- Competition is heating up as Hollywood week hits "American Idol," where contestants are bringing their A-game and getting the judges in on the act. Take a look. - I am going to be singing an original song for you guys today. Judges, I need your help with this. I want you to sing something back to me. - Light it up! CONTESTANT: I chose stage presence because it's that it factor that people look for, and you have to make it loud on stage. Prioritizing doesn't seem to be your strong suit. If it was you, I bet that you would know what to do. You think I'm crazy because I know that I care too much. But do you really think I give a-- I want to know what you're good for. Yeah, I wanna know what you're good for. Yeah, I want to know what you're good for, good for. - Please welcome Lionel Richie, Katy Perry, and Luke Bryan. Woo! LUKE BRYAN: We love you! [INAUDIBLE] Hey! [INTERPOSING VOICES] - Well-- - I'm trying to get her to twirl. - [INAUDIBLE] - Well! - Don't you like to twirl? - Usually, we do. - Well. [LAUGHTER] - Yeah. - That-- that entrance. - I borrowed Lionel Richie's jacket. - Yeah. That entrance was one segment. PANELIST: That's true. We're out of time. - We're out of time. We're out of time. - And Audrey! - I have to tell you. Some of us were like this. I thought you'd come this way. - I know. I know. - Nobody said, oh, by the way-- PANELIST: They're coming. - --they're coming from over there. - We like to keep you watching. - I have never been that way before. WHOOPI GOLDBERG: How was it? - It was fabulous. I get to see the people in the audience. - Oh yes, and they get to see you. - How about that? WHOOPI GOLDBERG: I have to say it was really wonderful to have you all here at the table with us. Now you're back with a 21st season. - Six for us. Only six for us. WHOOPI GOLDBERG: Only six for y'all. - You look much younger. WHOOPI GOLDBERG: [INAUDIBLE]. Now, when you see all the things that go-- OK, y'all. You have to let us ask the question. - Right, it's coming from here now. - We'll get back to you. But you got to let us get through because you know we take forever to ask these questions. Anyhoo, when you see all these auditions, do you think there is nothing someone could do that will shock me, and then somebody does something that just blows you away? - Like what you just saw. - You just saw. What you just saw was it. Yeah, I mean, see what happens, a lot of times, people walk out, and we go, OK, it's going to be another-- just another singer. WHOOPI GOLDBERG: Mm-hm. - That's not what we're looking for. WHOOPI GOLDBERG: Right. - We're looking for characters. We're looking for people who have unique qualities. - Right. PANELIST: Originality. - Originality. - Artists. - For example-- - Songwriters. - --ti's not karaoke. That's why it's so fun-- - Ah. - --to watch karaoke. We're looking for, what's the unique thing you have? WHOOPI GOLDBERG: Right. - And when that little girl-- wait, little girl. And I say that. Yeah, she walks out on stage, little mouse voice, and opens her mouth. And you go, what am I listening to? PANELIST: Yeah. - That's the character we're looking for. - I say. But you know, you mentioned karaoke because a lot of the people that are coming on the show have no experience except karaoke. But if-- let me ask you something. If they're super talented, do they really need a lot of experience to have a big career like you guys have - They just need, like, a couple of fairy godmothers and godfathers that'll give them wings and give them constructive criticism and push them to the place that they were born to be in. WHOOPI GOLDBERG: Yeah. I mean, did you-- - What I love being-- I'm sorry. - Did you guys have a lot of experience before you became superstars? - Well, you've got to go do-- Katie says it all the time. You can't skip the steps. WHOOPI GOLDBERG: Yeah. - If you think you're going to-- PANELIST: Yeah. - --you know, if you're the best singer in the world, but you haven't had much stage time, it's going to catch up to you where you've got to check off all of the little challenges it takes to go be a-- - One waiter-- one waiter can ruin your set. Now drop it. - I always say to people. I always say to people every day. Yes, you can sing, but can you entertain? WHOOPI GOLDBERG: Yes. PANELIST: Ey! - Entertaining means the fight's going on. - Hey - The fight's happening. - That's right. - Can you keep yourself together to keep the act going? - That's right. - While that fight is happening. - With me, what I love about the show is when you meet someone, and you just can't take your eyes off of them and what they have going on. PANELIST: Yeah. - And a lot of times, it's not even about, you know, notes. It's just like, this person is so incredibly interesting and unique-- PANELIST: Right. - --that that's what makes the star-- WHOOPI GOLDBERG: You're holding attention. - A star, yeah. - And we've seen it all, done it all, and the next thing you know, you have this beautiful little flower out there in front of us that we get to-- WHOOPI GOLDBERG: A great big fella. LUKE BRYAN: A big, great old fella. - Big old man. - Yeah. - They just have it. Many shapes and sizes. - Well, the person who certainly has it is Lionel Richie because you were inducted-- you were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in November. - Ah, yes, yes. PANELIST: Congratulations on such a well-deserved achievement. Now you're going to hit the road this summer with one of my favorite legendary bands-- Earth, Wind, and Fire. - Oh yeah! - They're great. - It's gonna be great. - And they're calling the tour-- PANELIST: I want to see that. - --Sing a Song All Night Long. Right? You see, that's why I could never be on "American Idol." I can't sing. Get your tickets. What's the best part of doing something like that? - Well, first of all, I mean, Commodores, Earth, Wind, and Fire, that's the history of Lionel Richie. - Yes - And so we've been-- we-- one time in our career, Kansas City, we did a stadium together. PANELIST: Ah. - No more. And now years later, [INAUDIBLE] and I were talking, and we said, so, what do we want to do here? And they say, if we don't do it now-- WHOOPI GOLDBERG: Yeah. - --it ain't going to happen. So the answer was, we weren't quite sure about it. We put the tickets on sale. Presale, kaboom. So you'll see that for a while. - You going to be in this area? LIONEL RICHIE: Yes. - Because I want to come. - Madison Square Garden. - Madison-- - Madison Square Garden? - Oh! - We're all going. Lionel, I got a little more intimate question than Madison Square Garden. Sunny alluded to "All Night Long," and it's turning 40 this year. What's the back story on that song? - On "All Night Long?" Well, if you really want-- I'll do a fast version of it. - Don't sing that. - Yeah, no, no, no. - I'm singing it. - Well, well, let me, first of all, give you the first-- - (SINGING) All night. - Let me give you the first-- PANELIST: [INAUDIBLE] pay for for that, you guys. - --part I have to really, really say to you. When I wrote "All Night Long," it was truly all day long. Now my all night long is down to a fierce 15 minutes. But don't worry about. We'll talk about that later. But-- PANELIST: Time marches on. - Is this show live? - [INAUDIBLE] PANELIST: OK. - Is this show live? 15 minutes? That's long, bud! - Damn right. - Yeah, Lionel. - Damn right! And don't you forget that, all right? - As long as it's not four times a night, you know, seven days a week. - Oh, no, no, no. It could be the-- wait, wait, let me get back to the story. - I want Lionel's dermatologist, but now I want his-- - That's why we have editors, you see? Now-- - [INAUDIBLE] - So what-- I'll give you "All Night Long." "All Night Long" was one of those songs where, I must tell you, I did not have-- I had everything but the hook. I had, you know, well, my friends, the time has come, you know? - [VOCALIZING] - [INAUDIBLE] fiesta forever. - Right. - Come on and sing along. And I'm going [VOCALIZING]. I have no hook. - Oh. - And so I went to a friend of mine's house, and I'll give you his name. - [INAUDIBLE] - Doc-- no, no. Dr. Laurie Gray from Jamaica. I went to his house for Thanksgiving dinner. And I walk in his house, and I have dinner. And I said, guys, I've got to go back to the studio, man. I got to go back, man, because I got to go work all night long. All night long. - Whoa! There you go. - All-- so the joke here-- PANELIST: I love it! - --that's how I got it. Here's the joke. His friends from Jamaica called him and said, how much money did you make, man, off with that song with Lionel Richie? And he said, no, man. I didn't write the song. And he said, he just wrote it at my house. He says, man, you got ripped off, man. So he's been asking this forever. Go, mans, where's your money? - Maybe you should send him some money. - Send him check. Send him a check. - --check. - Lionel does not vacation in Jamaica. - No. - All right, Lloyd. Lloyd, I'll send you a check. PANELIST: [INAUDIBLE] - I'll send you a check. PANELIST: Yeah, [INAUDIBLE]. - Are you trying to get my attention? Because I'm so-- I've forgotten what we're doing. I have no idea. - Well, Katie, I love you. When I was auditioning for the show, "Roar" was my hype song coming out every day. So, you're the best. - Wait, auditioning for-- - For this show. [INTERPOSING VOICES] - [INAUDIBLE] whoa! I [INAUDIBLE]. - You auditioned for-- - That would go so poorly. I'm entirely tone deaf. But you are a busy woman. You've got your residency in Vegas, which is going to be incredible. You also-- you're such a fun judge to watch because you really take coaching the talent seriously. You just give them such good advice. We love it. And you're also busy. You've got a two-year-old daughter at home, Daisy. PANELIST: Yeah. - So I'm wondering. Do you think you're going to be a future stage mom with her? - Oh, no. I'm going to let her grow into a strong young woman. I'm going to support her in whatever she wants to do, and I'm going to let her try everything. I'm going to-- PANELIST: Yep. - --hopefully give her freedom and just, you know, raise her with all the love. That's it. It's just love. - [INAUDIBLE] there you go. - That's the best way to do it. - Yeah. - Whoopi taught me that. - Love is the answer. - Let them do what they want to do. - Yes! - Because if you tell them to do something, they're not going to do it anyway. - You're exactly right. Exactly [INAUDIBLE]. - Right. - Just because you said it. - I do hope the pendulum swings, like, all the way to the other direction with the whole phone situation. They do want to text us back at 13. LIONEL RICHIE: Oh yeah. - Yeah, yeah. - They do because they're trying to find you. - Yeah, [INAUDIBLE]. - They want to find you. WHOOPI GOLDBERG: Because because they need you. LIONEL RICHIE: To pay for it all. - Yeah, continue-- - To pay for it all. - To pay for everything. - And-- yes, you do, don't you? And it doesn't stop. Anyway, Luke, Hollywood week begins Sunday on "Idol." PANELIST: Oh! - What twists and turns can we expect? - [SPEAKING SPANISH] - What's that? - Nothing. - You know what's interesting, and I was thinking about this-- one of our biggest auditions ever was [INAUDIBLE]. And we had over 150 million impressions and views of his audition. But what's interesting is the "Idol" fans haven't seen him since day one. - Really? LIONEL RICHIE: Correct. - So the next time that they're going to get to watch him perform is Hollywood week. So it's like, we're excited that some of these big-- what is it, viral sensation out there-- that they're going to be back on TV. So it's going to be fun to watch the fans-- - And they're all under the same room. - Yeah, yeah, and they're all, like-- - [INAUDIBLE] the same room. - They're sussing each other out and-- - Hollywood Week is like survival of the fittest. Like, people lose their voice. They, like, melt down. There's a whole-- it's a whole situation. - Wow. - It's-- you know, it's TV. It's drama. It's real life. - Well, we had one Hollywood Week. I mean, Katie had to get really-- she had to get on somebody pretty good. I mean, it's-- I don't want to spoil too much, but it was one of the more tense moments. - It was pretty intense. You got to watch it Sundays and Mondays on ABC. - And there you have it. PANELIST: What did you do? Yell at somebody? - Oh yeah. - Yeah? - Yeah, yeah. - You know, I stick up for those underdogs, and I don't-- you know, both-- all of us, we have so much respect for this-- LIONEL RICHIE: Yeah. - --for music and for the game and the whole thing. And so when someone is not taking it respectfully, we call it out. - Yeah. WHOOPI GOLDBERG: Well, that's right, I mean, because that takes a lot to-- I'm sorry. It takes a lot to get up and say, here I am, open yourself up. Yeah, OK, I'm sorry. - Open yourself up again. - Joy, you have to ask the question. - OK, OK, I'm asking Luke this question because you've got your Vegas residency-- - Right. PANELIST: As well as your tour. - I'm surviving somehow in Vegas. - You got it. - And in January, Lionel joined you for your annual music festival in Mexico. LUKE BRYAN: Oh my God. PANELIST: I want to hear it. Tell us. What happened? LUKE BRYAN: Well, when you bring-- PANELIST: Did you guys remember any of it? LIONEL RICHIE: Well, well, first-- first of all-- first of all, Luke doesn't remember one thing about the festival. [INAUDIBLE]. But tell us about the festival. - I have-- so in Mexico-- - Have you seen pictures? - --I performed two nights. - Uh-huh? - The night one, I keep it in check. And then when Lionel was there, I did not keep it in check. - He did not keep it in check. - Because I knew Lionel, as he and Katy do, they got my back. They got my back. - Yeah, right. - But Lionel came down into-- and you know, you talked about "All Night Long." To be up there with Lionel in that moment in Mexico, party-- - Ah. - --you know, everybody's snowed in in Nashville. - Wasting away. - Wasting away in Margaritaville. - Yeah, but we had a great time, and I was honored to get to do that with Lionel. WHOOPI GOLDBERG: Well, you know-- LUKE BRYAN: It was good. It was great. - You guys are great. - There's just never enough time. There's never enough time. - But can I tell you something? Coming here on this show is like coming home to family. PANELIST: Yeah, [INAUDIBLE]. - I really [INAUDIBLE]. - We love having you here. - Seriously. - [INAUDIBLE] - Very [INAUDIBLE]. - Listen, y'all. Season 21-- they weren't there for all 21-- - [INAUDIBLE] - Season 21 of "American Idol" airs Sundays and Mondays at 8:00 PM, as Katie told you, Easter, right here on ABC. And you can stream it on Hulu the next day. PANELIST: Hulu! - That's how I'm gonna say it for now. Hulu! - Right.