As the internet would say: Katy Perry is Mother! The “Daisies” singer showed off her hot moves on last night’s episode of American Idol. Perry climbed on a piano and whipped out her best Tawny Kitaen impression while a contestant performed “Here I Go Again” by Whitesnake.
Contestant Nate Peck originally auditioned with “Lightning Strikes Again” by Dokken, but the trio of judges were so impressed with his rock n’ roll vocals that they invited him to sing another song.
“I want to start putting quarters in the jukebox,” Luke Bryan joked to the other judges. “I want to take my finished beer and crush it against my head,” Perry added.
Bryan offered another suggestion to Peck: “I want to sing the verse of Whitesnake and have you come in on the chorus.” The judge pulled up the lyrics and began to sing the 1982 hit.
Perry and Lionel Richie hopped to their feet as the chorus neared, at which point the pop star put one leg up on the judging table and began to play air guitar while Bryan and the contestant performed together.
But things turned up when Peck began hitting all the high notes. Bryan pointed to the piano and told Perry, “Katy, car hood!” in reference to the 1987 music video for the song which featured Kitaen dancing on the hood of a car.
While rocking a black leather jumpsuit, Perry ran over to the piano and elegantly belly flopped on the top. Eventually, she managed to situated with a little help from Richie, who asked her, “You good, right?”
“Do that high one one more time,” demanded the “I Kissed A Girl” singer. As Peck sang the note again, she kicked up her leg in an imitation of the late model, finishing off the musical number with all eyes on her.
“Have y’all noticed an uptick in ratings when Katy blows the crotch out?” Bryan joked after Richie helped Perry down from the piano and the two returned to their judging seats. All the fun aside, Peck managed to leave the audition with three “yes” responses from the judges and a golden ticket to Hollywood.
Later, Bryan took to Twitter to joke about Perry’s canny resemblance to Kitaen. He shared a photoshopped image of Perry striking a pose on top of a classic car alongside an image of the model doing the same.
“Do y’all think @katyperry could pose for @Whitesnake too?” he wrote in the caption.
Kitaen was an actress and model who first starred in the television movies Mailbu and California Girls. She went on to appear in a variety of rock music videos, including three for Whitesnake, “Still of the Night,” “Is This Love” and “Here I Go Again. She also starred in the music video for “Back for More” by Ratt.
The star transitioned to reality television, starring in episodes of The Surreal Life, Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew, and Botched. Kitaen died at age 59 in May 2021.
American Idol airs on Sunday nights at 8/7c on ABC.
