American Idol's auditions are officially underway, and new judges Katy Perry, Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan already discovered they have their work cut out for them.

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Idol's first day of auditions kicked off in New York City on Tuesday, October 3, with host Ryan Seacrest sharing a behind-the-scenes video on Instagram.

"That's a wrap on day 1! Feels good to be home :) @lionelrichie @katyperry @lukebryan #thenextidol," Ryan captioned the video in which he's flashing the coveted "golden ticket" to Hollywood.

In the video, Ryan, 42, gushes, "Everyone is so excited to be back for American Idol with Lionel, Katy and Luke Bryan having a good time. A few nerves outside the [audition] room, a few nervous parents outside the room, crew members because everyone wants... the golden ticket. This is American Idol."

American Idol's longtime host also shared several photos throughout the day, including one picture of Lionel, 68, and himself taking a break to eat their takeout dinner. 

"@Lionelrichie judging all night long," Ryan quipped, referring to the singer and songwriter's 1983 classic hit. "#thenextidol."

Katy, a 32-year-old pop icon, and Lionel also cracked jokes Tuesday on Instagram about how the auditions could run "all night long."

ABC confirmed late last month Luke and Lionel would be joining Katy on American Idol's sixteenth-season judging panel. Katy was officially announced as a judge in May shortly after ABC revealed the show would be returning after a one-year hiatus.

Idol previously aired on Fox for 15 seasons, and Ryan served as the host of all of them.

After a long night of auditions, Katy, Lionel and Luke appeared on Wednesday's episode of Good Morning America, which marked their first public interview together.

"This is the dream team," Katy said with a big smile.

"We've only had one day together yesterday and we're already just so locked in. I think there's such incredible mutual respect and everybody has their strengths and knows their different wheelhouses, and I just sit there at the table [in awe], like, 'Really, Lionel? You hung out with Prince, [Michael Jackson] and [Whitney Houston]? Tell us more!' It's so wonderful."

"It feels like we've been going to school together... for the past 20 years," Lionel said, adding that he's bringing "experience" to the table.

"What do we do with all of this knowledge at the other end of the career? Well, we have to give it back. We share. And I kept thinking, 'Do I write the book? Do I do a documentary?' No, I just become a judge [real] quick! And every night, there's something I can see in an artist where he's struggling or she's struggling, and the first thing I'll say is, 'You know, this reminds me of me!' And we'll start there."

Luke, a country singer, then shared how it feels to know he'll potentially be discovering the world's next big superstar.

"It's challenging. And we think about that throughout our whole assessment of this human standing in front of us. I mean, we care about the emotions they're going to go through, and we're judging, 'Do we think they're going to be able to handle this ride?' Because I think it's nice to see the glitz and the glamour, but there's a lot of hard work that goes behind it," he explained on GMA.

"I've only had three hours of sleep," Katy joked, "and that wasn't my choice."

"We ran late last night," Luke elaborated. "We got three hours of sleep, but we're here! And that's what some of these artists don't understand. You don't get to choose your sleep schedule sometimes. The business does."


About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski

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