Love it or hate it, American Idol is an icon of pop culture these days, and everyone is talking about it. I will fully admit that I wasn’t crazy about the last two seasons. I miss the days of Kelly Clarkson (in my opinion, the best idol), and Clay Aiken and even Eliot Yamin. However, this season brings a judge’s departure (Paula) and a new surprising choice to replace her in Ellen DeGeneres. I do plan on watching this season — perhaps not religiously — but I want to see what all the buzz is about. I recently had the chance to participate in a conference call with Kara DioGuardi, who talked about Ellen, what it’s like to hear someone sing her songs, the Howard Stern rumor, and who would make a good mentor.
How has it been having Ellen this season?
I guess what I’m saying is that when I was sitting next to her, I felt she had a really good handle on whether a contestant had potential, whether they had a star quality. She knew if something was off in the vocals or in their performance, and I thought she delivered the message with kindness, but also had criticism in there.
And Paula’s absence?
I really don’t want to speak about Paula’s absence because you can’t really compare Paula and Ellen. They’re completely different, and I think they both bring something valuable to the table. To judge on one person’s show, I think that’s very difficult to do, and I’m speaking from experience, that when I first came in, it’s something that takes time to get used to, and I think she did an incredible job for her first time there. Hopefully, you’ll see more.
Is there an Adam Lambert effect this year? Are there more really unique performers that you’ve seen?
I would like to say, and I’ve only been on the show two years, but I think that people were interpreting songs from the get-go in audition week. They weren’t just singing them the way they were sung by the people who originally recorded them. They were kind of taking some risks, and I like that, and maybe that is because of Adam, but that’s definitely a sign of good artists when they do something unique and different with material.
So far this year we’ve had a bunch of memorable songs that have come through. Obviously, “Pants on the Ground” was kind of a big hit already, but last night we had someone singing a version of “Straight Up,” and then someone also sang a version of your song, but can you speak a little bit about how you guys reacted to hearing those versions.
In terms of that girl singing “Terrified,” I was absolutely shocked. I couldn’t believe it. It’s not a song that was released as a single. It’s something I co-wrote with an artist I signed to Warner Brothers, Jason Reeves, and it was a very special song for both of us. I put it up on my site I think last year. There was no music, there’s no way she could find the sheet music, so she went and she learned it on her own which I thought was pretty impressive to want to sit and watch that YouTube video over and over to learn it, and I think she did a really good job and a nice interpretation of it. I think she showed that she has a great range and sensitivity when she sings. I was pretty impressed by her, and the “Straight Up” was genius. That was just genius. Is it odd sometimes when they’re singing songs you’ve written? Of course, because it’s like, “Wow, they’re singing my song. Oh my God, if it’s not good, what am I going to say?” It was so sweet of them to even want to do that, but you have to be honest, and if she hadn’t been great, I would’ve told her. And actually “Sober” was my song, too. That was sung by Mary, I think her name was, and I thought she did that pretty good, too.
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