Ryan Seacrest Reveals this Season's New Twist for 'American Idol'

Ryan Seacrest

When Season 7 of American Idol on ABC returns, there’s going to be a new twist to the audition process. In addition to Luke Bryan, Katy Perry and Lionel Richie embarking on a nationwide search across Los Angeles and Nashville, the judges will be returning to their hometowns in the hunt for the next singing sensation.

“That’s Leesburg (for Luke), that’s Tuskegee (for Lionel), and that’s Santa Barbara for Katy,” host Ryan Seacrest tells Parade in this exclusive interview. “We all know them now as household names and superstars, but it’s interesting to see where they came from. They started somewhere, they had to make it. We get to go to Lionel’s college, we went to Luke’s high school, and we go back to Katy’s school where she sang. You see where they were grinding and where they were trying to figure out how to do what they wanted to do before they were famous.”

Also fresh for this season will be mentors Tori Kelly and Jelly Roll who join the Top 24 at the Disney Aulani Resort in Hawaii. What makes Tori such a special treat for the Idol hopefuls is she, herself, was in their position. She made it to Hollywood Week in Season 9 and is proof that you don’t have to win to succeed.

“It holds tremendous significance because she did it when she was 16,” Ryan says. “She’s gone on to win Grammys, and she’s come back to help out the contestants. She has a unique perspective when it comes to coaching and directing the contestants. I think, for her, it was exciting to come back and do it.”

Related: New American Idol Promo Is a Wizard of Oz-Inspired Delight

As for Jelly Roll, his success story is very inspirational but also proof of why one shouldn’t give up on their dreams.

“He’s winning awards a little bit later in life compared to new artists that are just starting out and his story’s compelling,” Ryan agrees. “He wears his heart on his sleeve, and he’s got a lot of soul and texture. You can tell he’s full of gratitude, you really get a sense of that. Plus, he’s extremely talented, which is why so many great things are happening for him. He was very generous with his time and his feedback. I think people are going to love seeing both of them as mentors this year.”

One thing that won’t change is how Lionel, Katy and Luke perform their judging duties. Katy took a little flak last season for being tough on the mother who auditioned but wasn’t sure that she wanted to be there. But Ryan sees no need for the judges to modify their critiquing styles.

“The judges are trying to be as hopeful and as helpful and as supportive as they can be, while also being honest and transparent about the context of the competition,” he says. “When you look at the auditions—and I get to see a lot more than what makes the air, the judges consistently give the contestants more and more tools and coaching and direction even if they didn’t get it right the first time so that they can try it again and try it a third time. And maybe try it again so that they do put their best foot forward. They don’t rush anyone through. They want the contestants who walk in the room to see them to succeed in that moment and beyond. I see them constantly work to do that as a group.”

During our chat, Ryan also talks about how the contestants have changed over the years, how the pandemic opened up the audition process, how he wouldn’t be opposed to an all-star season, how good he is at predicting the winner, and more.

As someone who’s been there from day one, when you look at the contestants how do you think that they’ve changed over the years?

Well, I think the contestants I’m seeing are coming in at younger ages so well prepared. I’m specifically thinking about a 15-year-old boy named Triston [Harper] who was a country singer who comes in with more self-confidence than some of the older contestants have had over the years. And he delivers a very heartfelt, soulful performance with texture and you think, “Well, at 15 how much have you seen life and lived?” It turns out he really has, and he can convey that.

So, I’ve seen 15- and 16-year-olds coming in prepared to audition in front of these superstar judges with real confidence, and kids that have grown up watching the show. So, they know what to expect, don’t they? They’ve seen the show over the years. They’ve made it a point to say to their parents, “I want to do that one day,” and they do it.

With the pandemic there were more video auditions. Did that open the show up to a wider swath of talent?

It did. It broke down walls of difficultly and geography when it comes to being able to audition for the show. There’s really no downside. You don’t have to go anywhere, you don’t have to see anybody, you just submit your video. It really opened up opportunities, I think, for contestants who are not in any of the few cities that we visit to get feedback, to get on the show.

I think also that contestants that might not have auditioned for Idol in the early days because of the main pop stream of the show, the show’s evolved to really be all facets of music. Contestants who are true visionaries, singers, songwriters, contestants who have a point of view about who they are and what they want to be and the stories they want to tell, they’re auditioning through the videos. And it’s benefitted the show in the long run.

Related: See the American Idol Contestant Who Makes Katy Perry Cry

Every season we hear “we have the best contestants ever.” Is that really possible? How would you rate this year’s contestants?

We say it every time. Everyone’s different. There are no two people or two artists that are alike. They all come from a different story. We’ve got a very talented woman on this show, McKenna, she tells her story about being adopted, she tells her story about realizing when she could understand it as she grew up that her birth family was a family of singers. Her mother is no longer here. She has met her birth family via phone, but never in person. We organized it so that her birth family could come see her audition and then surprise her after the audition, which was incredibly moving. That is a unique story.

And the Triston story, he was without a home with his mother, and they were trying to make it on their own and he’s doing this to make a better life for them. You just can’t predict what stories could happen. Great stories with great talent makes for very interesting viewing. I think that’s what changes every year. I don’t know if we say they’re better, they’re just different with incredible skills.

America’s Got Talent has been doing an all-star season. Now that Idol’s been on ABC for this will be the seventh season could they do an all-star season? Not necessarily the winners coming back, but the artists who made the Top 5?

I like the idea. It would be fun to do a fan favorite or those who were most memorable and made their marks to come back. I don’t know if it would be a competition or what it would look like, but it would be fun to revisit with the stars of different seasons. So not my decision, but certainly an advocate of the idea.

Speaking of favorites, are there artists who didn’t make it that you would love to see come back?

I think we all get to know the Top 5 of every group. Certainly, we really get to spend a lot of time with them. It’s exciting when they win, but many times they don’t have to win to make a name for themselves. I think back all the way to the beginning where we had Chris Daughtry and, of course, it’s incredible to look at what Jennifer Hudson has done. She wasn’t the winner, but she’s gone on to be one of the most remarkable talents in all facets of entertainment. I think it’d be fun to dip back into some of the vintage years, the earlier years of the show, to revisit that talent that not necessarily won but went on to do big things. Phillip Phillips I think about, too, he's on the charts. There’s a lot of names and people that are doing really well after being on the show.

How good are you at predicting the winner?

America decides. You’re not quite sure at the beginning, but man we’re really good at predicting who can be in that top three from the first audition.

You can get a sense in the first audition if somebody has what it takes to win this thing. When I say win it, be in your top handful of contestants. As time goes on, they change a little bit. But I think all of us after doing this for a long time—I’ve done this 22 times—you get a sense right out of the gate. There’s something about being in person with them in the same room. Seeing, hearing, sensing, all of it combined you get a really good idea.

You were there in season 1. You stayed with the show. Did you know it was going to be the hit that it became?

No, we didn’t have any idea. We knew it was a popular show from the U.K. We weren’t quite sure. At the time I remember if you were to go pitch a show on TV, the most common response from television executives was singing doesn’t work on television.

They put the singer at the back side of talk shows, at the end, they don’t put them at the beginning and no one really wants to watch singing. That proved not to be the case and was one of the reasons why Idol was such a success. Also, it gave the nation something to get behind, it gave the opportunity to vote and pick the favorites. It also gave families the opportunity to come together. Dads and daughters could watch together, too. I didn’t know it was going to be big, but you could certainly feel after the first season … after that point, we knew this was something special.

I heard that you originally were asked to be a judge rather than the host?

In the initial meetings with producers, it was under the idea of being a judge. They were still trying to figure out who to put on the panel. I think Simon [Cowell] was already there and maybe Paula [Abdul] was, as well. They were trying to figure out who would go on the panel. Maybe they were thinking about four at the time, I don’t know. I was 26, 28, something like that. I didn’t feel I was qualified to be a judge, so I asked about the hosting opportunity. They let me audition and I got the job.

That’s a great story. Although with your radio show, you did know a lot about music.

I did, but you’re coming into a world where I thought I would find it difficult not being a singer to evaluate singing. I’m not a musician. I can play it and I know the artists, but I didn’t think I was qualified for it.

One last thing, you recently shot promos in Hawaii for Wheel of Fortune. What are you looking forward to about hosting that?

I am most looking forward to giving away money to contestants every night, meeting three new people, trying to make it the best possible 30 minutes of their lives, working with Vanna [White], being in there in that studio on that show after the legendary Pat Sajak, who’s done just the most remarkable job at bringing so much fun to the contestants every night. It’s an exciting opportunity that I take seriously but hope to have a lot of fun doing it.

American Idol premieres its seventh season on ABC tonight at 8 p.m. ET/PT.

Next, Everything We Know So Far About American Idol 2024, Including the Judges, the Host, the Mentors and How to Watch