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Exclusive Interview with Iam Tongi
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Jun 10, 2025
Iam Tongi talks winning American Idol, new music, performing at the Grand Ole Opry and more.
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0:01
hey guys it's Gail with Everything Nash
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here with Ian Tongi we have never met
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before and I'm super excited to talk to
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you very nice to meet you too okay so
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let's start with your American Idol
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journey can you kind of sum up that
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experience for me yeah American Idol is
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man it was a roller coaster uh it's a
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lot of fun a lot of stress you know
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meeting a lot of new people and you know
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I just I guess new scenery and it was it
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was a little bit crazy but I love it man
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meeting the people meeting the judges
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man it's just it was amazing is this
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true that you auditioned the year before
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and didn't even make it
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i just read that and I was like that
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can't be true that's really true like
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you you auditioned the year before and
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they wouldn't even let you on the show
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no no they wouldn't they wouldn't even
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let me audition and they said come back
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next year and I was just like nah they
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would say that to everyone probably you
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know what I mean and uh came back next
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year and
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do you know what changed in a year
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um I feel like I just I know I was older
1:03
years and little but a year I had to uh
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a lot of crazy stuff happening my dad
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passed away so I had that little time
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and I guess I think forced to grow up
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you know a little bit forced to
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um uh I guess be in that situation and
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uh yeah made me uh made me a better
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singer more more uh feeling and more
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emotions and Yeah i'm sorry about your
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dad no no you're good you're good i lost
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a parent too you just I mean life goes
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on yes ma'am and we do the best we can
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100% so then you moved on to the season
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that you won at what point did you think
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I could actually win this thing
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um uh I think until I actually won
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that's when I was like really yeah i
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never thought you would oh I just
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thought like man I'm just going in this
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i'm going to have fun you know i was
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over there just messing around with the
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my my fellow contestants like throwing
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stuff at them during like filming having
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fun i was just trying to have fun and do
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the best I can and you know every time I
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made it to the next I was always
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surprised every time like it's crazy you
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know going home just calling my mom like
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"Mom I made it i made it to the next
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round." So it's always just I feel I was
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just always surprised uh that I made it
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to the next so I Well you did a great
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job thank you thank you uh let's talk
2:30
about music you have a song coming out
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now Unbreak My Heart yes ma'am story
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behind it unbreak My Heart it's a song
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uh so my friend was working on it buddy
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of mine name Reed uh he was working on
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the song i said "Yo I got to show you a
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song I'm working on man." And he was
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showing me "Oh it's like a it's like a
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breakup song whatever." And um he showed
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me like I'm writing it right now as a
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breakup song that's what he said he
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starts right he starts like singing it
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to me and right when he sings the first
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lines I just start balling cuz exactly
3:01
how I felt when my dad passed away first
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line was I remember when the call came
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in telling me you were gone i remember
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trying to pretend that you'll be there
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when I got home and I was just like I
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was crying trying to shut off the song i
3:14
was like are you okay i was like yeah
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I'm okay and he's like what's going on
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and I was like "Dude this that's exactly
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how I felt." And then uh we just went
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from there still finished working on the
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song and um yeah now we're here about to
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release it tomorrow so it's going to be
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crazy what can we expect is there an
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album coming from you yes ma'am i'm
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working on an album i'm working on a
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record um it's exciting stuff it's very
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a lot of hard work but uh very exciting
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when is the album coming out i'm not
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sure sometime this year later later this
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year we're calling it this year october
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sometime around that time maybe i don't
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know perfect Christmas present um
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something else big is happening before I
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let you go opera debut yes ma'am yes
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ma'am opri debut June 11th see you then
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how are we feeling about it um I'm
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feeling good i'm feeling great this is
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uh crazy it's been a dream of mine to
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play Opry and it's just always like kind
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of a you know I I do reae and I do like
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island vibes and I didn't think like man
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I don't know if I I'll be able to get
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into oper you know the country you know
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and then man we got there we made it and
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we're going to do a grand old oper debut
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so it's crazy
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um yeah I'll be seeing you on big there
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you go all right emongi friends yes sir