Ever since Katy Perry announced she would be leaving her role as American Idol judge in February, there’s been a lot of discussion about who is going to replace her and sit next to the other two judges, Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan. According to a new report, Perry’s replacement has allegedly been found and it’s a very popular former winner of the singing competition show.
Per Deadline, the Season 4 winner of American Idol, Carrie Underwood, will be the replacement. It should be noted that ABC currently has yet to confirm or announce the “Before He Cheats” singer as a new judge.
Carrie Underwood auditioned for American Idol in 2004, so this year is actually the 20-year anniversary of the singer's viral moment that changed her life forever. She sang Bonnie Raitt's "I Can't Make You Love Me" for the original judges, and she impressed them enough to head to Hollywood. She reportedly dominated the season by a large margin week to week before winning the title in 2005.
After that, she released her first album, Some Hearts, which became the best-selling solo female debut album in country music history at the time. Underwood has scored eight Grammy wins over the years out of 16 total nominations, and she's had four top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100. She remains one of the biggest country stars and most successful American Idol names.
Certainly, Carrie Underwood would be able to identify with the experience of being on American Idol and offer some nostalgia for the original series, while also bringing more country flair to the show– since Bryan is also a country singer himself.
The report also claims that the other names ABC had previously been circling for the third judge seat have been Miley Cyrus, Justin Bieber, Pink and Meghan Trainor. However, Pink specifically commented on the speculation, sharing that she didn’t want the gig because she doesn’t “like hurting people’s feelings.”
Katy Perry has been part of American Idol since Season 16 when ABC revived the show with Bryan and Richie as judges. The trio wrapped their last finale together with May 19’s Season 22 closer just a week after ABC officially renewed the singing competition for a 23rd season. To send Perry off, some of the contestants performed a medley of the singer's biggest hits last season.
Richie recently opened up about knowing he’s going to “miss this group” of judges following Perry’s exit before saying that he believed the replacement needed to be somebody who “identifies with the young culture.” He also pitched Kelly Clarkson and Taylor Swift as potential judges he’d like to work with. Katy Perry has said she hopes her replacement is “fearless” and “a little polarizing like myself.”
While American Idol Season 23 is not currently part of the 2024 TV premiere dates for this fall, it's expected to return next year, and it sounds like Carrie Underwood might be coming back with it.
