Beginning in 2018, Katy Perry served alongside Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie on the newly-rebooted American Idol judging panel. Before exiting the show last year to refocus on her music career, the “Teenage Dream” songstress, 40, met thousands of aspiring artists. While she grew close with some of them, Perry was admittedly not sad to see others leave the set. One contestant recently spoke out about being in the latter category.
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These days, Benson Boone is inescapable. Whether he’s backflipping off desks during an appearance on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, or surprising the Coachella crowd with Queen’s Brian May, the 22-year-old is making his case for pop music’s next big thing.
Before he backflipped his way into our hearts, however, Boone was another unknown artist looking for an opening into the music industry. And he certainly caught Katy Perry’s eye as a contestant on American Idol. The “California Gurls” singer told Boone, “I see you winning American Idol if you want to.”
Obviously, Boone did not win, unexpectedly dropping out of the show after securing his place in the Top 24. During a recent appearance on Scott Mills’ The Breakfast Show, the “Beautiful Things” star said that Perry shared her true feelings about his departure when the two crossed paths at an award show “a couple months ago.”
“Do you want to know the actual truth? I actually think she is really glad that I left the show,” Boone told Mills. “She told me, she was like, ‘Leaving that show was, like, the best thing you ever did.’ I think she just understands, like, I didn’t even know if I wanted to do music at that time.”
[RELATED: Why Benson Boone Quit ‘American Idol’ Despite Katy Perry Predicting He’d Win]
Why Did Benson Boone Quit ‘American Idol?’
In hindsight, Katy Perry is 100 percent right—leaving American Idol and releasing his breakout hit “Beautiful Things” set Benson Boone on the path to a now-flourishing career. But why, exactly, did he decide to abandon his chance at the cash prize and record deal?
“The reason I quit American Idol is because I wanted to do music. I don’t want people to be like, ‘Oh, Benson Boone. American Idol blew him up. That’s where he comes from,’” he said in 2022. “No. I want to be Benson Boone because I write smash hits and they love my music. That’s why I quit. I just didn’t want that label on me.”
