After a few days of preparation, the top 10 remaining contestants on season 23 of “American Idol” rocked the stage again on May 4, 2025, for a night dedicated to “iconic women in music.” After 22 million votes, host Ryan Seacrest revealed the top 8, who will now go on to compete again on May 5.
Airing live coast-to-coast starting at 8 p.m. Eastern time, viewers will again have less than two hours to vote. But in a twist, the judges will also have a chance to save one contestant from being cut. Here’s what to expect and how to cast your votes live…
Tonight’s ‘American Idol’ Will Result in Top 6 or 7 for Season 23
DisneyThe May 5 live episode centers around the returning Judges’ Song Choice theme. Jelly Roll will be back as the artist-in-residence, working with the contestants on their selections.
If the theme follows past years, each judge — Lionel Richie, Carrie Underwood, and Luke Bryan — will anonymously choose a different song they’d like to hear each contestant take on. The singers then get to select one of the judges’ three options to perform, unaware of which one suggested it. At the end of the night, the judge who has the most songs performed by the contestants gets bragging rights as the winner.
Meanwhile, viewers’ votes will determine in the last moments of the show which of the eight contestants have made it into the top six. In a voting twist, the judges will then confer and decide whether they want to save one of the two eliminated singers, which would create a top seven that will advance to the next week — and get to go to Disneyland with their families for a Mother’s Day special.
How to Vote for ‘American Idol’ Favorites on May 5
As with past live shows, voting will open at the start of each episode on 5, per ABC, and will close during the last commercial break, around 9:50 p.m. Eastern time.
Once again, viewers have three ways to vote. You can cast up to 10 votes for each of your favorite singers on each platform — totaling up to 30 votes per contestant.
The first way to vote is through ABC’s website. The second way is via the “American Idol” app, either via Apple for iPhones or via Google for Androids. Both the site and app require signing in; you can create a free account that works for both or use an existing MyDisney account.
You do not have to wait until your favorites perform to vote for them, but if you change your mind as the show goes on, you can change your votes on the site or in the app, as long as you click to “save” your changes before voting ends.
The third way to vote is by texting a favorite contestant’s unique contestant number — provided below — to 21523. As with the other voting options, you can cast up to 10 votes for each contestant you think should advance in the competition.
The contestants’ unique numbers are not changing for the May 4 and 5 votes. Here they are in alphabetical order:
- Breanna Nix — Text 9 to 21523
- Gabby Samone — Text 6 to 21523
- Jamal Roberts — Text 12 to 21523
- John Foster — Text 13 to 21523
- Josh King — Text 21 to 21523
- Mattie Pruitt — Text 22 to 21523
- Slater Nalley — Text 11 to 21523
- Thunderstorm Artis — Text 23 to 21523
EntertainmentNOW will provide live updates and results throughout the night.
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Voting Twist Tonight on ‘American Idol’ 2025: May 5 Live Show