As Katy Perry enters her sixth season as an American Idol judge, she shares what finally convinced her to join the iconic singing show.
“I was pursued by Idol for a long time — long, long, long, long time,” Katy told Gwyneth Paltrow in a recent episode of her goop podcast. She continued, “I was putting out records, going on tours and stuff like that.”
Katy said she always knew she would join the show because she loved the aspect of helping future singers, she wanted to wait until the timing was right for her.
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“I also wanted to start my life and have my family and have a little bit more balance. I knew I wasn’t going to go on a world tour every year, and so they came and said, ‘Ya wanna do it?’” she said, “I’m ready!” she finally said.
Katy served as American Idol guest judge on season 9
Before Katy joined American Idol in 2018 for the ABC reboot, she served as a guest judge on Season 9 in 2010, during the auditions while regular judge for that season, Ellen Degeneres waited to join the panel at the Hollywood Round.
Each city had a different guest judge. Katy joined Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson and Kara DioGuardi at the Los Angeles auditions. American Idol aired on FOX from 2002 through 2016, when the network canceled the long-running show.
“It’s super empowering, super uplifting”
“I did it and I just fell in love with the new iteration of it … It’s super empowering, super uplifting. It’s got so much heart and depth to it,” the singer said. Additionally, she loves working alongside her co-judges, Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie. “No one hands us any script and we get to literally have final say over pretty much everything until America actually votes,” she added.
Katy has since started her family with fiancé Orlando Bloom and embarked on her PLAY residency in Las Vegas, where she performs every “three weeks on and three weeks off.”
Season 21 of American Idol begins February 19 on ABC.
