Luke Bryan is currently enjoying his seventh season as a judge on American Idol. The country music superstar first joined the show in Season 18, for American Idol's first season on ABC, and has been a mainstay since then.
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While Bryan had plenty of success before joining Idol, he says the show has profoundly changed him, and helped him evolve as a person, in the most unexpected way.
"It's like having a looking glass into America's youth," Bryan tells Billboard. "Without American Idol, I wouldn't have a front row seat to the ups and the downs of America's youth, growing up in a new wave of social media, with all the positives and the negatives. I've developed a new appreciation for what our youth go through.
"It's taught me to come from a small town in South Georgia and see the melting pot that America is," he continues. "For me to be able to witness that through the youth and their stories and their differences and watching music bringing us all together, it's been very enlightening for me."
Luke Bryan's Thoughts on Carrie Underwood Judging 'American Idol'
The current season of American Idol also marks a first for the show, with the addition of Carrie Underwood. Underwood, who is taking the place left vacant by Katy Perry, is a natural for the show, especially since she won in Season 4, 20 years ago. And now, no one is a bigger fan of her, especially on Idol, than Bryan.
"When you look at what she embodies with American Idol, she's a big time representative of what America's sweetheart is supposed to be," Bryan boasts. "And she maintains that so amazingly, and she does it by caring like she does and having the kindness with the kids. It's been fun watching her learn this role."
Bryan and fellow judge Lionel Richie both joined the show in 2018, but Bryan says Underwood is already better than both of them as a judge.
"Until now, it's probably been a lot of scripted stuff where you come in knowing exactly what you're going to do, but Idol makes you really work on the fly. Lionel and I had seven years to learn how to work on the fly," Bryan says. "Carrie rolled right in here and just started picking up the role of what it is."
