American Idol season 22: Lionel Richie on Katy Perry exit
Leading up to the upcoming American Idol season 22 premiere, there was big news: Katy Perry will be exiting the show later this spring. She was the big-name pop star who ABC used to sell the show upon its revival and move to ABC years ago; now, however, it seems like she is eager to move forward and do some other things.
Were we surprised about her departure? To some extent yes, but this is also the nature of this reality-TV beast in so many ways! No judge ever stays on the panel forever, and it is actually rather impressive that the group of her, Lionel Richie, and Luke Bryan have been together as long as they have.
What may be a little more surprising is the fact that Perry’s fellow judges were not exactly aware of her plan in advance. Speaking on Jimmy Kimmel Live! this week (watch the video here), Richie confirmed that he was not aware Katy was planning to leave, but he also understood it based on where she is in her career:
“… The reason I love coming on the show here with you and the reason I’m doing American Idol is because I have 400 years of stories and a life in the music business. I have things that I’ve done and so when Katy says, ‘I want to go and create some stories,’ remember, she’s young … The point is that you have to take some time and actually be an artist.”
Doing American Idol is a pretty lengthy commitment, mostly in that you have to spend some of the fall taping auditions plus then also Hollywood Week and the weeks’ worth of live shows in the spring. Even if you do some other projects during the week, it could make things like touring difficult. At least the timing of Katy’s exit does give the producers plenty of time to look for a new judge if they move forward with a season 23.
Related – Read more about Katy Perry’s exit from American Idol now
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This article was written by Jessica BunBun.