Tyson Venegas’ original song “180” earned him enough votes this week to put him into the Top 12 of American Idol.
The 17-year-old from Port Moody, B.C. performed the song on the episode that aired Sunday and earned praise from all three judges. “That was a damn good song,” Lionel Richie gushed.
On Monday night’s episode, Venegas learned he made it into the Top 12. He then performed Elton John’s “Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me.”
Venegas is the only Canadian competitor left on Idol. B.C. singer Emma Busse, a Top 26 finalist, was eliminated on Sunday’s show.
Venegas auditioned for the Idol judges in September with a rendition of Billy Joel’s 1976 song “New York State of Mind" and earned a Platinum ticket, which allowed him to skip the first round of "Hollywood Week."
This is not Venegas' first time in a singing competition. Venegas won the PNE Star Showdown in 2013 when he was only seven years old and, a year earlier, he won the BC Junior Talent Contest at the Cloverdale Rodeo. In 2020, Venegas competed on the Filipino version of The Voice Teens but had to drop out before the “Knockout” rounds due to pandemic travel restrictions.
American Idol started allowing Canadians to compete in its 18th season. B.C. singer Lauren Spencer-Smith became the first Canadian to make it to the Top 20 of Idol but she was eliminated in the first viewers-voted round.
In 2021, Ontario’s Heather Russell and Lorand Kis earned golden tickets at their auditions but didn’t make it past Hollywood Week.
And last season, Cameron Whitcomb of Kamloops, B.C., Toronto university student Nicolina Bozzo and Toronto-born Leah Marlene made it into the Top 24. Marlene made it all the way to the Season 20 finale.