Paula Abdul talks fathers death, Billboard Music Awards performance

Apr 25th, 2019

Patrick Ryan, USA TODAY

Paula Abdul will sing a career-spanning medley at Wednesday's Billboard Music Awards in Las Vegas. But for the pop icon, the performance is bittersweet.

This month, Abdul's father, Harry Abdul, died after a years-long battle with Alzheimer's disease. His passing comes just a year after the singer/choreographer lost her mother, Lorraine Abdul. They were both 85.

"(I'm handling it) as best as can be expected," Abdul tells USA TODAY in an exclusive interview ahead of the show (NBC, 8 EDT/PDT). "It's heartbreaking. But the funeral was a beautiful sendoff to my father, so I'm at peace with that."

Abdul, 56, started rehearsals for the BBMAs just two days after Monday's funeral. It marks her first awards show performance since the 1990 American Music Awards, when she opened the telecast with a vibrant, athletic rendition of her 1988 single "(It's Just) The Way That You Love Me."

She'll revive the song Wednesday during her comprehensive medley, which will also include No. 1 hits "Straight Up," "Opposites Attract," "Cold Hearted" and "Forever Your Girl," and funky dance anthem "Vibeology."

The performance will revisit some of Abdul's most famous moves from her music videos, "but I'm also adding more embellishments and different choreography," she says. Sadly, fans shouldn't get their hopes up for an appearance from MC Skat Kat, the animated cat who wooed her in her 1989 "Opposites Attract" video and later "introduced" her at the AMAs.

"You know, he's being very temperamental right now," Abdul jokes. "He wants his own dressing room, he's got all these demands – we're trying to accommodate him."

After topping the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart with six songs in the late '80s and early '90s, Abdul turned her focus behind the scenes, choreographing many of Janet Jackson's videos as well as cult classic movies "Coming to America" and "Can't Buy Me Love." She hopes to not only celebrate her accomplishments through her BBMAs performance, but pay tribute to her parents, who supported her throughout her three-decade career.

"In my heart and soul I will be (thinking of them)," Abdul says. "I will be doing this for my parents, because I lost them both within a year's time. So I know that they're with me and this is definitely for them."

Singing "Forever My Girl" will be particularly emotional for her, given that it was her dad's favorite song.

"I remember a time on my Under My Spell Tour when we were in New Orleans, my dad came and I had my tour manager pull him up from the audience onto the stage so that he could dance and I could sing 'Forever Your Girl' to him," Abdul says. "It was precious."

Along with performing next week, the former "American Idol" judge is also excited to reunite with Kelly Clarkson, who won the first season of the reality singing competition when it aired on Fox and will return as BBMAs host for a second year.

"It makes me feel so proud that I was able to witness her in her first audition," says Abdul, who still checks in with ABC's "Idol" reboot from time to time, but feels it's a "whole different show" now than when she judged alongside Simon Cowell and Randy Jackson. (New judge Katy Perry "doesn't have to deal with the two I dealt with," she laughs. "She doesn't have Simon!")

Abdul, who wrapped her first solo tour in 25 years in December, says she doesn't like to think about her legacy in music. Instead, she prefers to live in the moment, and points to artists such as Beyonce, Ciara and BTS who are continuing her tradition of elaborate choreography in mainstream pop.

"There are still great showmen out there doing wonderful stuff," Abdul says. As for her, "it's fun getting back in the dance studio and putting some of those old moves together that are still relevant and timeless. My body is certainly feeling it – it's been a long time – but it's exciting."

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