The rebooted new season of American Idol might be on the road to discovering the next Taylor Swift or Ed Sheeran.
Since the popular singing competition premiered last week, judges Katy Perry, Lionel Richie, and Luke Bryan met a good number of singer hopefuls who brought their original works into the audition hoping to score that coveted golden ticket to Hollywood. Similarly, the episode that aired on Sunday, March 18, has introduced several singer-songwriters.
The Singer-Songwriters
First up was Johnny Brenns, who performed his own song called "Blue Jeans." The ballad, admittedly, was not too special, but it was good enough to secure a "yes" vote from Perry and Bryan. He is heading to Hollywood for the next round.
Following Brenns is another singer-songwriter, Ricky Manning. The young musician performed the original song "LA Is Lonely" for the trio of judges. Manning also previously auditioned on The Voice and made it to the live playoffs as part of Gwen Stefani's team. He gets another chance to be the next big star in the music industry on the Idol stage.
Armed with a piano, Effie Passero impressed the judges by singing her own song. Perry said that the young artist was exactly who the judges are looking for, and she is through to the next round. Watch her moving performance below.
Katy Perry And A Taylor Swift Fan
Another highlight of the show is when a contestant, armed with a guitar, tells the judges that one of his inspirations is country singer-songwriter and Perry's archenemy, Taylor Swift.
For the uninitiated, the beef between Perry and Swift started way back in 2013 during the latter's Red tour. The "Delicate" singer accused the American Idol judge of trying to sabotage her tour by poaching three of her dancers. Swift even wrote "Bad Blood," a song from her 1989 album, about her frenemy.
As a response, Perry, on her new album, has a song called "Swish, Swish," which many of her fans sees is a diss track about the 28-year-old pop star.
However, on the Idol stage, Perry is cool with hearing from Swift fans. In one of the performances on Sunday night, a contestant apologized to Perry, referencing her public feud with Swift.
"Oh, you don't have to be sorry," the "Roar" singer said. "I love her as a songwriter as well."
Maybe there is no bad blood after all.
The road to Hollywood continues on Monday, March 19, on ABC.
