14 DAY TRIAL // Mariah Carey isn’t mincing her words anymore when it comes to discussing her experience as judge for a season of American Idol in 2013. She’d hinted before that it wasn’t her most pleasant experience ever, but she’s now calling it the “the worst” in her entire life.
She’s also explaining that the show is “fake,” with producers focusing more on creating drama among the judges instead of offering more exposure to the aspiring talent, People Magazine reports.
“I would never want to be involved with it again”
Mariah has spoken before of how much she regretted agreeing to be on American Idol, adding that, at the time she said yes, she thought she would be the only female judge and that the show would focus on the singers on stage.
Then, producers brought Nicki Minaj on board and the two clashed several times, with one of these incidents captured on camera. The footage “leaked” online, of course.
The feud even spilled on social media, when the rapper took to Twitter to accuse Mimi in a now-deleted rant of being old, bitter and washed-up. Mariah never engaged Nicki directly like this, but she dropped plenty of stinging hints in interviews to make it clear where she stood on the matter.
In this new interview, the diva says that the “feud” was blown out of proportions. Yes, they had disagreements, but they weren’t at each other’s throat as it was made to appear in the media. That was just the producers’ way of drumming up interest in the show.
“It's so boring and so fake,” she adds. “I'm sorry... when I say it's fake, I mean... you have to make up things to say about people. Half the time, the performances are good, you just [want to] be like, ‘It was good.’ You just feel like ending it there, like, ‘It's really good’.”
Mariah says she’d never relive the experience for all the money in the world, which is a good thing, since American Idol ends after next season, with Fox deciding to pull it after dwindling ratings.
An entertainment program, after all
Mariah’s observations make sense, but that just goes to show she had no idea what American Idol really stood for, she bought into the illusion of it: despite its admission that it’s out to discover the “American idol” and offer her or him the chance at a successful music career, it’s nothing but an entertainment program.
Much like America’s Got Talent, The Voice or any other show of the type, it’s not so much about the music but about entertainment value. Music is secondary to the entertainment value, which means that additional drama must be created to get people to tune in to it.
In the case of the season when Mimi and Nicki served as judges, it came with the opportunity of having them on the panel, one a self-proclaimed diva and the other the assertive kind that won’t be shut up when she has something to say.
Even if they hadn’t clashed, viewers would have still heard of a feud between the two, because that’s what they were hired for.