American Idol’s 2023 season finale results are officially in and your next American Idol is William "Iam" Tongi.
On Sunday night, host Ryan Seacrest announced that Iam received the most fan votes, pulling ahead of finalists Megan Danielle and Colin Stough. Before being crowned the winner of American Idol season 6 (overall 21st season) though, viewers of the ABC singing competition show witnessed how he grew as an artist on stage every week to clinch the ultimate title.
Starting off with his first audition, American Idol judges Lionel Richie, Katy Perry and Luke Bryan were moved by Iam’s emotional rendition of James Blunt's "Monsters." After earning a ticket to Hollywood, the Hawaiian native only continued to impress the panel and folks watching from home with his song choices and personal performances.
Unsurprisingly, this was also the case during the finale after belting out memorable versions of “Making Memories of Us” by Keith Urban and “Cool Down” by Kolohe Kai. To bring it full circle, Iam gave it his all when he performed his new single “I’ll Be Seeing You” for his last song.
Upon hearing that he was declared the winner, American Idol fans immediately took to Twitter to celebrate his incredible accomplishment on one of the world’s biggest stages. “Congratulations Iam, I’m sitting in tears!! You are so amazing! I’m glad you won I already new it from day one,” one person wrote.
On the other hand, Megan’s fans were understandably upset over the results. Many headed over to social media to express their thoughts. “I really believe that you should have won, [you're] an amazing singer and with every performance you've gotten better every week! I love your voice and I definitely see you going far!” someone tweeted. “You should have won. I'm sure we'll be hearing from you in the future. Best of luck in your new career,” another chimed in. “Rigged! Iam was good but not as good as Megan!!!!” a viewer declared.
Votes aside, there is no doubt that Megan will make her own mark long after the cameras shut off. As folks may know, several finalists have gone on to achieve great success after sharing their talents on American Idol, including Adam Lambert, Chris Daughtry and Jennifer Hudson.
In the meantime, we hope Iam is taking the time to remember this eventful moment before he goes on to perform in front of millions of fans in the near future.
