Ryan Seacrest

Ryan Seacrest

Ryan is quite simply one of the most influential, well-regarded, and well-known names in Hollywood. He is the quintessential Hollywood insider who...Full Bio

Ā 

Katy Perry Reveals Her ā€˜American Idolā€™ Judge Picks and Much, Much More

This is gonna be good. Katy Perry called in to On Air With Ryan Seacrest on Wednesday, August 23, and revealed not only her top picks to round out ABCā€™s American Idol reboot judging panel, but also how she reconnected with frenemy Calvin Harris and exactly why she postponed her upcoming Witness tour. Oh, and did we mention sheā€™s also hosting and performing at Sundayā€™s MTV Video Music Awards? Because that too. 

The ā€œSwish Swishā€ singer, first and foremost, couldnā€™t be more excited to serve as a judge on Idol ā€” and she already knows exactly the kind of judge she wants to be. 

ā€œIā€™m very excited,ā€ Perry gushed. ā€œItā€™s one of those shows that actually makes people's dreams come true. ā€¦ I just wanna give constructive criticism,ā€ she explained of her role. ā€œHonestly sob stories come second for me. Everyone has a situation and God bless them ā€¦ but if you donā€™t have the goods, you donā€™t have the goods.ā€

In fact, brace yourselves, because Perry has already come to terms with the fact that sheā€™ll likely be filling Simon Cowellā€™s shoes.ā€œIā€™m going to maybe be more the Simon Cowell,ā€ she added. ā€œI really respect him. As much as people said, ā€˜Oh, heā€™s grumpy or heā€™s mean,ā€™ he was just truthful, you know? Heā€™s seen it. I donā€™t need to be there to win the popular race.ā€

As for who sheā€™d like to accompany her on the judging panel, Perry spoke candidly about those whose names have been unofficially thrown in the ring. 

ā€œIā€™m really pulling for Lionel [Richie] because I think Lionel is an icon, and not only that, but if youā€™ve ever met Lionel, he just knows how to charm the whole room ā€¦ I love Lionel.ā€Sheā€™s also rooting for Charlie Puth.

ā€œCharlie I think is an interesting play because Charlie Puth is someone new to the general public of America,ā€ she added. ā€œObviously he has his own big fan base, but I think heā€™s really talented. Heā€™s a writer; heā€™s a producer;  heā€™s young;  heā€™s hip; heā€™s fresh. Between Lionel and me, it would be nice to have someone a little more fresh.ā€

Speaking of fresh, Perry shared that her collaboration with Calvin Harris ā€” hit track ā€œFeelsā€ ā€” came about after they ran into each other at an Oscars afterparty. 

ā€œI saw Calvin at [the] Vanity Fair Oscar party,ā€ she recalled. ā€œWe just bumped into each other and he said, ā€˜I think I have a song that you should come check out.ā€™ We had always meant to work together for years and years and years and weā€™d had little falling outs here and there ā€¦ we had some Twitter spats ā€¦ and it was time to put that behind us. ā€¦ He played this one part of ā€œFeelsā€ and I was like, ā€˜Oh yeah.ā€™ā€ 

Perry ā€” who describes the MTV VMAs as the ā€œlast part of rock ā€™nā€™ rollā€ ā€” teased that sheā€™s going to perform a ā€œhybrid of songsā€ at the awards show, where sheā€™s also hosting. The "Chained To The Rhythm" songstress stayed mum, however, on specifics. 

As for why she postponed her Witness tour, Perry revealed that necessary materials to rehearse with hadnā€™t arrived in time. 

ā€œWhat happened is a lot of our stuff didnā€™t even show up ā€¦ so we were like, ā€˜Whoa we need some time on this.ā€™ā€

Listen to the complete audio above for more from Katy and head to her website, katyperry.com, for a complete list of Witness tour dates. 

The MTV Video Music Awards air on Sunday, August 27, at 8/7c.


Sponsored Content

Sponsored Content

Ā