Luke Bryan talks 'emotional' farewell to Katy Perry on 'American Idol,' advice for new judge

Luke Bryan is opening up about saying goodbye to Katy Perry on "American Idol."

The "Love You, Miss You, Mean It" singer spoke to "GMA" at CMA Fest 2024 about how he and Lionel Richie had a "really emotional" and "perfect" farewell with Perry, who has been a judge on the singing competition show alongside them for the past seven seasons.

"Everybody thinks we're gonna go out and stand on barstools and spray champagne over everybody, but we just had a chill dinner," Bryan said of what went down after the recent season 22 finale.

"We got to toast Katy and we got to say some really amazing things to her and it was really emotional and [there was] a lot of love in the room," he continued. "It was a perfect way to wrap the season and to wrap, certainly, Katy's tenure with us, and it was really special."

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With Perry's exit, that leaves a seat open in between Bryan and Richie -- and the search is on to fill that spot.

So what does the country superstar think the "Firework" singer's replacement needs to have in order to fit in and succeed?

"Oh, gosh. Tolerate me and Lionel, first and foremost," he joked, later adding with a laugh, "Whoever you are, just be on time."

Perhaps the best piece of advice came from Bryan's final tip for whoever joins "American Idol" as the show's newest judge: "Just have fun with it and don't treat it like a job," he advised. "Treat it like something you love."

Tune into this year's CMA Fest special, hosted by Ashley McBryde and Jelly Roll, when it airs Tuesday, June 28, at 8 p.m. ET on ABC and streams the next day on Hulu.

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