Sugarland, Cam and More Country Stars to Join ‘American Idol’

The premiere of the American Idol reboot is just days away, and the ABC series’ roster of famous names is only continuing to grow. Country artists Sugarland and Cam have announced that they will be on hand to take part in the show’s duet portion, which will see a major act perform with finalists from the show’s Top 24 contestants.

Along with the country acts, artists like Bebe Rexha, Luis Fonsi and Toni Braxton will also duet with the contestants. Rexha’s collaboration with Florida Georgia Line, “Meant to Be,” has spent 12 weeks on top of the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, breaking a record previously set by Taylor Swift.

Other names country fans will recognize are artist Scotty McCreery and radio personality Bobby Bones, who will serve as mentors to the top contestants. As Idol fans will remember, McCreery took home the top spot during Season 10 in 2011.

“It’s exciting,” McCreery recently told Taste of Country of the opportunity. “I’ve already gone out to LA and filmed a mentor session with some of the contestants. The contestants were cool, great voices, and they seem like they have great heads on their shoulders. It should be a good year.”

The Idol alum added that he isn’t a fan of the show’s decision to nix the airing of contestants’ less-than-stellar auditions, which had become somewhat of an unofficial moment during each season.

“I really don’t like it, honestly,” McCreery said of the move. “I feel like that was a big part of Idol. It was so fun that you’d see awesome singers and the folks that just … weren’t. I wish they’d keep those in there.”

The reboot of the show will see judges Luke Bryan, Katy Perry and Lionel Richie search for the next big star, something Bryan admits provides a bit of pressure.

“That makes us focus harder as a judging panel because, yeah, there are a few years… where you don’t really remember those contestants,” he previously told Rolling Stone. “We want it to be right back to where American Idol is known for, building those American idols. And it’s each of us sitting around going, ‘Is this person going to be what we want them to be?’”

American Idol premieres March 11 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.

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