Today, U.S. Army Sgt. Isaac Atkins will join his platoon for a watch party for the next episode of Season 21 of “America’s Got Talent,” where Atkins is one of the featured contestants.
Atkins, who is stationed on Oʻahu, is one of several contestants, including Bruno Mars’ nephews — the North Shore-based brothers Nyjah Music & Zyah Rhythm — competing in the current season of “America’s Got Talent.”
“I’m having a watch party with my soldiers on base,” Atkins told Aloha State Daily. “Obviously, it's just a platoon internal thing, where my soldiers — the soldiers that I'm in charge of — we're gonna ... watch the show and have a good time.”
Watch the singer on Tuesday, June 16, when the episode streams on Peacock at 2 p.m. HST. New this season is the judges’ callbacks round, where select acts, including Atkins, are asked to perform again, and the final remaining live show spots are on the line.
The episode was filmed over several months, including during the Kona Low storms in March, but Atkins has not been able to talk much about it prior to airing. While in California, he made sure to visit a food spot, which is not currently in Hawaiʻi.
“I wanted Chipotle," he said. "I got off the plane at LAX, and I took a Lyft to the hotel, but I asked my driver to stop at Chipotle first, so that's the very first thing I did.”
For Atkins, the “America’s Got Talent” stage is the largest of his musical career so far. His previous performances include one in high school, where he had a solo with his choir, he said, but this was different.
“It was crazy because when I was up on the stage, I had the earpieces in, but I could still hear the audience — how loud they were,” he said. “It was super encouraging when I was singing to hear them cheering. It amped me up even more, even though I was still extremely nervous, because who wouldn't be? I’m not an experienced performer. I'm just some guy.”
Atkins grew up influenced by his father’s music, which included classics such as The Temptations, The Beatles, The Beach Boys, Smokey Robinson and Motown.
“I grew up on all that music,” he said. “That's really the kind of music that inspired me to sing because it's just classic. It's never going to go out of style, and I still listen to that to this day.”
Now, the social media influencer has 85,000 followers on TikTok, where he posts videos of himself singing in the car.
“It was never really my intention to take it to this level,” Atkins said. “But I was doing the car singing thing — and I started getting a lot of traction on TikTok and whatnot and getting the likes and getting comments. That kind of motivated me to take it that step further. And to be able to venture out into doing something this big like ʻAmerica’s Got Talent.’”
Follow Atkins on TikTok , YouTube and Instagram.
For the latest news of Hawai‘i, sign up here for our free Daily Edition newsletter.
Katie Helland can be reached at katie@alohastatedaily.com.
