Luke Bryan on Joining ‘American Idol’: ‘I Judge Like a Fan of Music’ – “I remember being inspired by it as a young musician,” Bryan said of the early days of the original series, which ended its run on Fox in 2016. He also noted Idol’s success in the country arena specifically. “The main thing with me is I remember when [season four winner] Carrie Underwood rolled into Nashville. It energized the whole city. And then you look at [season five finalist] Kellie Pickler, who still has a career in entertainment, and then you look at now [season 10 winner] Scotty McCreery is finally catching his stride as an artist.” – Read more at Rolling Stone
Inside Scotty McCreery’s Cute and Casual Engagement Photo Shoot – This past September, American Idol Season 10 winner Scotty McCreery popped the question to his longtime girlfriend, Gabi Dugal, during a hike on the duo’s favorite trail near Grandfather Mountain in North Carolina. And you know a couple’s engagement photos are going to be good when the wife-to-be has been scrawling “Mrs. Gabi McCreery” in hearts across her diary since grade school. Fast forward to three months later and the pair have ditched the hiking boots for a dreamy engagement portrait session, sharing one of the photos exclusively with PEOPLE. – Read more at People
Phillip Phillips discusses new album ‘Collateral’ and 2018 tour – Regarding the song selection for Collateral, he said, “I wrote so many songs for this records, and it was originally going to be 13 or 14 songs, and we had to scale it back and make it 12. I listened to all of these songs on repeat and repeat, and it literally came to the last hour, before I had to submit it in. I finally took the songs that really hit home for me, and songs that I grew closer to, and I felt they would represent the album. Songs like ‘Magnetic,’ ‘My Name,’ ‘Her Mystery’ and ‘Sand Castles’ were songs that I loved so much, and they all had such a close meaning at different times these past three years of writing them. I feel really good about the songs I chose.” – Read more at Digital Journal
‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ Star Managers Strike Back … You Owe Us Over $180k!!! – Adore Delano from “RuPaul’s Drag Race” wasn’t stiffed by his ex-managers — he actually owes THEM a lot of dough … or so they claim in a new countersuit. Delano’s managers at Producer Entertainment Group say the drag queen failed to pay them at least $180,000 in management fees. According to the docs, obtained by TMZ, PEG says they’re entitled to collect 20 percent off of Delano’s concert, YouTube and merch revenues. They also say they believe he’s made about $100k from YouTube alone, and about $800k from online and tour merch. – Read more at TMZ
