‘American Idol’: Nicki Minaj, Mariah Carey, Keith Urban unveiled

<span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic;">By </span><span class="author vcard" style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic;"><span class="fn"><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/lisa-de-moraes/2011/03/01/ABj0TKL_page.html" rel="author" style="color: #0c4790;">Lisa de Moraes</a> From: </span></span><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/">http://www.washingtonpost.com</a><br /><img src="http://www.washingtonpost.com/rf/image_606w/WashingtonPost/Content/Blogs/tv-column/StandingArt/AI12_NY-Auditions-Day1_0200.rc.jpg?uuid=JB9etGABEeKwWmBVKPa3Eg" /><br /><br /><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px; width: auto;"><span class="imgfull" style="float: left; margin: 4px 10px 10px 0px; width: 454px;"><span class="blog_caption" style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt; line-height: 14px;">Mariah Carey, Keith Urban, Nicki Minaj and Randy Jackson at the New York auditions. (Michael Becker - Fox)</span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px; width: auto;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px; width: auto;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">“American Idol” is going to bring us it’s A game this season because it took a licking in the ratings last spring.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">History has shown us that an American Idol can do anything, show host Ryan Seacrest says, by way of reminding us “Idol” churns out star — well some seasons anyway — while the other singing shows have yet to cough up a single one.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">To prove his point, we see pawn-shop staffer Phil Phillips perform his hit “Home,” and Carrie Underwood winning things, and Carrie Underwood thanking fans, and Kelly Clarkson winning stuff too.</div><a href="" name="pagebreak" style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: underline;"></a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px;"></span><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">You know who else Can Do Anything? Jennifer Hudson! Except, of course, win an “American Idol” competition, which “Idol” is too polite to point out.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">This season we’ve got all new judges – except Randy, who got to stick around when some better idea fell through.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">Keith Urban is the competition’s first country judge – about time. And Nicki Minaj and Mariah Carey can fight anywhere – even in the elevator, on the way to the first day of auditions, over a drum majorette hat. Mariah doesn’t think Nicki should be allowed to put her plumed hat on the judges’ desk unless Mariah gets to bring her dog to work.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">Nicki, conversely, doesn’t think Mariah should be allowed to give her hat nasty looks in the elevator.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">They also have a strong disagreement over the finer points of the flick “Mean Girls.” And they’re miles apart on the relative importance of “All I Want for Christmas.”</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">Mariah finally warns Nicki that if she calls her anything that “starts with a ‘B’ and ends with an ‘itch’ — I rebuke it!”</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">“It’s the dawn of a brand new season — together we’ll take the journey that defines a nation,” Seacrest explains.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">When not busy catterwauling, the judges audition some wannabe Idolettes.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">In addition to the virtually all-new judge panel, “American Idol” unveils another new feature: American Idol Ambush, in which someone who had no intention of auditioning for the show is dragged out of a bar in which they were happily performing, given an “Idol” audition number, slapped in front of the judges and then….rejected!</div>

American Idol news ‘American Idol’: Nicki Minaj, Mariah Carey, Keith Urban unveiled

By  Lisa de Moraes  From:  http://www.washingtonpost.com Mariah Carey, Keith Urban, Nicki Minaj and Randy Jackson at the New York auditions....

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