American Idol
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Sara Beth Liebe just walked away from her chance at winning American Idol, after calling out judge Katy Perry for a “hurtful” “mom-shaming” joke.
According to the 25-year-old hopeful, however, it wasn’t the “Firework” singer’s remark that made her quit — but it did have to do with her children. “This opportunity is really rad, but this is actually going to be my last performance, because my heart’s at home,” Liebe told Perry and co-judges Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie after performing her first round Hollywood week song — “Roxanne” by the Police.
“So, I’m going get home to my babies,” she continued on the Sunday (April 2) episode before making her grand exit. “They kind of need me.”
Both the judges and the show’s producers were shocked. Bryan called the decision a “mistake” and Perry pleaded with her to change her mind, but the young mother of three stood her ground. “I don’t even know what show business is,” she said. “I’ve been a mom since I was 18. I’ve been married since I was 18. … I don’t think I realized quite how hard it would be to be away from my kids.”
“They’re all still really young,” Liebe told a producer backstage. “There is a lot of guilt when you leave your kids to do something completely selfish. … I feel like I’m not gonna win the show anyway, so I might as well go home.”
The decision aired just a few weeks after the aspiring singer addressed a joke made at her expense by Perry during her initial audition for the show. “Honey, you’ve been laying on the table too much,” the “Dark Horse” pop star had said after discovering that Liebe was 25 and a mother of three.
“It was hurtful and that’s that,” the contestant later said in a TikTok about the interaction. “I think that women supporting and uplifting other women is so cool, and I think that mom shaming is super lame and I think that it’s hard enough to be a mom and it’s hard enough to be a woman.”
Billboard previously reached out to Perry after Liebe’s comments, but did not receive a response.
Even though she won’t be continuing with Idol, it looks like Liebe will continue to practice music in other ways. She recently announced on TikTok that her original song “Bruises” would be arriving “very soon.”
Better yet, it looks like Perry’s “mom-shaming” comment is water under the bridge now, as far as Liebe is concerned. After Sunday’s episode aired, the former contestant posted another TikTok reflecting on her experience, adding in her caption, “Can we talk about how gooooood Katy looked in that shade of purple…?”
“Sometimes we are presented with big opportunities and situations and we have to make big decisions,” she also wrote. “I’m so GRATEFUL.”
@sarabethliebe Gratitude is the ONLY word that comes to mind. I can’t wait to continue supporting my new friends and to continue making music. 🤍 that’s what it’s all about afterall. Oh and also, can we talk about how gooooood Katy looked in that shade of purple and how Lionel SLAYED that orange jacket? 😩👌🏻😍 ♬ original sound – Sara Beth
Reminisce on Sara Beth’s short time on American Idol by re-watching her original audition below:
Lionel Richie may be 73 years old but he can still go “All Night Long”…well, kinda.
On Tuesday (March 28), the singer-songwriter stopped by The View with his fellow American Idol judges, Katy Perry and Luke Bryan. The Rock and Roll Hall of Famer joked about his Grammy-nominated 1983 hit after host Sara Haines brought up the track’s looming 40th anniversary. “I have to really, really say to you: when I wrote ‘All Night Long,’ it was truly all night long. Now my ‘All Night Long’ is down to a fierce 15 minutes. But don’t worry about it, we’ll talk about that later.”
“Is this show live? Is this show live?” a wide-eyed Perry asked over the hosts’ laughter before offering her co-star a handshake and adding, “15 minutes? That’s long, bud!”(Richie also got an uncertain congratulations from Bryan.)
Richie then leaned further into the joke, quipping, “And don’t you forget that, all right?” before Perry jumped into loudly add, “As long as it’s not four times a night, you know, seven days a week!”
Bedroom jokes aside, the trio of judges also opened up about the newest season of Idol, with Richie explaining that they’re never looking for “just another singer” during the audition rounds of the show. “We’re looking for characters, we’re looking for people who have unique qualities,” he continued. “Originality. For example, it’s not karaoke. We’re looking for, what’s the unique thing you have?”
American Idol is currently airing Sunday and Monday nights at 8 p.m. on ABC. Watch the entire interview below.
By this point, singers auditioning for American Idol understand that they need one of three things if they have any hope of making it through the early auditions rounds: unimpeachable talent, a great/moving backstory or an unexpected hook that makes for good TV.
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What very few can do, however, is bring along a ringer to accompany them who has sold as many, or more, records as judges Katy Perry, Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie. Kaya Stewart ticked all those boxes and more on Sunday night (March 26), prompting Perry to exclaim, “Oh my God, blast from the past!” upon seeing Eurythmics co-founder Dave Stewart standing proudly next to his daughter.
Richie noted that he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last year along with the Annie Lennox-fronted British new wave duo known for such hits as “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This),” “Here Comes the Rain Again,” “Love is a Stranger” and “Missionary Man,” among many others. No big deal, but Kaya, 23, said she toured with the duo while her mom was pregnant with her and that music has always been part of her DNA. Go figure.
“Music has been a part of my life since before I was even born. My dad was in a group called the Eurythmics,” she told the judges. “When I was born, my dad was on tour, and I was going to shows when I was still in my mom’s tummy… The musician’s lifestyle has been something that’s just been a part of my life. There was never a question of what I wanted to do with my life. That was always going to be what I was going to do.”
Taking a chance, Kaya sang an original she wrote with her pops, “This Tattoo,” an emotional country pop break-up ballad featuring the refrain, “And I’ve got a feeling that it’s over/ And I couldn’t be any better/ And I’m gonna get this tattoo removed.” The judges were all impressed, with Perry subtly hinting at some potential nepo baby potholes along the way, suggesting that the panel may be “a bit more nitpicky with you” because of Kaya’s famous lineage and because the singer understands how the business works.
That said, they flagged Stewart through to the next round, with Richie calling the performance “great” while commending Kaya for presenting an original song, especially alongside her A-list dad. “In the midst of all this you slayed it,” he said, with Bryan adding that he could tell Stewart had grown up on stage and seemed comfortable performing for an audience.
Check out Stewart’s Idol audition below.
American Idol judges Katy Perry, Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan became visibly emotional when contestant Cam Amen sang a rendition of Leonard Cohen‘s “Hallelujah” during Sunday night’s (March 26) auditions.
Before launching into his passionate version of Cohen’s track, the judges asked Amen about his back story, in which he revealed that he and his siblings lost their mother and ended up in the foster care system. Once 18, Amen took care of his brother and sister until it was time for them to graduate, and tearfully shared he is now chasing his dream on Idol.
Accompanied by a piano player, he sang, “Now I’ve done my best, I know it wasn’t much/ I couldn’t feel, so I tried to touch/ I’ve told the truth, I didn’t come here to London just to fool you/ And even though it all went wrong/ I’ll stand right here before the Lord of song/ With nothing, nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah/ Hallelujah, Hallelujah/ Hallelujah, Hallelujah.”
All three of the judges were noticeably moved by Amen’s rendition of the song, with Bryan visibly tearing up. “This is our sixth year here. Stylistically … your style is so beautifully unique. I don’t have anybody that I’ve seen in this chair to compare you to, and every time I wanted you to do something amazing, you did it,” he said. “It was just incredible. You came out of being upset and crying and just started singing like that. You didn’t even have all the tears dry.”
Richie added, “Cam, do you believe in divine guidance? It just happened, for whatever reason, that divine guidance brought you to us. And my friend, you are going to have one heck of a ride.”
After requesting Amen bring his girlfriend in the room, Bryan told his fellow judges, “He might be the best soul singer we’ve ever had.”
Bryan then revealed that Amen was the winner of a platinum ticket, allowing the hopeful to sit out the first round of Hollywood week. “This is the first time I ever went for something for myself, and it’s a dream,” Amen shared following the audition.
Watch Amen’s platinum ticket story unfold in the video above.
Finally, what are you doing now and what is next for you?
Image Credit: David McClister
Justin: I’m finishing up the last bit of my Star Code course. I’m teaching that live online. I also have a master class that I teach, which is a lead-in to that. And then I’m gearing up for what will be my seventh Broadway show, Once Upon a One More Time, which is opening in the summer. It’s a Britney Spears musical and I’ve been with it for five years and we are finally getting our due to come to Broadway and I could not be more excited. It is legitimately my most favorite role I’ve ever played, and it is going to be something where people come to it, they will laugh, they will cry and it will feel like they are watching the most kick-ass music video they’ve ever seen on Broadway.
Clay: I semi-retired from performing nine years ago. In 2013 I said, “I’m going to step away from this.” And then in 2018 Ruben wanted to do something and we had an opportunity to do a Broadway show, so I came back and did that. And then I said, “Okay, dude. I’m not going to keep going.” And he said, “It’s our 20th anniversary. We’ve got do something.” I said, “Fine, let’s do it.” There’s nobody who could get me to come back and perform except for Ruben. I love doing that. We’re going to go out on our 20th anniversary tour, and it’ll be the first time I’ve been on tour in over a decade now. We’re putting everything we’ve got into this tour. I might fall on the ground afterward and be done for a while again. We’ll see.
Jordin: I am still doing music. I am in the final stages of choosing the songs that are going to go on the new album. Last season, they were talking to me about music while I was on stage with Ruben during the finale and I had over 100 songs and now I have almost close to 200 and so I really have to figure out which songs are the best. I want to take people on a journey and make them feel something. So I’m hoping to get that done in the next couple weeks, because after that I’m going to film a Christmas movie for BET+ and then I’m hoping that I can tour internationally. So there are a lot of dreams and ambitions. I’m also just being mom. I’m really grateful that I still get to do what I love.
David: I did a Christmas tour, and I was supposed to go on a spring tour, but I put that on hold because I need time to reassess myself. Because not only did I come out, but I also had a transition in faith. Before, my faith was the ship that steered every decision I made. I involved it in my career and now that it’s not there, it’s like I lost myself and I’m asking, “Who am I now?” But it’s also an opportunity to start again and decide who I am without my faith as a buffer. I’ve been writing a lot of music and I’m really excited to share my journey with everybody. Learning how to love yourself when you spent so much time believing that you were supposed to hate yourself and believing that that was the right thing to do: to be afraid of a piece of you, feeling like you have to hide this for your own safety and for the safety of the people around you. To think that if it ever came out, you would be hurting not only yourself but the people around you in your life. I am in the process of learning how to change that way of thinking. It hasn’t been easy, but I feel like I’m entering a whole new space of my career because I’m entering this new space personally. It’s always been important for me to share what’s in my soul and in my heart. Now, I feel so much passion in my career — [there’s] this fire that’s coming out of me that’s given me this new fuel into what I do and into the music and I just can’t wait. I’m looking for ways to share my story, because I know so many other people, especially those coming from religious backgrounds, they’re still in the thick of it and I want to help them learn because I know what it’s like. It’s like being a mentor on Idol: I was there, so this is what I wish I would have known. While it’s easier for some, it’s especially tricky for people in religious conservative households where you are still being taught, “This is not okay. Resist it. Do not give into it. Do not accept this part of you. If you do, you’re a failure.” Too many [people] who share my beliefs feel like it’s better to end their lives than to accept their sexuality if they’re queer. I was there as well. I thought, “Before I accept this about myself, maybe it’s better for me to not be here and to end my life, so that I save my soul in the long run.” I realized, “Even if you’re queer, David, maybe your life is still worth living.” I had to take that chance and it has been worth it and I realized I’m not this evil person. I’m just now understanding this love that everyone wrote love songs and romance movies and romance novels about, expressing how beautiful of a feeling it is. I didn’t understand before. I couldn’t relate to it and now I’m able to comprehend that and write those songs myself and tell my story of what it’s like to feel that feeling of loving someone and wanting to be there for them. I feel like that will help people understand, like, “Oh, that’s not very much different from what I experienced, so maybe it’s not as foreign than what I thought it was.” To help them not demonize that feeling because they feel it too and it’s a pure, wholesome feeling to experience.
Phillip: I released a song earlier this year called “Dancing With Your Shadows.” I love that song. And I’m releasing another song when this is airing called “Before I Loved You” and I’m really proud of that song. It’s a beautiful love song about me and my wife. There’ll be an album toward the end of the summer called Drift Back and all of these songs are representations for the past three to five years for me through COVID and show where I am now. It’s an honest album of love through ups and downs, not just your significant other but relationships with family and friends. My little boy Patch, he sings every word to one of these songs and that’s really sweet. I’ll say, “Is that a good song?” He’ll say, “Yup, that sounds good, daddy.” I’m like, “That’s good. Thank you.”
Catie: I am releasing a new single called “Hyperfixations” and it shows what the inside of my brain sounds like, if anyone’s ever wondered that before. I wrote this song with my producer in Nashville, Ruslan. I was discovering a new sound for myself because I went from very acoustic to very pop and I wanted to find a way to honor both but still feel authentic to myself. I’m finding the nice middle ground of acoustic lyrics but with a more produced sound and in a way to where it’s not so pop. I’m having a really fun time with that.
Noah: I recently moved to Nashville. I’ve been on tour, and I’ve been writing every day. I really don’t want to stop. Hopefully we’ll get some tour dates back up pretty soon. We’ve got some cool shows coming up, opening for Luke Combs.
Katy Perry is getting some heat for a joke she made at an aspiring singer’s expense on American Idol.
When the 38-year-old pop star and her Idol co-judges Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan discovered on the March 5 episode that a hopeful named Sara Beth Liebe was the mother of three kids at just 25, she stood up and clutched the table in front of her, leaning back on it in shock.
“If Katy lays on the table, I think I’m going to pass out,” Liebe exclaimed, to which Perry quipped, “Honey, you’ve been laying on the table too much.”
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The young mother has since called out Perry’s joke, saying in a recent TikTok that it was “embarrassing to have that on TV.” “It was hurtful and that’s that,” she continued. “I think that women supporting and uplifting other women is so cool, and I think that mom shaming is super lame and I think that it’s hard enough to be a mom and it’s hard enough to be a woman.”
“I see all of the young moms and just moms in general … keep loving your babies,” Liebe added. “Nobody deserves to feel crappy about that.”
Billboard has reached out to Perry for comment.
After performing renditions of Amy Winehouse’s “You Know I’m No Good” and Elton John’s “Benny and the Jets,” Liebe went on to receive a golden ticket from the judges — but only after enduring further criticism from Perry. The “Dark Horse” singer expressed doubt that the hopeful, who was bubbling with nervous energy, was ambitious enough for the show. At another point, she said the singer was “like a comic strip character came to life.”
Viewers also weren’t happy with the other judges’ reactions to Liebe — Bryan laughed heartily along with Perry’s table joke and Richie was the only judge who voted against passing the singer on to the next round — though most expressed particular disappointment in Perry’s remarks.
“The judges seemed to go out of their way to judge her before they had anything to actually judge,” commented one on the audition video posted to Idol‘s YouTube channel. “After she sang her pure heart out, the judges acted like they needed to save face and stay rude towards her instead of acknowledging they might have jumped the gun forming an opinion too quickly…. Shame on Katy especially.”
“I love that she powered through all the rudeness,” wrote another, calling Liebe “a ray of sunshine.”
Watch her American Idol audition above.
Mariah Faith comes from a small town, but she’s on her way to LaLa Land and it won’t be as a tourist.
The 21-year-old hairstylist stepped onto the American Idol stage on Sunday night (March 19), for an audition that couldn’t have gone any better.
Born in Baltimore, Faith relocated at a young age to Conway, South Carolina, a town so small, she claims you could traverse it on foot in ten minutes.The relocation was at the behest of her late step-dad, Faith’s inspiration, her “No. 1 supporter and best friend,” she explained in the intro. He died from a heart attack in 2019, leaving a hole in the family.
When Faith entered the lion’s den that is an Idol audition, she carried the spirit of her step-dad, to whom she dedicated a rendition of Vince Gill’s “Whenever You Come Around.”
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Wearing blonde dreads and a nose-ring, Faith looked and sounded at ease. Her performance, grounded, earthy and pretty special, the judges agreed.
“I had chills the whole time. You are on just the edge of greatness,” noted judge Luke Bryan. “You’ve just got it all. It doesn’t matter if you hit a wrong note, it’s still right.”
It was more of the same from Katy Perry. “World class,” she piped up. “There’s so many subtleties in your voice. I’m hanging onto every syllable.” Perry added, “You have this natural cry-slash-gospel vocal,” at which point the contestant remarked, I was “raised in the church.”
Perry spotted it. “Well, we can hear it. You are a star,” she enthused. “You’ve got it. One of the most interesting voices” of this 21st season.
Lionel Richie was singing from the same hymn sheet. “What we just heard is the tip of the iceberg, but your potential could take you seriously all the way,” he stated.
When the judges cast their votes, it was three yeses and a ticket to Hollywood. Faith also landed the opportunity to open a Nashville concert for last season’s respective Idol winner and runner-up, Noah Thompson and HunterGirl.
Watch below.
Taylor Swift may have gotten “Kanye’d,” but she certainly wasn’t the only person performer who’s had her mic taken from her.
During a recent American Idol audition, contestant Amara Valerio revealed that she once had the mic stolen away from her during a performance — just like Kanye West‘s infamous interruption of Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech at the 2009 VMAs. But Idol hopeful got her revenge by nailing her tryout for judges Katy Perry, Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan.
While introducing herself to the panel of judges, the 20-year-old hopeful recalled the time she was asked to sing the national anthem at her high school’s commencement ceremony. According to Valerio, things went wrong when, as she started to sing and another girl — wearing a graduation gown — yanked the microphone away from Valerio and declared, “This is my senior graduating class, and I would like to sing.”
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“She just pulled a Kanye West!” exclaimed Perry in disbelief after she and her co-judges watched video footage of the interruption.
“I got Kanye’d,” Valerio agreed.
One of the judges was particularly angry on Valerio’s behalf, and even demanded that the young singer name names. “I need that f–king name,” Bryan said, ready with a pen and notepad to write down the culprit’s moniker. “I got Navy SEALs …”
Instead of bringing in the authorities, however, the judges decided to ask Valerio to channel her rage into her audition song: Jazmine Sullivan’s “Bust Your Windows.”
The approach paid off. The judges immediately sent Valerio on to the next round after hearing her gorgeous vocals. And, after some prodding, they got the aspiring star to give up the first name of her own personal Kanye. “Sarah!” Perry yelled into the camera, addressing the interrupter directly. “You’re finished messing with our girl.”
Watch Amara Valerio get her sweet revenge on American Idol above.
Jennifer Hudson welcomed Paula Abdul to her eponymous talk show on Friday (March 3) to look back on their time together on season three of American Idol.
Of course, the first thing that comes to mind when thinking back to that early season was the shocking moment Hudson was eliminated in seventh place after finding herself in the bottom three with fellow frontrunners LaToya London and eventual winner Fantasia Barrino.
“Oh my goodness, that was a moment,” the OG Idol judge said. “When you were eliminated, it was like the whole world was pissed. That’s true! I’m sure they come up to you, I mean, people still talk to me about, ‘God, that night Jennifer Hudson was eliminated.’ I go, ‘I know!’”
However, the “Straight Up” singer also revealed some words of encouragement she shared with the Idol hopeful immediately after her controversial ousting. “It was on Entertainment Tonight, and I said you, ‘You know, I have a feeling some amazing things are gonna happen to you.’ ‘Member, I said, ‘People that need to win, win. And the people that don’t need to win end up winning big time.’ And you did.”
Abdul may or may not have psychic powers, considering Hudson has gone on to become the first and so far only Idol alum to reach EGOT status following her 2021 Daytime Emmy Award for outstanding interactive media for a daytime program, and 2022 Tony Award as a producer of A Strange Loop. (She previously won an Academy Award for portraying Effie White in 2006’s Dreamgirls, and has taken home two different Grammys over the years.)
Watch Hudson’s trip down memory lane with Abdul below.
Editor’s note: This story features descriptions of gun violence.
The early American Idol audition rounds are where America has met some of their favorite singers over the past two decades. Sometimes they’re not the best vocalists, but they have a certain spark, a twinkle in their eye or a story so intriguing that the judges have to lean in and learn more.
That was definitely the case on Sunday night (Feb. 26) when 21-year-old mattress salesman Trey Louis of Santa Fe, Texas charmed the judges with his calm, playful demeanor and an impressive, twangy run through Whiskey Myers’ 2018 hit “Stone.” Sure, his stories about the NSFW questions mattress shoppers ask him were funny and his vocals had gritty soul, but Louis had much more to say following his impressive performance.
After getting a standing ovation from judges Katy Perry, Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan — with the latter calling Louis’ “perfect” — Bryan asked the singer why he was there. The first reason, Louis said, was because some of his favorite singers have stood on the very same star before the nation learned who they were.
The second, however, was more emotional and it brought Perry to angry tears. Louis noted again that he’s from Santa Fe, Texas, where in May 2018 he survived a mass shooting at Santa Fe High School during which a gunman killed eight students and two teachers. “[I] lost a lot of friends,” Louis said, noting he was in an art classroom when the shooter opened fire next door before making his way into the room Louis was in.
Getting choked up as the judges flashed looks of concern, Louis looked at the ground and said, “It’s just really been negative and Santa Fe’s had a bad rap since 2018.” Bryan’s voice cracked as he praised Louis’ vocals and big heart while Perry slumped forward, sobbing into her hands as Louis asked her what was going on.
“Our country has f–king failed us,” Perry shouted while poking her finger into the judge’s desk as Louis softly added “facts.”
“This is not okay,” Katy continued through tears. “You should be singing here because you love music, not because you had to go through that f–king bulls–t. You don’t have to lose eight friends. I hope that you remind people that we have to change. Cuz, you know, I’m scared too.”
As Bryan and Richie sympathetically reached out to rub Perry on the shoulders, Louis consoled her as well, saying, “it’s terrible, Katy, it’s horrible.”
Richie weighed in as well on the daily toll of mass shootings in the country, saying, “We have tolerated this for so long, for too long. It’s become the norm”; according to the Gun Violence Archive, there have been more than 80 mass shootings so far this year. Perry told Louis that she hoped he could be a leader to combat gun violence in the nation. It was, of course, a yes for Louis, who advanced to the next round after getting loving hugs from all three judges.
Watch Louis’ audition below.