judges, Tongi wiped off tears as he remembered his late father Rodney, who introduced him to music and died several months prior to his audition. He performed James Blunt’s “Monsters” in his honor, reducing judges Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan to tears.”
On September 8th, Tongi also released ‘Starting All Over Again (Acoustic)‘ with all of the proceeds benefiting the Maui wildfire victims after taking part in ABC’s #MauiStrong livestream alongside Fleetwood Mac’s Mick Fleetwood, LL Cool J, Lukas Nelson, Nathaniel Rateliff, Fred Armisen, Sarah McLachlan and Ziggy Marley. Tongi shared on the cover, “I want to continue to do my part to help Maui, so I recorded a full performance of Iz’s ‘Starting All Over Again.’”