'American Idol' Top 10 finalist Kayko credits South Florida musical roots for newfound stardom

Sam "Kayko" Kelly-Cohen’s journey to the Top 10 on “American Idol” didn’t just begin on that fateful day in the audition room when the judges asked him to sing on a whim.

It dates much further back to his South Florida childhood. Before the age of 10, he began sowing the musical seeds that are blossoming into a fruitful career.

Kelly-Cohen grew up performing in venues from West Palm Beach to Miami. He was very involved in Florida Children’s Theatre and North Broward Preparatory School productions in Davie and Coconut Creek, respectively.

After graduating from high school, he left Florida at 18 to attend the Berklee College of Music in Boston, where he studied songwriting for three years. The Fort Lauderdale native couldn’t handle frigid Boston winters and left without graduating to enroll in the “school of hard knocks” in Nashville, where he currently lives.

“I wanted to make my own mistakes and now I’m paying my bills songwriting and producing,” he said. “I’m currently up to 494 songs. I had a mentor tell me one time that 500 is the number of songs that you need to get to in order to really be a songwriter.”

However, Kelly-Cohen's dad calls Delray Beach home, so you just might see him on Atlantic Avenue when he visits his Pops. The singer has a running joke, however, that “Idol” host Ryan Seacrest is his father.

“You give the internet an inch and they will just run with it. I think I look a little bit like Ryan Seacrest, so I said on one post one time that, ‘Oh, Ryan, you’re my dad,’” he explained. “People commented that they thought that was funny, so I kept upping the ante. It got the attention of Ryan himself because for the Top 14, he said, ‘Son, you’re in the Top 14.’ It was cool to be in the Top 14, but to be Ryan’s son is cooler for sure.”

Kelly-Cohen's mother died in 2019 and he said music was therapy as he grieved. On his Instagram page, he shared a video of his mother, saying, "Two years ago, my mom passed away. My grieving process is ongoing. But writing this song has helped heal me so much, and all I can hope is that if you’re missing someone that’s no longer in your life, this song can hopefully help you too."

Performing his original pieces on 'American Idol' has made Kayko unique

Until last week’s “Idol” episodes, Kelly-Cohen only performed original pieces while playing piano or guitar. For these final rounds of competition, the show has assigned a different theme each episode and all contestants must sing covers that fit the theme.

“One of my main goals when I signed up to actually be a part of the show was I never wanted to compromise my artistry,” he explained. “I never wanted to just sing a karaoke song, so for every cover that I’m doing on this show, I’m trying to be really intentional to make the arrangement very specific to my sound.”

While living in Boston, Kelly-Cohen worked at the dueling piano bar Howl At the Moon, which is expected to open a new location in Fort Lauderdale in October. This experience equipped him with a large arsenal of songs. He’s like a human jukebox, which will likely serve him well moving forward on “Idol.”

Last Sunday, Kelly-Cohen did his own rendition of Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee Radiohead’s “High and Dry” and was the final singer to be saved from elimination.

“I was pooping my pants. I was like, ‘My time is up. All these cool arrangements that I have for weeks in advance I will never get to do,’” he recalled. “Jordan [Anthony] and Nya are incredible. They’re probably better vocalists than me, but America voted me on, so I’ll try to do them proud and keep all the good times rolling.”

The following night, he ditched the guitar and jammed out with an energetic performance of Gotye's Billboard No. 1 hit "Somebody That I Used To Know.” “I kind of just jumped around and had a mosh pit party with Katy [Perry], Lionel [Richie], and Luke [Bryan], so I wouldn’t mind doing that again,” he said.

Before the end of the season, he hopes to showcase his drum and bass skills on the show.

Kayko promises his Sunday 'American Idol' song will be fun

Born in Plantation, in 2000, Kelly-Cohen will sing a song that was released in his birth year on Sunday's “Idol” episode. Shania Twain will mentor the contestants and eight will move on. He isn’t permitted to reveal the songs he’ll sing this week, but he did drop some hints.

“The Sunday song I chose because it’s fun. I feel like I had so much fun with my ‘Somebody That I Used to Know’ performance, I really wanted to hit replay,” he said. “I want to jump around and be crazy again.”

Hit songs that made Billboard’s Top 100 chart in 2000 that fit that description are Destiny’s Child’s “Jumpin’ Jumpin’” and N*SYNC’s “Bye, Bye, Bye” and “It’s Gonna Be Me.” The episode airs live Sunday, only two days before the annual Justin Timberlake “It’s Gonna Be May” memes are plastered all over social media. Other high-energy songs from 2000 are Sisqo’s “Thong Song” and Eiffel 65’s “Blue (Da Ba Dee).”

On Monday’s episode, each contestant will be given three songs to select from — each song was handpicked by one of the three celebrity judges. The songs were specially selected with each contestant’s voice, style, and personality in mind. The contestant won’t know ahead of time which judge picked which song for them. But, the judge whose selections get sung by the most contestants will get to save one singer, so seven will move forward to next week.

“I chose the Monday song because I used to sing it a lot in high school, and it takes me back to that time where I was super in the theater world and remembering that golden age of senior year of high school,” the 2018 North Broward Prep graduate said.

Kayko's vocal tone gives off Ben Platt vibes

Kelly-Cohen’s vocal tone and ability to tell stories about his personal experiences through lyrics gives off Ben Platt vibes. Platt played the lead role in “Dear Evan Hansen” on Broadway and in the film adaptation. The musical revolves around a shy, depressed, and anxious high schooler who feels invisible at school and embarks on a journey of self-discovery through a series of letters he writes.

“I have actually gotten that comment more than anybody else in the world. Maybe I gotta do one of his songs on the show,” he hinted.

Perhaps Monday will be the night this will happen. Kelly-Cohen’s original song “What If?” about the imposter syndrome he felt following his audition and becoming the “accidental” idol is reminiscent of “Dear Evan Hansen”’s track “You Will Be Found.”

Following “Idol,” Kelly-Cohen isn’t opposed to returning to his theater roots. He would be far from the first “Idol” finalist to do so. He’d follow in the footsteps of the likes of Jennifer Hudson, Justin Guarini, Fantasia Barrino, Clay Aiken, Jordin Sparks, Constantine Maroulis, and Nick Fradiani, to name a few.

“I would love to do Broadway. That would be a crazy full circle [moment] from my little kid days making my friends and family do little productions of my favorite shows,” he said. “That would be crazy if I could actually use this to launch into Broadway.”

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Kayko never planned to audition for 'Idol', but now he's in the Top 10

If Kelly-Cohen goes on to win “Idol,” he has his best friend Abby Blake to thank. He originally went to the show’s Nashville audition as Blake’s pianist. After she sang, the judges prompted him to sing and gave them both golden tickets to Hollywood. Blake has since been eliminated, but continues to cheer her bestie on from home.

“She’s tuning in every week. She’s supportive,” he said. “She’s the only reason that I’m here. Obviously, I owe it all to her.”

What to watch on 'Idol' Top 10 performances this weekend

• “American Idol” airs Sundays and Mondays at 8 p.m. on ABC and is available the next day on Hulu.

• Sunday’s episode will feature guest performances from 2011 winner Scotty McCreery and 2020 winner Just Sam.

• Monday’s episode will feature a special in memoriam tribute to Season 9 finalist Mandisa, who died April 18 at the age of 47.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: American Idol Top 10 performer Kayko has South Florida roots