Here’s Who Katy Perry Would Pick as Her ‘American Idol’ Replacement: ‘I Want a Truth Teller’

Katy Perry is on her way out of American Idol, with season 22 being her last before another musical sensation steps in to take over her role as a judge alongside Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan.

And in an interview with E! News posted Tuesday (April 16), the pop star revealed who she would choose to take the reins following her exit: a certain breakout country superstar with face tattoos and a heart of gold. “I gotta say Jelly Roll was crazy when he came on the show,” she told the publication. “I was convinced at anything he said.”

“He could run for president, he could be my pastor, I might go back to church for him,” she added. “He could sell me anything … To have any of these guys plus Jelly on the show would be amazing. I love you, Jelly!”

The interview comes about a week after the “Son of a Sinner” singer appeared on the April 8 episode of Idol, serving as a guest mentor and coaching the show’s top 24 contestants in Hawaii. “I realized how life-changing this is for these kids,” he told Billboard at the time. “Even if they go on and don’t have music careers, they have this story forever and I felt it on them. I took away the spirit of genuine happiness to be where you are, because it happens so fast that sometimes you don’t realize how special a moment it is.”

Even if it isn’t Jelly, Perry said she hopes that her successor shares her knack for being straightforward with the singing show’s competitors. “I want a truth teller,” she told the publication. “I want someone that is not afraid to tell the truth in a graceful way.”

“Unfortunately, when you’re a woman and you have an opinion or you’re a boss, sometimes you’re also considered a B-I-T-C-[H],” she added. “So just someone that has a strong sense of self, that listens to their intuition.”

The “Firework” singer has been a part of Idol since 2018, when the show was rebooted after three years off the air. She now has her sights set on recording a followup to her 2020 LP Smile, telling Jimmy Kimmel in February that she wants to “go see the world and maybe bring new music.”

“I just have yet to make a record from a place of feeling really happy and whole and full of love,” Perry, who shares 3-year-old daughter Daisy Dove with fiancé Orlando Bloom, said in an April interview with Access Hollywood. “Sometimes artists are like, ‘Oh, that’s boring, you want to make music from kind of like a tougher place,’ but actually it’s very bright and joyful, like pure joy and fun and playful and celebratory and a party.”