ABC Luke Bryan, Katy Perry, and Lionel Richie on 'American Idol' Season 18
Tonight, ABC’s American Idol will move forward with airing performances from each of the Top 20 contestants. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, each of the performances will be broadcast from the contestants’ homes, and live voting will open around 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT.
For the first time ever, Idol will be reaching audiences from the homes of judges Katy Perry, Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie as well as mentor Bobby Bones and, of course, long-time Idol host Ryan Seacrest.
The remaining Idol hopefuls continue pursuing their goal as they film their performances on iPhones. Voting for American Idol begins tonight, Sunday, April 26 around the end of the episode.
You Can Vote Online, on The App or Via Text Message
There are three separate ways to vote for your favorite contestants. First, you can vote at AmericanIdol.com/vote or download the American Idol text. The other convenient way to vote is via text message. For texting, you simply text the number of the contestant you would like to vote for to “21523.”
The numbers for the contestants tonight are:
Kimmy Gabriela: text “1” to 21523
Jovin Webb: text “2” to 21523
Franklin Boone: text “3” to 21523
Olivia Ximines: text “4” to 21523
Louis Knight: text “5” to 21523
Makayla Phillips: text “6” to 21523
Aliana Jester: text “7” to 21523
Faith Becnel: text “8” to 21523
Nick Merico: text “9” to 21523
Lauren Spencer-Smith: text “10” to 21523
Cyniah Elise: text “11” to 21523
Francisco Martin: text “12” to 21523
Sophia James: text “13” to 21523
DeWayne Crocker Jr.: text “14” to 21523
Dillon James: text “15” to 21523
Arthur Gunn: text “16” to 21523
Julia Gargano: text “17” to 21523
Grace Leer: text “18” to 21523
Just Sam: text “19” to 21523
Jonny West: text “20” to 21523
You Can Vote Up to 10 Times Per Method
You don’t have to limit your vote to just one contestant. Instead, you can split your 10 votes between contestants if you’d like to. On the website or the app, you can split them up however you want. When it comes to texting, you just have to text 21523 the contestant’s number however many times you’d like to vote for them.
All together, you can vote up to 30 times per week. At the end of the voting period, the votes will be tallied, and the 10 contestants with the fewest number of votes will be sent home at the beginning of next week’s episode.
There were originally going to be a total of six live shows, which would have started with a Top 14 show on April 12, a Top 10 show on April 18 and a Top 8 show on April 26; however, due to the circumstances, the number of live shows got cut down to just a few.
The season finale of the show now set to air on Sunday, May 17 when host Ryan Seacrest will crown the Season 18 American Idol.
The American Idol Instagram shared updates on the show, writing “Sunday’s ALL-NEW #AmericanIdol will be the FIRST U.S. competition series broadcast entirely from home! It takes a round-the-clock digital village to make TV history — and it’s going to be so, so worth it.” They have also been sharing updates from each contestant as they prepare to film their performances from the comfort of their own homes and encourage their fans to watch and vote for them.
Tune in to American Idol as TV history is made on Sunday, April 26 at 8 p.m. on ABC.
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