The feuds and disagreements hit the internet and went viral as the new panel of judges on American Idol were getting to know each other at the same time as they were choosing which unknown talents were going to Hollywood to compete on the 12th season of the popular FOX TV show. We all viewed the video, which featured Mariah Carey and Nicki Minaj going at it with our own Keith Urban sandwiched between them. He often says when word of the disagreements between the two female superstars hit the news, he’s like the country of Switzerland and tries to remain neutral.
He said part of the reason that there were a few, shall we say, discussions early on during the audition process was because the four of them were basically thrown together and put to work. “You’ve got four very passionate artists all sort of thrown onto a dance floor, and they’re saying, ‘OK, dance together in perfect synchronized movements,’ and we stepped on a few toes at the beginning while we were getting our groove on; because we had no direction,” says Keith. “We all met [for the first time] the night before [we started auditions] in New York for dinner, and that’s the first time I ever met Nicki and Mariah. I’d met Randy [Jackson] and Ryan [Seacrest] before. So, we all had dinner that night, and then the next day showed up on set and saw the set, and they led us up to the desk and we sat behind the desk, and the next thing we know, they’re like, ‘OK, and off we go.’ And I thought, ‘Well, surely we’ll have some ‘fake’ contestants first, you know, coming through and then they’ll bring out the real artists.’ Nope! That was it. We were just diving into it.”
Keith adds that the way they were put together was probably a good thing. “I think that kind of anxiety and strange energy and uncertainty and all of that went into the mix. I think it makes for great viewing, but it certainly caught all of us off-guard.”
The new season of American Idol premieres Wednesday (January 16th) at 8pm ET on FOX.
AUDIO: Keith Urban explains why this year’s American Idol judges have been portrayed as explosive, which the country singer deems “passionate.”
Keith Urban (AI passionate lot) OC: …passionate lot. 1:23
“It took a little while. [laughs] I mean, look, you’ve got four very passionate artists all sort of thrown onto a dance floor, and they’re saying, ‘OK, dance together in perfect synchronized movements,’ and we stepped on a few toes at the beginning while we were getting our groove on; because we had no direction. Nothing. It was interesting that we all met [for the first time] the night before [we started auditions] in New York for dinner, and that’s the first time I ever met Nicki and Mariah. I’d met Randy and Ryan before. So, we all had dinner that night, and then the next day showed up on set and saw the set, and they led us up to the desk and we sat behind the desk, and the next thing we know, they’re like, ‘OK, and off we go.’ And I thought, ‘Well, surely we’ll have some ‘fake’ contestants first, you know, coming through and then they’ll bring out the real artists.’ Nope! That was it. We were just diving into it [laughs], so I think that kind of anxiety and strange energy and uncertainty and all of that went into the mix. I think it makes for great viewing, but it certainly caught all of us off-guard. Randy was the only one who knew what he was doing. So, the three of us are trying to figure it out and we finally got our groove on. We’re a passionate lot, no question.”
