‘American Idol’ Returns to Its Roots Enlisting Alumni Favorites as Hollywood Week Mentors

A post shared by Kenedi Anderson (@kenedianderson_)On Tuesday, a rep from Fremantle, who develops , shared a statement to ET regarding Anderson's exit. «We are disappointed to see Kenedi leave, but we are excited to watch this celebratory 20th season unfold with the incredible talent vying to be the next American Idol,» the statement read.Anderson's announcement comes weeks after judges Katy Perry, Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan were first blown away by her talent.

17-year-old contestant got into the Top 24 for season 20 of the ABC series. However, on Monday, she took to social media to share that she decided to drop out of the musical race. Her Top 24 performance was pre-taped and aired on Sunday.

Kenedi Anderson, who was an early frontrunner on American Idol season 20, has dropped out of the show.

Jacob Moran gave an emotional performance on “American Idol”.

Jacob Moran gave an emotional performance on “American Idol”.

“American Idol” contestant Emyrson Flora had a breakthrough on Sunday’s episode of the reality singing competition, which kicked off the voting rounds.

Katy Perry knows how to commit to an entertaining bit once she gets on board, and that's just what she did on the latest episode of American Idol.MORE: Katy Perry selling stunning $19.5m family home - see insideThe singer started off the episode wading in the waters of Hawaii, hanging onto a surfboard while seemingly drowning.VIDEO: Katy Perry's Prague adventuresShe spoke to a plastic seagull that perched atop her board, telling it there was "no land in sight" in an homage to Tom Hanks' performance in Cast Away."You'll be the judge now," she told the bird as she then implored for it to fly away, comically swatting it off the board and saying: "Goodbye Luke! Goodbye Lionel!"MORE: Katy Perry suffers wardrobe malfunction on latest American Idol episodeIt then cut to her two fellow judges, Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie, sitting on a boat as they pulled up to her, revealing that she was only 30 feet from shore, where host Ryan Seacrest lay on a beach chair with a drink in his hand.She then got out of the water and walked back to shore, seemingly embarrassed, revealing that she wore a curve-hugging white swimsuit with a multi-colored pattern during her scene.A post shared by KATY PERRY (@katyperry)Katy channeled Tom Hanks in Cast Away for her pre-show bitKaty expertly riffed on herself in the caption of her post, writing: "And the Oscar for the Most Idiotic [performance] goes to…But tbh you haven't seen REAL drama until America gets to vote.

Nicolina is in it to win it.

Bebe Rexha and Jimmie Allen are returning to their roots. ET's Lauren Zima spoke to the musicians at Disney's Aulani Resort & Spa in Kapolei, Hawaii, where the pair were serving as mentors on , years after they each auditioned for the singing competition series.«It's hard, 'cause I feel like we actually care about the future generations of music of all genres,» Allen said of their mentoring gig.

Long Island-native Christian Guardino struck a major chord with the judges on ABC’s “American Idol,” earning him a spot among the show’s top 24 contestants — and a trip to Hawaii to compete at Disney’s Aulani resort. Guardino, 22, was born with a rare condition that causes blindness, but he beat the odds and is now on the road making a name for himself on one of the industry’s biggest stages — which he told The Post’s Angela Barbuti is “so exciting — but it’s craziness.” Can you explain the condition you had as a kid? I was born with a rare disorder called Leber congenital amaurosis, but we call it LCA. It’s a disorder that causes a gene that’s missing in your eye, because if the gene isn’t there, it’s not producing proteins that your cells need to live, so they all start to die off and then it causes inevitable blindness.

 without Vanessa Hudgens?! It almost happened. Hudgens opened up about how she nearly auditioned for  ahead of auditioning for the role of Gabriella in the early aughts classic, during Tuesday's episode of .«I grew up doing theater, and this has always been a passion of mine, and you were on , and you won, and I was like, 'That's it, I'm going on, and then that next week, I got an audition for  and booked it, so then I was like, 'Well, never mind,'» she told Clarkson.

Former American Idol star Lauren Alaina has some career news – Just Jared Jr Louis CK‘s Grammy win has people very upset – Celebitchy Big personal news for Shia LaBeouf – DListed New judges have been announced for So You Think You Can Dance – Just Jared Jr

EXCLUSIVE: American Idol is heading into its Showstoppers round but is already planning a 20th birthday celebration with some familiar faces.

Jay Copeland and Morgan Gruber had a monumental task ahead of them for Hollywood Week

In a “weird” yet “wonderful pairing,” “American Idol”‘s Leah Marlene & Fritz performed a stunning duet.

Despite “American Idol” contestant Kelsie Dolin’s extreme nerves, the 18-year-old singer was able to pull off an incredible performance.

It’s Hollywood Week on “American Idol”, with some of the show’s most iconic alums from over the years returning to serve as mentors for the new batch of contestants, including Jordin Sparks, David Cook, Lauren Alaina, Ruben Studdard, Chayce Beckham, Lee DeWyze and Haley Reinhart.

The United States finally got its first look at its own version of the Eurovision with NBC’s American Song Contest, which made a two-hour debut on Monday night. The new singing competition on the block, however, fell behind the latest episode of American Idol on ABC.