'American Idol' Top 5 Finalist Wé Ani Is Ready for the Grand Prize
Published May 13 2023, 4:49 p.m. ET
Wé Ani is among the top five finalists on Season 21 of American Idol, standing among the likes of Zachariah Smith, Colin Stough, Megan Danielle, and Iam Tongi. Find out more about the 24-year-old here!
So far this season on the ABC singing competition series, the Harlem-born songstress has won fans over with her performances of Whitney Houston's "I Have Nothing", "Edge of Midnight (Midnight Sky Remix)" by Miley Cyrus, and "Ain't No Way" by Aretha Franklin.
Read on for more about her journey.
You have seen 'American Idol' Season 21 finalist Wé Ani in the past.
Before finding success on Season 21 of American Idol, Wé competed back on 2016 on Season 11 of NBC's The Voice when she was only 16 years old. She placed third in the competition overall, having been a contestant on Alicia Keys' team.
Jason "Sundance" Head won the grand prize and Billy Gilman came in second place. At the time, she was performing under the name Wé McDonald.
Wé got her start at a young age and has already found a great deal of musical success.
According to her website, Wé has been singing since the age of 12 and has performed at events such as the Trumpet Awards and in prestigious venues such as New York Philharmonic. While inspired by legendary artists like the late Whitney and Aretha, the New Jersey resident's musical style has been compared to Billie Eilish.
"The innovative jazz vocalist, pop singer, and gifted songwriter has brought memorable performances to global audiences: Los Angeles, San Diego, Houston, Dallas, Chicago, Boston, Washington, D.C., New York, Miami, Atlanta stateside; internationally to countries including Amsterdam, and most uniquely Rwanda with the Christian humanitarian agency World Vision, whose mission is to provide clean water to every person everywhere they work by 2030," the website also says.
This is what we know about Wé's family life.
According to World Wide Tune, her mother, Jacqueline Bland McDonald, works as a real estate broker for New Jersey-based firm Jadon Realty, in addition to being a Health Insurance Agent and Deputy Court Administrator. There is not much known about Wé's father at this time.
Here is how you can follow the "Mr. Montgomery" artist on social media.
Wé has quite an impressive social media presence, boasting 241,000 followers on Instagram and another 28,400 on Twitter. Her verified Instagram handle is @we_ani and on Twitter she goes by @wemusic. You can find her on TikTok as well using the same handle as her Instagram where she's garnered a following of 771,000.
Find out more about this season of 'American Idol'.
American Idol airs on Sunday nights at 8 p.m. EST and Monday nights at 9 p.m. EST on ABC. Season 21 of the long-running reality series is hosted by Ryan Seacrest and features celebrity judges Luke Bryan, Katy Perry, and Lionel Richie. This season's mentors include fellow Idol alumni Justin Guarini, Jordin Sparks, Clay Aiken, and David Archuleta.
