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Luke Bryan is teasing some of the names that could potentially replace Katy Perry on American Idol next season after the pop star left the singing competition in May.
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“I’ve said several names,” the country star, 47, told Billboard in a new interview this week. “I think Pink has been in the talks, Miley Cyrus has been in the talks, Meghan Trainor has been in the talks.”
But he added that producers are keeping the identity of the third judge under wraps before the reality series returns for its 23rd season next year.
“It’s been interesting. It’s been something Disney been really tightlipped about with me and (fellow judge) Lionel (Richie) and (host) Ryan (Seacrest). We currently haven’t heard what the story is on who’s coming back, and if Lionel and I are coming back. I think Disney is just trying to figure out what they want to do and we’re just kind of sitting back and waiting until they decide,” he said.
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Bryan, who joined Idol when the series was rebooted in 2018 on ABC, said replacing Perry won’t be easy because she was “perfect for the job.”
“I think they’re just working real hard to find somebody that can really come in and do the job that Katy did,” he said.
Last month, during an appearance on Watch What Happens Live, Trainor told host Andy Cohen that being a judge on Idol would be her “dream job.”
“I have begged for this job,” Trainor said (per PEOPLE). “I haven’t heard any updates, so check my emails, but that is my dream job. I want to drive to work American Idol and then drive home.”
Meanwhile, Pink told Entertainment Tonight that she likes her day job, adding, “I don’t like hurting people’s feelings.”
In April, Perry said she thought breakout country star Jelly Roll would be an ideal candidate to take her place.
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“I was convinced at anything he said,” she told E! News. “He could run for president, he could be my pastor, I might go back to church for him. He could sell me anything.”
In response, Jelly Roll told E! News he would “go clean the American Idol toilets if they wanted me to.”
“Find you a friend that talks about you like Katy Perry talks about me in the media. Thank you, Katy Perry. I love you to death,” he said after her endorsement.
Perry, 39, announced her decision to leave Idol in February, telling late-night host Jimmy Kimmel she wants to “go and see the world.”
“I love Idol so much. It’s connected me with the heart of America. But I need to feel that pulse of my own beat,” the Roar singer said. “So it’s going to be a very, very exciting year … for all popstar girlies! Let’s just say I’m creating space for my new wingspan.”
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Perry will release the single Woman’s World next week. It will be the first track from her upcoming sixth full-length studio album.
In April, Perry told Access Hollywood that the new set of songs will find her fully embracing joy.
“I just have yet to make a record from a place of feeling really happy and whole and full of love,” the mother-of-one said (per Billboard). “Sometimes artists are like, ‘Oh, that’s boring, you want to make music from kind of like a tougher place,’ but actually it’s very bright and joyful, like pure joy and fun and playful and celebratory and a party.”
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