American Idol entered the second week of its current season. After weeks of media coverage and speculation about the Mariah Carey-Nicki Minaj feud, American Idol promised to reveal their footage of the big showdown that occurred between the two judges, and I must say, it was nothing at all what I expected.

Although I still think the casting of Nicki Minaj was a desperate attempt to draw in ratings and create controversy, I must admit that right now she is actually my favorite judge. Her critiques have been on point, she has good interaction with the contestants, and she lets them down honestly without being overly harsh. Plus she brings a lot of good energy (when she’s not feuding with the other judges) and pizzazz (read: crazy) to the panel.

Regarding the big brouhaha – First off, it was slightly false advertising, as the disagreement was actually between Nicki Minaj and all three of the other judges, not just Mariah. That’s right, Nicki Minaj took on the entire panel. Secondly, she was absolutely, 100% correct, and Keith Urban, Mariah Carey, and Randy Jackson were wrong. This is why I will henceforth think of Nicki Minaj as “Nicki Minaj, unlikely voice of reason”.

In case you missed it, here’s what went down. A contestant chose to sing “Lean on Me” for her audition. She had a very lovely tone and a slight country twang in her voice, and was definitely one of the stronger performances of the night. Nicki Minaj admired the control and texture of her voice and complimented the girl’s performance (after all this is a singing competition, and the judges are there to provide feedback on a contestant’s singing). The next to comment was Keith Urban, who decided to defer his critique until after he’d determined what type of artist the young girl considered herself. She said she had tried the “country thing”, but considered herself more of a “country soul” singer.

Keith immediately took some offense to the phrase “country thing”. Mariah and Randy both jumped on the bandwagon to say that she sounded like she should be a country singer. They’re overall vibe toward the contestant was that if she didn’t consider herself to be a country singer then they could not endorse her because clearly she she didn’t know who she was. WHAT!!!

Since when is this show about forcing contestants into a particular genre of music. As I watched the TV, I could only giggle at the increasing frustration displayed on Nicki Minaj’s face as the other three contestants continued to debate over this girl’s future in country music, without actually discussing her demonstrated singing ability. After several failed attempts to explain to the other judges that in a singing competition the contestant should be judged on his/her singing, she did what any other (sane?) person wearing a pink cotton candy wig and a tutu would do – she threw a semi-tantrum and stormed off the set. And I kinda didn’t blame her.

I’m looking forward to Hollywood week and the live shows. This promises to be an interesting season. Will Nicki Minaj continue to be the unlikely voice of reason? We’ll see.

Welcome back American Idol!

Happy New Year!

American Idol’s 12th season started last night. I am a huge American Idol fan, and although I’m familiar with other singing shows such as The Voice and X Factor, there’s only room for one singing competition on my DVR in my heart. But over the years, I’ve had a love-hate relationship with American Idol. Sometimes it’s been frustrating to watch the antics of the judges take precedence over the talent of the singing contestants. So I wasn’t sure if I’d be tuning in this season.

Who am I kidding!

Every year I’ve planned to stop watching, and every year they pull me back in. Idol, I just don’t know how to quit you. So like a faithful fan, I tuned in last night.  The show started with a 6 minute intro in which the Idol producers reminded us why this show is still a force to be reckoned with. The opening montage showed the latest Idol winner Phillip Phillips playing his hit single, Home, which has had lots of radio play and was featured as one of the theme songs for the last Olympics. They showed us Grammy winners Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood. We saw rock stars like Daughtry and Adam Lambert, Broadway stars such as Fantasia, and the only Oscar winner to have been featured on Idol, Jennifer Hudson. Until The Voice or X Factor can boast such a roster, I will continue to watch American Idol.

And then the actual show started, and it was …

a hot mess!

They reminded me of all the reasons why Idol is losing traction to those other singing shows. There’s been lots of controversy surrounding the new judging panel and the presumed feud between Nicki Minaj and Mariah Carey. The producers lost no time showing the women making snide, catty comments back and forth, while occasionally making faces behind each others backs. You’d think with a singing legend, such as Mariah Carey, on a show that’s supposedly about discovering the next best singer, they could find a better use of her time and talent than as a foil to a character in a pink wig speaking in strange tongues and accents. (Back in the day this behavior would be called schizophrenia, but today it’s just called being a “pop star”).

The other big problem with Idol is their tendency to gloss over the talented singers, in favor of showing the tone-deaf, deluded, and complete freak shows. The show devoted about 8 minutes to a young Asian guy with dreams of becoming the next Justin Bieber, but who has a better chance of becoming the next William Hung (if he’s lucky). I did appreciate that the judges tried to let him down easy and Nicki Minaj even gave him a hug, but considering that we know that these folks are pre-screened before they get to the TV judges, this was clearly meant to be a joke at his expense.

When will Idol realize that they don’t need to resort to these gimmicks to get people to watch. The show is not about the judges, it’s not about  the freak shows, it’s about finding the best singer in America, plain and simple. They could easily beat those other singing shows if they would get back to that core principle.

I won’t pretend that I’m not going to watch the rest of Idol. But I’ll do as I did last year, which is to skip the rest of the auditions and tune in again when they get to the live shows. Anyone else watching, or have you guys already jumped ship?