Mariah Carey greets the crowd at the Season 12 American Idol finale. (AP Photo)
In an interview with an Australia radio show, Mariah Carey was asked if she would consider returning to American Idol.
Her response: “Hell no. Absolutely not. That was the worst experience of my life.
“I’m not going to get into what it was, but let’s just say I don’t think they had any intentions for us to have a good experience doing that show. Pitting two females against each other wasn’t cool.
“It should have been contestants, instead of about some non-existent feud that turned into even more ridiculousness. I would never want to be involved with it again. But everyone else can like it.”
Mariah went on to call the experience “fake” and “boring” and complained that producers wanted her to make up things to say about performances when “half the time the performances are good … you feel like ending it there, ‘It was really good.'”
You can hear the interview here.
Mariah judged — and I use the term loosely — Season 12 of Idol along with Keith Urban, Randy Jackson and her feuding partner, Nicki Minaj.
She was paid millions for her trouble, and a strong case could be made that she was the worst judge in Idol history.
The pinnacle of her awfulness came on Top 6 Week that season, when she critiqued Lazaro Arbos’ performance of “Close to You.”
It took her more than 300 words and more than 2 minutes — longer than Lazaro sang — to tell him he missed a key change, something that shouldn’t happen at that stage of the competition.
The rambling went like this …
“So, no, Lazaro, here’s the thing. Honestly, I’ve been accused of being too nice and la, la, la. And the powers that be have reminded me and reprimanded me (that) I’m here to judge. So, please understand, like Randy said, you’re the person we all understand, and, in terms of your struggle, there’s no denying you are beyond courageous to be doing this.
“But at this point in the competition, there cannot be a key change and you’re in … and you don’t continue to… how do I express it? We can’t go into another key and you stay in the old key. Does everybody understand what I mean? There’s a thing that happens in the music where it takes you to another level. If you stay in the previous key, that’s just the end of the song.
“And it’s like, if you couldn’t hear yourself, that could be a reason why that maybe could happen. But that’s something I have to point out to you only because if you’re not aware of that, this is like kind of a big deal. And … um … so … I think … OK … for a um, um, um, how do I say it? What is the word? Darling, help me out. Lord, in heaven.
“What I’m trying to say is this: Sometimes it can be harder to sing a quiet song that requires control, that is not belting. Remember when I said when you hit your sweet spot that’s when you’re strongest. Earlier. In another day. So this type of song, you really need to be owning and comfortable and just like, ‘I’m here. I’m singing. I’m casual. Whatever.’
“If you don’t have that ability to do that, which I only felt for like, half a second toward the end, it’s not the right selection for you. And I’m sorry to say that because I dearly love you and respect you. But I’m trying to help your next performance.”
Conclusion: I doubt you’ll be missed very much at any Idol reunion, Mariah.
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