This American Idol reunion brings us back to 2005!
Paula Abdul, who served as a judge for the first eight seasons during the show’s original run on Fox, got together on Wednesday evening with season four winner Carrie Underwood at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena, where Abdul, 54, co-headlined The Total Package Tour with New Kids on the Block and Boyz II Men.
“So happy to reunite with the amazingly talented and equally beautiful @carrieunderwood tonight. So proud of your journey,” Abdul wrote on Instagram and Twitter, along with a picture of her hugging 34-year-old Underwood.
“Well, look who I ran into backstage at #TheTotalPackage Tour! So cool to watch her do her thing!” the country star captioned the same photo.
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Before she became a seven-time Grammy-winning artist, Underwood impressed then-judges Abdul, Randy Jackson and Simon Cowell at the St. Louis, Missouri audition with her rendition of Bonnie Raitt’s “I Can’t Make You Love Me.” Then in May 2005, the Oklahoma native won America’s votes (and hearts!), taking home a recording contract and a Ford Mustang convertible.
The pair’s reunion comes one day after ABC announced Katy Perry as a member of the new judging panel for the upcoming American Idol reboot, which wrapped its 15-season run on Fox last year.
“SO thrilled @ABCNetwork is bringing back @AmericanIdol, and I’m bringing it back to the MUSIC you at auditions,” Perry, 32, tweeted shortly following the announcement, sharing her official Idol portrait.
On Monday, Abdul answered the big question of whether or not she would reprise her role as Idol judge.
“I’m excited for the reboot,” she said on the Today show. “I had an incredible time on that show and blessed to be part of it from the beginning, but I think they need to do a whole reboot.”
Abdul was seemingly referring to how Cowell previously made it known that he was not interested in returning to Idol. “I have no interest. My memories are when we first started. It was a different time with Randy, Ryan and Paula. You can’t recreate that,” the America’s Got Talent judge told Extra earlier this month.