Music

Katy Perry is about to celebrate her sixth season on American Idol and revealed what convinced her to join the show.

“I was pursued by Idol for a long time — long, long, long, long time,” Katy disclosed to Gwyneth Paltrow via the goop podcast. She continued, “I was putting out records, going on tours and stuff like that.”

While Katy said she always knew she would join the show because she loved the aspect of empowering future singers, she wanted to wait until the timing was right for her. 

“I also wanted to start my life and have my family and have a little bit more balance. I knew I wasn’t going to go on a world tour every year, and so they came and said, ‘Ya wanna do it?'” she recalled, adding she responded with an eager, “I’m ready!”

“I did it and I just fell in love with the new iteration of it … It’s super empowering, super uplifting. It’s got so much heart and depth to it,” the singer said, adding she loves working alongside her co-judges, Luke Bryan and Lionel Ritchie. “No one hands us any script and we get to literally have final say over pretty much everything until America actually votes,” she added.

Katy is glad she signed on, adding she has since started her family with fiancé Orlando Bloom and embarked on her PLAY residency in Las Vegas, where she performs every “three weeks on and three weeks off.”

The next season of American Idol begins February 19 on ABC. 

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Rotimi is doing his thing as an independent artist, but at one point in time, he was signed to G-Unit. Speaking to HipHopDX, he revealed that his departure from the label was a decision he made simply because he was ready to “just do my thing and grow.”

“With G-Unit, 50 Cent gave me my deal in 2014,” he recalled. The singer requested that he be released three years later, and he said the Queens native made no big deal about it.

“We had a conversation, like, ‘Yo, I have an idea that I want to just do my thing and grow,'” said Rotimi. “And as a businessman, he knew that he saw himself in me and said, ‘I’m not going to stop you from doing what you need to do.’”

He thanked 50 for allowing him to break away “because I was able to learn on my own and still have his support.”

“Even after we left, he found his own way to market me and it worked,” Rotimi continued. “So again, anytime he calls me and needs me, it’s all love and it’s always been that way.”

Rotimi, who played Andre Coleman on Power, released Royal Wednesday and Jeep Music Vol. 1 when he was with G-Unit. He’s now signed to EMPIRE and is set to appear in the reboot of the ’90s classic House Party, which he says he was a fan of.

“For us to be part of something like this is just God,” he said.

House Party premieres on Friday.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

De La Soul‘s first six albums will be available on streaming platforms in March, two of which longtime fan Pharrell Williams thinks fans should definitely make time to hear.

Responding to an inquiry during a Q&A session for The Guardian, Pharrell told a fan that the group’s first two albums are important music projects to listen to.

“Everybody needs to get 3 Feet High And Rising and De La Soul Is Dead,” Pharrell responded when asked, “What album, past or present, does everybody need to hear?”

He credited Damon Albarn for understanding the band’s contributions to music and tapping them to be part of a few Gorillaz songs.

“Even when they were going through all their stuff [a disagreement over the rights to their catalog], Damon [Albarn] from Blur put them on the Gorillaz albums, because he gets it,” Pharrell said. “He knows those guys are responsible for making so many of us misfits feel like we actually fit. The De La tribe were the forefathers and founders of the way we see things. I was nearly 16 when 3 Feet High and Rising came out. It was a total game-changer. It changed my life, period. Would I like to work with them? I would do anything for them, they know that. If they don’t, they should.”

De La Soul recently dropped “The Magic Number” on digital music services to celebrate the news of their catalog’s streaming debut.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Fans of The Kid LAROI have been waiting for new music from the Australian rapper for ages, and now he’s finally delivering.

The first song from his upcoming project, The First Time, will arrive January 19. On Instagram, he wrote, “Let me know what song you want.” The project itself is available to presave and preorder now. As for when that’ll be released, so far all we know is “soon.”

In a 36-second trailer for the project, we see a series of images, including LAROI kissing a girl, jumping into a pool and smoking. “You never forget the first time,” he says in a voice-over. “The first time you fall in love. The first time you get caught. The first time you feel shame. The first real kiss.” 

On Twitter, he wrote, “So stoked we’re finally about to f***king do this holy s**t.”

In February 2022, LAROI announced The First Time, which was going to be released in June. In March, he changed the name to Kids Are Growing Up. Either way, the album never materialized. Now it appears as though it’s back to its original title.

The new project is the follow-up to F*ck Love 3: Over You, which came out in 2021 and included LAROI’s megahit Justin Bieber collab “Stay.”

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Jack White has shared a tribute to late guitar icon Jeff Beck, who died Tuesday at age 78.

In an Instagram post, the White Stripes/Raconteurs/Dead Weather rocker writes, “Jeff Beck, guitar innovator extraordinaire has moved to the next realm.”

“He was amazingly kind and instructional to me over the years,” White continues. “Many shows that I’ve played began moments after listening to his song ‘Led Boots’ backstage.”

White’s post also includes a video of him and Meg White performing with Beck during a 2002 White Stripes show in London, during which they performed a set of songs by Beck’s legendary group The Yardbirds.

“In our rehearsals he plugged straight into an amp, no effects pedals,” White recalls. “He was changing the sound of the guitar and doing things people didn’t know were possible from his earliest days on stage.”

Beck’s passing has been mourned by many of the biggest names in rock. Those who’ve also paid tribute include Led Zeppelin‘s Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, Ozzy Osbourne, Mick Jagger and Paul McCartney.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Russell Dickerson can’t contain his excitement about California’s popular In-N-Out burger chain finally making its way to Nashville.

“Y’all, huge announcement! As you probably already have seen, In-N-Out’s coming to Nashville. I will be playing the opening of the In-N-Out in Nashville,” he posted on his socials.

There might be one little hiccup with Russell’s plan, however.

“I’ve not been invited to do so,” he added, “but I will be there, guitar in hand, at the opening of these In-N-Outs. Yo!”

Earlier this week, the iconic burgers, fries and shakes joint announced it will be opening a corporate hub south of Nashville, with plans to open its first couple Music City locations by 2026. So far, In-N-Out only extends as far east as Texas. 

Stay tuned to see if Russell can make his dream gig official. 

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

FX shows about J Dilla, and mother and son duo Afeni and Tupac Shakur are coming in the second quarter of the year. On Thursday the network announced premiere dates for The New York Times Presents: “The Legacy of J Dilla” and Dear Mama; the former will air on April 7, with the latter premiering weeks later.

Produced and directed by Christopher Frierson and Esther Dere, The Legacy of J Dilla is a documentary feature about the musician, producer and visionary who worked with the likes Erykah Badu, Busta Rhymes, D’Angelo and A Tribe Called Quest before he passed away due to cardiac arrest in 2006. “It explores the complications that have arisen as so many people try to control his legacy,” according to a press release.

Dear Mama, named after the 1995 hit Tupac dedicated to his mom, Afeni, is a five-part docuseries that explores the lives and legacies of both individuals. It’s an audio and visual experience that paints their individual stories as “one definitive portrait of a global superstar and the woman who shaped him.”

The J Dilla documentary premieres April 7 at 10 p.m. ET on FX and Hulu. Dear Mama will premiere with two episodes April 21 at 10 p.m. ET, with new episodes airing every week. It airs on FX and streams the following day on Hulu.

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.