Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Mariah Carey, the worst judge in American Idol history, will mentor contestants during the knockout round on The Voice. (NBC Photo)

Let that sink in a moment.

Mariah Carey — easily the worst judge in the 16-season history of American Idol – will be offering up her pearls of wisdom to singers on The Voice.

Wow.

My reaction: What were producers of The Voice thinking?

Followed quickly by: Didn’t they even look at the tapes from Season 12 of American Idol? Any of the tapes?

This is the same Mariah Carey who was last in the news because folks wondered if she was lip synching during the American Music Awards.

As evidence, I’d point to the Season 12 Idol finale during which Mariah obviously, blatantly, without a shadow of doubt, lip synched an entire medley of her greatest hits.

But that was far from Mariah’s shining moment on American Idol. Oh, no, not by a long shot.

Her shining moment came when she critiqued a performance of “Close to You” by Lararo Arbos, the last male standing among the Season 12 cast.

Here’s what Mariah said on live TV:

“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 (fellow judge) Randy (Jackson) 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.

“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.”

Yep, it took, Mariah more than 300 words to tell a singer he missed a key change and that shouldn’t have happened at that
stage in the competition. She talked for longer than Lazaro sang.

I remember Randy either rubbing or scratching his head. I remember the ear-to-ear grin on the face of fellow judge Nicki Minaj. And, trust me, Nicki almost never smiled when Mariah was speaking. Oh, if thought bubbles could talk.

I remember Lazaro watching, in deep concentration, trying to follow what Mariah was saying. Until he just gave up and smiled as well.

Of course, The Voice knockouts are pre-taped, heavily edited. So I suspect Mariah will come off as at least slightly more coherent.

But what bugs me most about the vocally talented diva are the interviews since Idol, interviews where she could have admitted to the obvious – Mariah Carey and live judging a reality TV show was simply a bad fit.

Instead, she’s trashed the show, with her biggest complaint seeming to be that she wasn’t the only diva on the set.

I’ve gotten several comments from Voice viewers who think Kelly Clarkson is insufferable, apparently because they think she talks to much.

Warning Voice viewers: You are about to meet the definition of insufferable.

And if ever there was a past judge who didn’t deserve a return to the world of TV singing competitions, that person would be Mariah Carey.