Ryan Seacrest, Taylor Hicks Reunite on The Kelly Clarkson Show
American Idol winner Taylor Hicks performed his new romantic country soul ballad, “Porch Swing,” on The Kelly Clarkson Show Friday (May 5). The American Idol season 5 winner also sat in with Y’all, the show’s house band, for the entire episode and chatted with Kelly Clarkson about his first official single release in 14 years. Additionally, the episode reunited the American Idol alumni with host Ryan Seacrest.
Taylor Hicks’ New Single, A New Album is Coming (Exclusive)
Released via Epochal Artists / TLG / INgrooves, “Porch Swing” was written by Taylor, Runaway June’s Jennifer Wayne and Jason Deere and recorded at Zac Brown’s Southern Ground studio in Nashville.
During a recent appearance on WSM’s “Coffee, Country & Cody”, the singer received a surprise invitation to make his Grand Ole Opry debut on June 16.
Kelly notes that porch swings are “magical.”
An American Idol Reunion, Ryan on the judges panel?
At the top of Ryan’s segment with Kelly she said, “Say hi to Taylor!” after which Ryan joked pointing back and forth between Taylor and Kelly, “the winner! the winner! the winner of American Idol is!” Kelly added, “He literally only said that to so many people. We’re two of them! That’s so cool.”
Ryan also shared how the American Idol producers initially considered him as a member of the judges panel. But Ryan couldn’t imagine himself in any other role than as host. “I would love to audition to be the host,” he told Nigel Lythgoe, and Ken Warwick, the American Idol producers at the time. Eventually he did audition for the hosting position. “I got the job.” Ryan is the only American Idol cast member who has been there since day one. “I’m happy to still have the job,” he said.
Kelly wondered what kind of judge he would have made. But Ryan can’t even imagine that scenario. “I’m in auto host mode all the time,” he joked. “I don’t know that I’d be able to sit behind the desk and just give feedback. I’d want to do that and then toss to commercial.” Kelly joked that he must behave that way on dates.
The two also chatted about how American Idol has evolved over the years since she and Taylor were on the show. “The world has evolved,” said Ryan. “They’ve seen the map. They’ve seen you, they’ve seen Carrie, they’ve seen Taylor. They’ve seen success stories, Jennifer as well. They know that they can really be a big star.” Also, some contestants train all their lives for the moment they are old enough to audition, he said.
