By next weekend, American Idol’s Season 23 will have a new winner. That singer could be Thunderstorm Artis, who grew up in Haleʻiwa on the North Shore of Oʻahu.
Artis will perform again tonight as one of the nation’s top five contestants. Voters will decide the top three singers, who advance to hometown visits this week, with a finalist named Sunday, May 18.
People can vote for Artis during the live broadcast between 2 p.m. and 3:50 p.m. HST today, May 12. During that time, viewers can vote up 30 times: 10 times via the website AmericanIdol.com/vote, 10 times by texting 23 to 21523 and 10 times via the American Idol app.
Artis wants to take American Idol back to Oʻahu, where he grew up, for a hometown tour and a concert at the newly renovated Tom Moffatt Waikīkī Shell on Wednesday, May 14. Currently, Artis and his wife, Faith, and their two kids are based in Nashville, where they moved in 2019, but he was born and raised in Hawaiʻi, where he comes back at least five times a year.
What does he love about home?
“For me, man, it's the culture, it's the lifestyle, it's the people, it’s the aloha spirit,” he told Aloha State Daily. “The food, for sure. I miss the food. But it’s more the people that make the place a beautiful thing for me than even the place itself. The family in Hawaiʻi that I grew up with — the people that have poured into my life throughout the years, before I was even a known artist. The people who poured into me, spiritually, mentally and physically, that empower me to do everything I do.”
As part of hometown visits, contestants get to share a concert with the community. For Artis, the Tom Moffatt Waikīkī Shell is a venue he has never gotten to play and one “I’ve always wanted to my whole life,” he said.
“That would just be a dream come true,” Thunderstorm said. “And being able to celebrate not just American Idol but that moment with all my friends and family — they know how hard I've been working at this — it would just be an absolute right dream.”
Artis is no stranger to musical competitions. He placed third in “The Voice” in 2020. Since then, he became a husband and father of two, who is writing music.
The competition this year included a moving cover of Journey’s “Faithfully,” dedicated to his wife, Faith.
“It's been nice to be able to represent Hawaiʻi on the national stage,” he said. “Even though I live in Nashville, I wanted to represent Hawai‘i, because that's my heart and that's my soul, and everything I do is an extension of the place that I grew up in.”
This past weekend, he performed a soulful rendition of “Colors of the Wind” from Disney’s “Pocahontas,” and “Out of the Blue” in a show that went live on Mother’s Day.
His “American Idol” journey started with an audition that featured a song he wrote himself, called “Don’t Let Me Let You Go.” For that audition, he carried a guitar that has been signed by friends, family and people who have supported his journey as an artist via social media. Since then, it has been signed by many of the Top 24 American Idol contestants, who performed at Aulani.
“I think I'm gonna end up framing that guitar at some point or just keeping it really special,” he said. “It's a beautiful way for me to just remember this year, or these last two years.”
Follow Artis on Spotify, YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok.
Katie Helland can be reached at katie@alohastatedaily.com.
