American Idol’s newest season starts back on January 7th with season 14. The show has changed up quite a bit the last few seasons, switching out judges and changing the way they show auditions. This season will be getting a few updates too. Here are all the details to get you ready for season 14.
The Judges
One thing that is staying the same from last year is the combo of judges. Jennifer Lopez, Keith Urban, and Harry Connick Jr. are back this year to help pick this year’s crop of contestants. Most agree that they make a great team together and are pleased to see them returning. Jennifer typically plays the sweet role, but gives out great constructive criticism when needed. Harry Connick Jr. can be relied on to be the witty sarcastic judge who brings the laughs, but he’s also a classically trained musician who gives great insight and advice. Keith Urban is the more stoic one of the group, but he’s a very talented artist and also provides a nice Australian accent that’s easy on the ears.
Only One Show Each Week
One big change to season 14 is that there will be no more results show. They are changing it to one night and combining the performance and results show into one night of entertainment. This is an exciting change for fans that were tiring of the long, sometimes boring, packed-with-fillers results show. There just wasn’t a lot of content for the results show, so this resulted (pun intended) in a long drawn out and sometimes completely pointless hour of televisiont. Following other shows that have had success with dropping the results show (like Dancing with the Stars), Idol will have a fast paced one night show. This might mean less backstory on contestants and showing less clips with the mentors.
Focus on Talent
Last season during auditions, you might have noticed a stronger focus on the great singers and less of the “disasters” that American Idol used to show off. Some say this was an effort to compete with other popular singing shows that only highlighted the great singers and didn’t poke fun at those that were less successful. This was a smart change and the auditions were better received than in the past. This year idol is keeping the two days of auditions and won't switch to one show a week until March 26th. So the season will appear normal until later in the season.
