“American Idol” alum rips Katy Perry’s new song: 'This can’t be the same person who eliminated me'

After seven years as a judge on American Idol, it's Katy Perry's turn to face feedback — and her latest critic isn't holding back.

Over the weekend, musician Steven James shared his reaction to one of the singer-songwriter's new tracks, "OK," in a now-viral video.

"This can’t be the same person who eliminated me on American Idol 5 years ago," James wrote over the TikTok video, which sees him grimacing through the song and giving the camera the side eye as it plays.

Commenters were quick to pile-on below the video, with one TikTok user writing, "Sounds like a theme song of a PBS kids show," while another added, "Damn, when you put it that way."

The track arrived earlier this month as part of 1432, a deluxe version of Perry's recent LP, 143. The new edition came with four extra tracks, including, “OK."

This past year has marked big changes for Perry, who announced her exit from the ABC singing competition series in February, hinting that her step back would give her more time to focus on making music. Perry first joined American Idol for season 16 in 2018 and during her tenure, dropped 2020's Smile, which became her first LP of original material since 2010's Teenage Dream to not debut atop the American charts.

Perry's latest album, 143, dropped in September and has been largely panned by critics. Perry also faced backlash due to the album's lead single,  "Woman's World," being touted as a female-empowerment anthem despite being produced by Dr. Luke, who was engaged in a years-long legal battle with singer-songwriter Kesha after she accused him of sexually assaulting her.

Sign up for Entertainment Weekly's free daily newsletter to get breaking TV news, exclusive first looks, recaps, reviews, interviews with your favorite stars, and more.

Perry addressed the criticism during an appearance on Alex Cooper's Call Her Daddy podcast, explaining, "I understand that it started a lot of conversations, and he was one of many collaborators that I collaborated with. But, the reality is it comes from me. The truth is I wrote these songs from my experience of my whole life going through this metamorphosis, and he was one of the people to help facilitate all that, one of the writers, one of the producers."

CORRECTION: The photo on this story previously misidentified musician James Bay as Steven James. The photo has been corrected to show Steven James.

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly