Katy Perry, American Idol Judges Talk To Parade Magazine

Ahead of American Idol’s relaunch on March 11th, Parade found out six things you need to know about the new season from the judges.

1. The New Judges
“I want to give someone a career and a record deal. Someone is going to be a star from this show.”
—Katy Perry, 33, pop queen with nine No. 1 singles and nearly 100 million records sold

2. What the Judges are Looking For
Katy Perry
“There are a lot of good voices out there. It’s not just about a singing voice. It’s an ‘it’ factor. It’s a combination of things.”

Katy Perry
“It’s all about the contestant and helping that diamond in the rough.”

3. Who Is…
The Jokester
Perry says that she and Bryan are the whoopee-cushion pranksters, while the vet Richie is the designated room monitor. “Katy asked, ‘Can we call you papa?’ and I said, ‘You can call me daddy!’” says Richie, himself the father of three (including Great News actress and former reality star Nicole, 36).

The Softie
“Some of us are more cut-and-dried, but at the end of the day we believe in constructive criticism,” Perry says. “We all know how it feels to stand there as artists and be judged and have everything on the line and know that this opportunity can change your life, your family’s life and your whole world. We know that exactly.”

The Pop Chart Expert
It’s definitely Katy Perry, says Richie. “There are some days where Katy’s talking about someone and I’ll be like, ‘Who the hell is that?’ and she’ll say, ‘That’s a No. 1 recording artist!’”

4. The Best Advice They Ever Got
Katy Perry
If you look at your career as a graph chart, Perry says, don’t get hung up on all the highs and lows. Instead, “it’s about staying on the graph and making sure every move is authentic.” Her friend, alt-rocker Alanis Morissette, advised her to be transparent—so that whenever anyone looked at her career, anywhere on that graph, they’d look through it and see the “real” her.

6. How Failure Has Fueled Them
“I’m learning all the time; everything turns into a lesson for me,” says Perry. Last year, when she radically changed her look and took a more futuristic pop approach with her fourth album, Witness, she got mixed reviews. “I’m starting to realize that, after doing this a decade and reaching the highest heights, nobody is going to hit the bull’s-eye every single time,” she says.