Luke Bryan, entering his eighth season of American Idol, has defined his superpower as a judge.
“I can read a fainter when they’re about to faint,” he told Jimmy Fallon during a Tonight Show appearance with co-stars Carrie Underwood and Leonard Richie.
“We had one kid, and I went behind him and kind of patted him down, and he was 157 degrees, his body temperature,” recalled Luke.
Luke and Lionel agreed. Carrie first said yes to so many suitors that they questioned whether she would ever say no. The American Idol winner admitted she’s pretty codependent with the participants, saying she’s more than willing to offer lyrics if you’re nervous: “I got you. I’ll help you.”
Contestants typically perform their songs to gain favor, but this is not always successful.
“They think it’s to compliment us,” Lionel explained, “but some days we just pray, ‘Please God, let them be able to sing it.'” And sometimes they nail it, and sometimes it goes downhill fast.”
Luke, Lionel, and Jimmy competed in the “Name That Song Challenge” against Carrie, known as the “human jukebox”. Check out The Tonight Show segments online to see how they performed before Idol’s Sunday premiere on ABC.
