Katy gets brutally honest
‘‘Not mean, just blunt’’ pop princess Katy Perry joins the American Idol judging panel.
Katy Perry has become a mega music superstar around the world with a continuous stream of hit records, gigantic tours and even a halftime performance at the Super Bowl.
As if that wasn’t enough fame and glory, Perry now joins Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie as a celebrity judge on the 2018 revival of American Idol.
Despite all of her success, Perry has a wish that she would love to see come true.
‘‘You know, the iconic Snow White has never been made into a live-action movie. I will go back to black hair if this is ever available,’’ Perry says.
She’s long had a passion for anything Disney, a connection that just got stronger because the company owns new Idol showrunners ABC, and she has done her share of animated voice work with the Smurf movies.
Few people get to see her commitment to voice work because it’s all done in a recording studio, but Perry says that when given the chance to be a cartoon character she throws everything she has into the work.
She will work so hard on an animation voice that she has to go back and practise her own songs just to get her voice back to normal.
She won’t have to worry so much about the singing and voice work for American Idol as Perry will be more content just to talk with all of the hopefuls and then to be part of the process of picking the show’s next big star.
‘‘Literally, we are wasting our time if we do not find a star,’’ Perry says.
She pauses and then adds, ‘‘America doesn’t need another star.
‘‘They need a real legit American idol.
‘‘It’s a crowded place, and I take it really seriously, sometimes to my detriment. But I’m very cut-and-dry and get straight to the point, but I think that is our purpose.’’
Part of the process of finding contestants has to do with talent, but there’s also a human element.
Perry has listened to an endless stream of heartbreaking stories told to win favour with the judges.
She’s very sensitive to what the contestants have gone through, but Perry also knows that almost every successful singer started out dealing with hardships – even the three judges.
Perry deals with this by remembering this is a business and she must make executive decision based on the raw material standing in front of her.
In describing her place among the judges, Perry talks about how Richie is
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‘‘I am very serious about it. I do the jokes. I get up and dance.
‘‘But, at the end of the day, I see things that the other judges don’t see,’’ Perry says.
‘‘I see where the music industry is going and how much emphasis is put on personalities and different styles. There are a lot of singers out there but this isn’t a singing competition. Half the people in the world can sing. What we are looking for is someone who will be a star.’’
The team of Perry, Richie and Bryan is very different than those who have held court on American Idol in the past. The only holdover is that Ryan Seacrest returns as the host. That was by design, according to executive producer Trish Kinane.
‘‘We weren’t looking to replicate that. We took a long time to put this judging panel together and that was because we wanted to get it right and we wanted judges with credibility, who knew what they were talking about, were huge successes in their own right, who were articulate and who generally cared about the contestants,’’ Kinane says. ‘‘And that’s the difference. I think vocal casting and complex storytelling to bring to life this 2016 tale about a smalltown bunny who is desperate to make it these guys really care about the contestants and it wasn’t so much about the judges. It’s more about the contestants.
‘‘Katy is very blunt and she’s not mean, but she’s brutally honest. And she feels these contestants, but if she doesn’t think they’ve got what it takes, she will try and steer them somewhere else.’’
This vision for Perry has been years in the making as she made her debut with 2008’s One of the Boys and then cemented her status as a global superstar with follow-up album Teenage Dream in 2010. Her 2013 album, debuted at No 1 on iTunes in 100 countries and has sold more than 12.5 million adjusted albums worldwide.
With the singles Roar, Firework and Dark Horse each surpassing the 10 million threshold (including song sales and streams), Perry is the only artist to
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This 2017 Kiwi documentary is for those earn three RIAA Digital Single Diamond Awards. In the last decade she has racked up a cumulative 18 billion streams alongside worldwide sales of more than 40 million adjusted albums and 125 million tracks. Plus, Perry is the most followed person globally on Twitter and the first to surpass 100 million followers.
The winner of this round of American Idol could be a hit or miss. Perry wants to do as much as she can to make sure there is a big winner so that they might be able to experience some of the success she’s had in her life, especially when they first step in front of a massive audience to perform.
‘‘It’s a great feeling and you get really addicted to it,’’ Perry says.
‘‘It’s got great things about it and it’s got not great things about it. You really have to know who you are so you really appreciate it.’’
And, in Perry’s case, use that attention to try and get a role as a fairy princess that you have always wanted to play. – TNS
❚ American Idol
premieres on Three on Tuesday, April 3 and will screen every Tuesday and Wednesday evening from 7.30pm.
’’At the end of the day, I see things that the other judges don’t see.’’ Katy Perry
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Taron Egerton and Hugh Jackman star in this 2016 dramatisation of the story of Eddie Edwards, the notoriously tenacious British underdog ski jumper who charmed the world at the 1988 Winter Olympics. ‘‘Turns a long-running joke of British sport into a crowd-pleasing story of inspiration. It’s a solid-gold winner,’’ wrote Empire magazine’s Olly Richards. – James Croot