Ariana Grande, Metallica, John Legend To Appear On Apple Music’s ‘Carpool Karaoke’ Series

Following the announcement last summer that late-night host James Corden’s viral Carpool Karaoke talk show segment was being turned into a half-hour series for Apple Music, new details have emerged about the format of the show, as well as a handful of the initial guests slated to appear.

The 16-episode series, which still doesn’t have a release date yet, will not feature Corden as host, he announced at the TCA winter press tour alongside executive producers Eric Pankowski and Ben Winston. Instead, each episode will feature carefully curated pairings of celebrities and singers — including John Legend and Alicia Keys, Seth MacFarlane and Ariana Grande, Billy Eichner and Metallica, and Michael Strahan and Jeff Gordon, Variety reports. Additionally, each episode will feature an interview of sorts amid the singing in order to broaden the bit beyond its current length.

“What James does is so special and singular, it was silly, as we figured out how to make a full series, to try and replicate that,” Winston said, per Variety

At the TCA winter press tour, the trio added that the Carpool Karaoke series, which is Apple Music’s first, features non-musical entertainers that wouldn’t necessarily be a fit for the late-night iteration. Corden will continue to host Carpool Karaoke on The Late Late Show — though with over 300 total shows and just 23 installments of Carpool Karaoke thus far, he says he wants to continue to release future versions very sparingly.

And Carpool Karaoke isn’t the only one of Corden’s Late Late Show creations that’s slated to receive the series treatment. Drop The Mic, in which two celebrities perform a rap battle of sorts, is also in development at TBS. Meanwhile, a Carpool Karaoke knockoff called Caraoke Showdown — which adds game show elements to the mix — is slated to premiere on Spike TV later this week.