The Top 24 artists were revealed on the ABC reality TV series “American Idol” on Monday, April 2 when judges Katy Perry, Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan narrowed down the field of pop star hopefuls. But how have the judges been doing so far this season? What do we think of Katy Perry‘s controversial antics? And who is the Simon Cowell of Season 16? Watch our video recap above to see Marcus James Dixon and Denton Davidson break down the good, the bad and the just plain cruel decisions the judges have made so far.
In response to Katy being controversial, Davidson defends the pop star from all the internet trolls, stating, “I think she’s great. It would be so boring without her. People like to blow everything out of proportion and turn everything that makes a headline into a controversy.”
Dixon agrees, adding, “I didn’t know much about Katy as a person before this. I knew her music of course, but her personality is just so perfect for a reality show. I love her on the show. Everything she does goes viral.”
SEE ‘American Idol’ Top 14 spoilers: Which 8 men and 6 women will be on season 16 live shows?
Dixon contends that Lionel is the new Simon, only without being mean. “He has this really great way of critiquing somebody but still respecting them. I just love that guy.”
Davidson’s appreciation for Lionel is more nostalgic as he admits, “He is one of my favorite songwriters ever. It’s kind of funny when they name songs of his and Katy responds, ‘You wrote that?’ because she doesn’t even know his music very well.”
As for Luke, he may still be getting comfortable in his new role. “I feel like his critiques aren’t really being shown,” Dixon says. “Maybe because he’s just not as outlandish as Katy or as insightful as Lionel.”
Davidson adds, “He seems like he’s just ‘there,’ which is interesting because I would have originally thought that would have been Lionel. But at this point he is the least interesting.”
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