Season 12 of American Idol is starting off the new year with a whole new set of judges. Randy Jackson remains the only judge left from the original cast, and, personally, the show is just not as good as it was before all these changes. With the loss of two of the original judges, American Idol has lost its original appeal.
American Idol will never have the same feel as it used to without Simon’s harsh, yet honest comments, and Paula’s sweet, yet serious suggestions. For Seasons 10 and 11, Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler joined the panel for what seemed like permanent positions. Although qualified for the job based on their music experiences, neither judge could quite fill the qualities that Simon and Paula brought to the show. Lopez was too kind to the contestants, and her opinions were always masked by her own personal feelings. Tyler, on the other hand, added a lot of humor to the show, but unlike Cowell and Adbul, most of his comments were not helpful to the contestants. Without proper criticism, contestants cannot grow as much as they need to.
Randy Jackson, Keith Urban, Mariah Carey, and Nicki Minaj are judging American Idol Season 12, which premiered on Fox on January 16, 2013. Urban, Carey, and Minaj all have impressive music backgrounds and bring some great personality to the show. Although I am in favor of the original judges, I am excited to see Minaj interact with contestants and give feedback, along with Carey. However, some viewers are completely turned off by these new judges and might not even watch the show–especially if Carey and Minaj continue to draw attention away from the contestants with their own drama.
Senior at Hawthorne High School, Noshin Chowdhury, not only had very strong opinions about the new judges, she also has some suggestions. Chowdhury feels Nicki Minaj is not qualified to judge anybody because she is a rapper, not a singer. She also feels that Mariah Carey is just going to add annoying drama to the show and nothing more. Although Chowdhury had no comments regarding Keith Urban, she feels that American Idol should have gotten Nick Jonas as a judge when they had the chance. Junior Vanessa Garces agrees with Chowdhury’s opinion on Nicki Minaj. Garces stated, “Nicki Minaj does not deserve to be on the show. She’s a rapper who does not know one thing about good music.”
American Idol will never be back to the way it used to be, and that’s too bad. The judges on the original show were harsher; they never sugar-coated their responses. It was real. Perhaps the falling ratings will encourage the producers to bring back the original judges–or at the very least, judges who will give honest critiques.