Luke Bryan Is ‘More Settled in’ for Third Season of ‘American Idol’

As American Idol gets ready to launch its third season on ABC, Luke Bryan says he and fellow judges Katy Perry and Lionel Richie, along with mentor Bobby Bones and host Ryan Seacrest, are finally settling into their role as judges on the reality TV talent show. While American Idol likely won’t air until spring of 2020, the show has been hosting auditions all over the country, which Bryan says is much easier for him than his inaugural season.

“I love it. I’m settled in,” Bryan shared with PopCulture.com and other media. “Me and Lionel and Katy and Bobby and Ryan, we’re in our stride. What I love about American Idol is me and Lionel and Katy, we could tell jokes all day long and have antics and be goofy and all that, but when a great, when an amazingly talented kid walks in that room, that’s when the show starts happening.

“We’re in the audition process, and the talent keeps rolling through the door,” he continued. “I think me and Lionel and Katy were a little more picky. We know what’s going to survive the later rounds. Sometimes we’d send a kid to Hollywood just as an experiment, and those experiments really don’t really work. So we’ve learned not to waste some of these kids’ time.”

Bryan and the other judges might be more sure of what they do – and don’t – want, but they are still willing to gamble on an aspiring singer every now and then.

“We still want to roll the dice and take chances,” Bryan explained. “But the beauty of music is the kid that walks in, and they’ve been trained and had a vocal coach, and had parents think they’re molding them to be stars … And then you see a kid that just rolls up to the American Idol bus.

“We had a guy that, he works on a trash truck, and he just makes us bawl,” he recalled. “We start crying because there’s so much pain and so much story in their voice, and we have those. The Alejandro Aranda kid that got second last year, he inspired so many kids like him to come and audition, because he’s kind of that quiet, really introverted kid. We’re seeing a lot of those kids come out, and we welcome that. That’s what we want on the show.”

A premiere date for American Idol has yet to be announced. Bryan just dropped his latest single, “What She Wants Tonight.” The song is available for download on iTunes.

Photo Credit: Getty / David Livingston