Idol Chatter & Voice Views

American Idol judges Lionel Richie, Katy Perry and Luke Bryan. Season 17 starts March 3. (ABC Photo)

The sneak peek was more about the show than the contestants we’ll meet a week from now.

But we still caught glimpses of several contestants.

I’m pretty sure I spotted Laine Hardy and Alyssa Raghu, standout performers in Season 16 who will be coming back this year.

And among the new faces, I picked out Madison VanDenburg, Wade Cota and Jeremiah Harmon.

I’ll be posting profiles of all five of those singers this week, as well as several others who are rumored to have done very well in the audition process.

We also met a male contest who lost two siblings to suicide and a female contestant who is legally blind.

As for info about the show … well, heck, after 17 seasons, if there anything we don’t know?

Katy Perry told us that as a new judge last year, she was surprised to discover that there are “a bevvy of diamonds still untouched” out there in terms of potential new Idol stars.

Trust me, have researched a couple dozen members of this year’s cast, she’s right about that.

Oh, and she assured viewers that there’s no one behind the scenes pulling the strings on American Idol.

“No one tells us who we have to vote for,” said the self-proclaimed Queen of Weird. “We don’t get pressured into putting anyone through. We are the real judges.”

Katy, Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan — and lots of new talent — return to ABC on Sunday, March 3, at 8 p.m.