Idol Chatter & Voice Views

The gang’s back for Season 14 of American Idol with Keith Urban, Jennifer Lopez and Harry Connick Jr. returning to the judges table and Ryan Seacrest back for another year as show host. (FOX Photo)

Expect a few new wrinkles from American Idol Season 14.

That’s the word from judge Keith Urban, who talked about the upcoming season in a recent conference call with the media.

Some of those changes, we’re likely to see. Others, perhaps not.

For instance, the judges had an opportunity to get to know the top Season 14 contestants a little better than they have in the past.

Last year, for instance, Keith said the judges really didn’t get to sit down and talk to contestants until the Green Mile episode, when they broke the news about who made the semifinals and who didn’t.

“Then we’d suddenly be thinking, ‘Huh, I wish we’d gotten to know this person a little better. There’s something about them that seems quite interesting.’

“So, this season we had a moment when we brought in a select amount of people that we wanted to meet just so that we can sort of get to talk to them and hear them talk to us a little bit, because it’s usually they come up and they sing and then they leave and then they sing and then they leave. We don’t really get to know them very well.

“I was glad we got to do that this season. From there I think we really found some artists. You can tell, you know. You can have people that sing really well, but they may not be really artists with a vision and an artistic vision of who they are and what kind of career they want to have.”

The change we’ll most certainly see is the method of whittling the Top 48 down to a Top 24. Turns out Idol took the contestants to the House of Blue in Los Angeles to perform one song each in front of a live audience.

Keith says that was equally telling.

“Can they perform? Do they know how to perform live? Do they know how to move and connect with an audience?

“You could see quickly the ones, maybe they sang great, but they just froze on stage. They’re not ready.”

The end result, Keith thinks, will be better solo performances once the live shows begin.

American Idol kicks off Season 14 with audition shows Wednesday and Thursday night. Showtime is 8 p.m. EST both nights on FOX.

Check back then for live blogs as Idol begins the search for a Season 14 champ.