Luke Bryan Embraces TV Star Status From ‘American Idol’

Luke Bryan delved into an entirely new side of entertainment, when he signed on to judge American Idol, joining Katy Perry and Lionel Richie for Season 16. For Bryan, the show introduced him to an entirely new fanbase, one that might not know him as one of the reigning superstars of country music.

“The main thing is that you gotta understand, there’s a segment of the world that doesn’t even listen to the radio,” Bryan shared with PopCulture.com at a recent media event. “They just watch TV. So, the people that watch TV just learned who I was. You can divide country radio into one quarter of the population of radio listeners.

‘You’ve got your ABC people, your NBC people, and then you got your Netflix and the whole whatever,” he continued. “You can break it down however you want to. So when I’m walking, when I hop in a cab somewhere, and a foreign cab driver is like, ‘I know your voice. Ooh, you’re a judge on American Idol,’ that’s when you see that there’s just a whole other segment of people.”

The 41-year-old loved being part of the show so much that he, along with Perry and Richie, signed on for Season 17 as well.

“As far as the American Idol experience, I truly enjoyed the whole aspect of it,” Bryan said. “The whole learning curve of it, and working with Lionel and Katy … I think the people at home know that me and Lionel and Katy are really in there for the good of these kids, and getting them going.

“It’s not something that we just roll in, we look at the clock, punch our two hours in,” he added. “I mean we truly care about what happens to them now. And any chance we can to help them out, we will.”

Bryan might be a fan of Perry, on set and in real life, but he dispels the rumor that they are working on a duet, at least not yet.

“Somebody asked me a question, ‘Who would you want to do a duet with?’ And I just said, “Katy Perry,’” Bryan explained. “I think it’s a rumor because she and I are on American Idol. I’m learning when I say something casually, it becomes a People magazine rumor. So I guess that’s my growing pains with my newfound television star status.

Everybody in my organization has to refer to me as a television star now,” Bryan added with a laugh.

Bryan is currently headlining is What Makes You Country Tour, which includes several stadium dates. Find more information at LukeBryan.com.

Photo Credit: Getty images/ David Livingston