Walking on land is harder than it looks. Katy Perry dressed up in an elaborate Ariel costume for American Idol‘s Disney night, but she quickly learned that mermaid life is not easy.

The “Roar” songstress, 37, recreated Ariel’s iconic look from The Little Mermaid — green tail, purple seashell bra and flowing red hair — for the Sunday, May 1, episode of the ABC series. She successfully posed for photos before the show, complete with an oversized fork (or as Ariel would call it, a dinglehopper).

While sitting on the judges’ panel, however, things took a turn. As host Ryan Seacrest was introducing the plan for the episode, a crash was heard off-camera followed by Luke Bryan‘s hysterical laughter. Perry, who’d been propping her fins up on the desk, had fallen out of her chair backwards head first.

After the country star, 45, and Lionel Richie confirmed that the “Wide Awake” songstress was OK, they stood her back up with help from Seacrest, 47. The audience then chanted, “Katy! Katy” as she sat down and took a sip of her drink.

“Hell with mermaids!” Bryan exclaimed while looking directly into the camera. “I love it,” Richie, 72, added. “I love it!”

Perry shared several photos of the outfit via Instagram after the show, referencing Ariel’s famous song “Part of Your World” in one of her captions. “Look at this #americanidol episode, isn’t it neat?” she quipped alongside a photo of herself posing with her dinglehopper.

In a behind-the-scenes video, the Grammy nominee had to lie down on the floor while her team helped her into the form-fitting mermaid tail. “Some BTS of a lil Sunday sushi,” the pop star wrote in her caption. Her dog Nugget sat patiently off to the side, wearing a Flounder costume.

The California native also shared a clip that showed Bryan and Richie rolling her on stage using a dolly. “I’ve never seen a human this close,” she joked in another video where she was standing between her fellow judges.

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Perry later shared a clip of the fall, writing, “Flippin’ your fins you don’t get too far 🧜🏻‍♀️😅 swipe to see what almost accidentally killed @lionelrichie.” The “Hello” crooner also reposted the incident on his own Instagram Story, writing, “I wasn’t ready for this … everything was OK and then it got crazy.”

Keep scrolling for more photos of Perry’s big tumble.

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