This... is Season 12...

It took about 20 minutes to get going, with a sugary start read by Ryan Seacrest after Phillip Phillips' Home. He won last year, by the way, in case UK readers missed that, as, indeed, they missed the single for some reason best known to the record company.

Then we get some annoyingly cut portraits of the judges doing their thing. Randy's back, although his contract fines him $1000 every time he says 'pitchy', so he could be stuck for words unless they manage to select only remarkably in-tune singers. Mariah Carey is their Britney Big Budget judge who comes across as polite with some insightful comments, at least in the few initial screens we see. Nicki Minaj looks very blonde and sounds like she's there to cause trouble with bizarre everything so she's either going to be good fun or really annoying. Keith Urban is the sensible one, from what I can make out, and looks like being an excellent choice.

Tenna Torres is the first audition we get to hear properly. She went to Camp Mariah so Mariah liked her. She's through, although hearing two lines didn't tell us a great deal.

Several more fly through, sounding pretty reasonable and getting the Hollywood round tickets. Without names on the screen for these I have no idea who they are unless I managed to catch a spoken name. There's a mini Heejun doing a rubbish version of a Justin Beiber track. Please don't put him through. He wears headphones round his neck and may have been better off putting them on his ears so he couldn't hear Randy asking what the weather was like on the grounds that that was more interesting than his singing.

How on earth they choose these early rounders for the broadcsat show I don't know but if this is the standard of the production team then they'll need some damn good talent to make up for this dreadful start.

Christina "Isobelle" (their italics) says she struggles with her weight. She looks fine. She also sings well, with a traditional version of Summertime.

Next guy has the big back story which we get dragged through, with the shock factor of having to have a leg amputated which sure must have ended his dancing career which we're told seemed to be going pretty well in shows. Evan Huggerio has a cool personality and performs well with a couple of numbers, showing quite different styles. Surprised he didn't get through - at least to Hollywood. Odd decision as he was pretty capable.

Jessica Kartalis is someone that was suggested so Randy went round to see her and surprised her which might not be a bad way to get contestants. After just doing a self-penned guitar thing, they tell her that she can't sing something else which must have made her really frustrated for bringing the guitar in in the first place. It was like she was expecting to be able to sing something else and how they could judge on that short burst didn't look right to me. Oh well.

Shira Gavrielov tells us she had a No.1 in Israel where she was brought up. That, I would have thought, would have disqualified her but obviously not. She sang Valerie fairly well but nothing spectacular.

Another back story - some guy was adopted. Not sure why we need to know. Frankie Ford from Brooklyn. He does Sweet Dreams pretty well and is a likeable guy but doesn't get far. This acapella small room audition is quite tough and so different to the last round of X Factor where everyone is introduced to us after rehearsals on a big stage with backing etc. Some will suffer I guess as a result but that's the way this show works and the only ones who get through need to perform just as themselves.

Bejamin Gazey looks very strange. The red plastic sounds bad. He says he's going to sing two love songs for two lovely ladies. That reminds me of the girl they didn't permit to sing a second number. Nicki's hair looks flourescent in these second New York auditions.

Rosanna looks pretty. She only sings in front of her parents. Just as well. She ruins one of my favourite songs - To Know Him Is To Love Him. Someone needs to stop her. She mentions a 'second song' too. But doesn't get to sing it. That's lucky.

Then we get a string of rubbish acts before Sarah Staccio from New Jersey comes along. She is totally different to the streets of New York folk, working on a farm and driving quads around. Mama's Song is a Carrie Underwood number so she's definitely on the Country tracks but is also someone who Randy would be justified with the pitchy comment. Nice looking girl. Super Bass next which is a totally different thing - a sort of rapid rap that must be one of Nicki's. Confusing. That does attract the judges' interest. She gets through and it'll be interesting to see what she does next!

Some Chinese-looking guy that works in a doctor's office appears. Dreadful. Go away.

Rapid fire good and bad. Ashley Miller has ear problems. That should mean that she can't sing but, actually, she can. One of the better auditions. The judges loved her and so far she's the one they are seen to be rating. No successful guy's auditions shown so far.

Brett Holt isn't going to change that with an off-key track - his fifth attempt to get past the first rounds! Confusingly, some producer had the idea of dubbing a preview of him so that he sounded great, with wows from the judges  - then a big build up, then the crap singing for real and rejection - and to wind up the thing as if they loved him. God, that was bad production. They managed more mischief with the Turbanator, (as Gurpreet Singh Sarin is going to be known for a while), too with some graphic targeting the judges and, after he does just scrape through (with a pretty average but at least tuneful performance), they have his mauve turban flashing yellow, red and green. You do have to wonder why they bothered and this is pretty worrying for the rest of the auditions.

Ashley Feliciano and her back story take up another huge chunk of viewing time. This is very tedious. She had better be damn good after all that, including her mother talking about how she 'adapts' children with complex problems. Maybe it was her mother's accent. She was sort of OK, quite appealing but not the best of auditions. Oh, heavens, now the whole ruddy family is coming in. Why? This is bonkers. 1 minute singing. 6 minutes prattling on. At least no visual tricks. I presume that must be it. Yes.

Apparently 41 acts got through to Hollywood Round. It would have been good to have heard a few of them as it's unlikely we've seen a winner today.

Nigel Lythgoe Interview

Nice bit of background from Nigel Lythgoe as to what we may or may not expect from American idol this season from MJ's blog.

American Idol executive producer, Nigel Lythgoe answered reporters’ questions on a conference call today. Here’s what went down, including dish on weekly voting rankings (this could happen!) wildcards, and how a girl could finally win it all.

The American Idol auditions begin next week with New York City on Wednesday, Jan 16 and Chicago on Thursday Jan 17.

You know those controversial voting rankings Simon Cowell revealed every week? Nigel Lythgoe has been wanting to do that for 8 or 9 years. Yes, he thinks it’s an awesome idea, and what he has to say on the subject, is pretty interesting. He name checks Carrie Underwood, who he says won every week, and Hawaii, “It’s very amusing to me. It’s something we've wanted to do for 8 or 9 years. We did it in England with Pop Idol. I've always been stopped doing it in this country with people saying ‘Oh no, people will stop voting if you show that the one person is winning–like a Carrie Underwood who won every week–people will stop voting.’ We always fought that back and said, ‘Well no…just because my soccer team is number 4 in the league, doesn't mean to say I'm going to stop supporting them. I'm going to support them more.’ All of a sudden, they managed to do it on the X Factor. I was a little…’Damn. It now looks like we’re going to be copying them.’  The one thing I believe about American Idol, is that everybody else copies American Idol.  Yes, I thought it was a good  move.  It doesn't stop people voting. It makes them more passionate to see their person do well. I liked it. We’ll still discuss it. I'm not sure how we’ll do it.

Nigel would like to reveal regional statistics, “I also like the idea of doing…like the conferences like the NBA do. Let’s see how the west voted for you…let’s see how the east voted for you…and build the figures up so you can see where the votes are coming in from. I think it would be exciting. I think we’d see if they've got hometown support. Very interesting when you've got an Hawaiian contestant–how that can sway the vote. Every island votes for goodness sake (He’s talking about Season 3 and Jasmine Trias, who made it all the way to 3, presumably on the strength of the Hawaiians. So it was true.) Anything that garners interest and fills a show out that is generally 99% padding–any way we can make that exciting–I really want to look at. Now that X Factor’s managed to do that, I will be fighting tooth and nail.”

On the semi-final round changes and wild cards, “I’ve never liked a top 11 or a top 12 or a top 13.  It was always created in order to fill the transmission times that Fox wanted.  So we created top 13s and top 12s, and let’s give them wildcard here and let’s bring somebody back–It’s very plain and simple.  As we've always done with So You Think You Can Dance–There’s your Top 10, It’s a knock out competition. We've always attempted to do that. But we've never found a way to do it with everything that’s been asked of us. And this year, we have.” Hm. The math is a little confusing here. The finals begin on March 7.

What makes a good judge and how much of a bonus has it been that we've already heard about the judges and the sparks that are flying between them, “I don’t think that’s been a bonus. It’s not publicity that I  welcomed. It’s about the contestants. The judges are always  going to be interesting because they are who they are. I don’t really want to know that there’s been a huge blowup between them and have it it all taken out of proportion. I'm not into that sort of publicity. It will, I guess, get people to watch to see if they blow up on TV. So, everybody tells me I should be grateful. I would much prefer that  they watch because these judges are excellent. Nicki Minaj, I think, is one of the best judges I've ever worked with.”

What makes a good judge? Singing out of tune is not that big a deal!  ”Somebody who is honest with integrity. Not honest just telling somebody they suck and go home, pack your suitcase. Any information that they can feed into helping the kid in that short period of time I think is great.  The different angles that they can come from, knowing that it isn't just about the voice. And REALLY does it matter if they sing out of tune a little bit? Because everybody I've ever seen live sings out of tune, even the greatest singers in the world. Of course, if you’re making a single now a days, they’ll auto-tune it anyway.  Is there more we should be discussing rather than ‘You were pitchy.’ I'm so sick of that remark! So now, we are constantly trying to find ways to help them. This panel is doing that. I think one of the best judges I've worked with is ME on So You Think You Can Dance.”

On a female contestant finally winning Idol, what do they need to do?  ”What they have always had to do, which is capture the vote. It isn't always about the voice. It is about charisma, personality attracting an audience. And doing that week on week. If there was an absolute formula to stick to in order to win American Idol, we’d have probably found it by now, bottled it, and I'm sure one of the production companies would be selling it. It’s really what grabs you.  Does the story grab you? Does the song of the week grab you? There’s more strength in the talent of the girls [this year]. It’s not to say that one of the boys will not sneak in. Because there are 5 or 6 really good guys and only 5 of them are going to make the top 10.  At the end of the day, when you've got 5 guys and 5 girls, the depth of talent doesn't matter. It’s anybody’s game at that stage.”

Would Nigel be personally disappointed if a guy won this year, “I get my favorites, I’m human, and I like my favorites. I've never been disappointed with any one of the winners with the shows I've been involved with.  I've been disappointed in losing people a little too early along the way–Tamyra Gray, I was really upset at losing–but thrilled that Kelly Clarkson won.  I don’t have a personal involvement from that point of view. Normally my favorite revolves around who I pick in the draw and hopefully I’ll win the 150 dollars at the end of the series.  In truth, I don’t have a horse in the race, and I like to keep it that way so that nobody can make allegations about ‘oh his favorite won? How did that happen?.’  (Uhm, except this last season on SYTYCD where you namechecked your favorite every week–and she ended up winning Favorite Girl)

Why does American Idol produce bona fide stars while the others, like The Voice and X Factor have not?  ”In fairness, It’s right to say they haven’t been on the air that long yet,” admits Nigel. “I do think that other shows tend to concentrate on gimmicks–maybe their judges a little too much.  I say that having just experienced two months of talking about our new judges. Hopefully the programs themselves will show we’re still purposing on the contestants.  Also the amount people vote and get involved with–they want to see them successful after the show. Phillip Phillips‘ song “Home” was just tremendous. Scotty McCreery, again,  very good in that genre, and people loved him.  We've had success and we want to continue having success.”

What the judges are looking for, “Nicki is looking for an artist. Mariah is looking for the complete singer-songwriter. Randy is looking for somebody that sings on pitch. (laughs) Keith isn't just looking for a country star. Keith is looking for an instrumentalist, a good singer, and somebody that can capture that magic charisma, and connect with the public. They all have their own agendas.”

Which judge is the toughest this season, “So far, Randy Jackson.  You can see the other 3 judges wince, because although they may agree with that outright sentiment, they certainly feel like they’re not there to hurt anybody. So, where possible, they will try and send them away with either a good comment of how they can improve, or a suggestion of what they can move on into. Obviously, they haven’t met my little friend, Jimmy Iovine yet. He will have many words to say.  These judges are judges–they’re not mentors. They’re not really going to be speaking with the kids during the week or helping them improve. They will make a judgement of the kids’ performance and then if it helps, then the kids take it on board. If not–it’s very difficult in that 30 seconds to make lasting comments for the kids to improve week on week.  We've got other people telling them how to do that.”

On Keith Urban and country music on Idol and throwing shade on Simon Cowell!  “It actually came up at TCA yesterday, where somebody said, all of a sudden, country music is being embraced by American Idol. Which, in truth, I tried to put right and say, ‘we had  country music right from the beginning.’ Simon Cowell doesn't like country music. I don’t think he understands country music. I don’t think he understands all the different genres, whether it’s bluegrass, outlaw country or anything. He just thinks that everything is  ”Grandma got over by a reindeer”….that’s his assumption of country music and he always put it down. We always had good country singers.  This is the first time I think that we've had a country judge–he is such a lovely man. He is the scratching post between Mariah and Nicki. He sometimes looks like he’s watching a tennis match with his head bobbing between the two girls. But when it’s his turn to speak, he gives his mind and he won’t put up with anybody else knocking a kid down.  He’s had rows with both Mariah, Randy and Nicki–a big one with Nicki.  They know they’ve got a big job on their hands, because, Jennifer, Steven and Randy did very well with Scotty McCreery and Phillip Phillips. They’re very competitive people. These are human beings who have experienced an incredible success in their own lives. Keith is a great addition this year.”

How empowering was it to have the success that Phillip Phillips’ had just at the time they are ready to launch a new version of the show, “Certainly that song has been one of the biggest. But Phillip still has to prove himself.  We can’t jump up and down and say ‘Wow, he’s a major star now.’  There’s a long way to go to be the next Carrie Underwood, Kelly Clarkson, Daughtry.  But, thrilled for Phillip and it obviously validates the program. There are other people like Colton [Dixon] in that year, who have become a huge Christian star. Scotty McCreery–still a very big country star. We tend to produce the goods at the end of a series. But it’s maintaining them too. I'm not one of these people who just want to waive a flag and go ‘American Idol is a great thing.’  We’re a springboard. But one record does not make a career. I have every belief that Phillip will make a career, because I think he’s hugely talented. We are extremely lucky that a record like “Home” sells over 3 million. It's astounding how successful that’s been. Hopefully, we'll use that as a springboard to get the attention for this year’s American Idol.”

Nigel mentioned the bus tour that sent a producer out to far flung small towns. People who passed that audition went on to sing in front of the judges.  Plus, producers went out with a hidden camera to surprise kids who were nominated by their friends and families.Also, he mentioned what we already knew: Boys and Girls will be separated through the Vegas round. “It gives us a little more insight into who the talent is,” Nigel said.Of course, there will be no guest judges. Jimmy Iovine is coming back as mentor. Like last year, record producers will join him to work with the kids. Nigel is trying to align the Idol experience with what the kids will encounter in the music business.

Will American Idol ever embrace hip hop music?  Could there be a winner who raps?  No. “I don’t believe so. I believe rap is an art form in itself.  More akin to poetry, more akin to drama. Rap in the street, when they have rap competitions is thrilling, because these kids are making it up and having a go at each other. Hip hop is a way of life, it isn't a genre in truth, in American Idol. I think what we’ll get–a lot of good R&B kids, and a lot of good street kids coming in–goodness knows we need it, because there’s very little music to get hold of now a days. I think we've heard the Adele songbook 2,987 times this season, because there are melodies there that the kids can latch onto and sing.  You give them a whole list of 9 thousand songs and they sing Etta James’ ‘At Last’.  We cannot win sometimes with the music.  I do not believe Hip Hop will become a genre on American Idol.”

Season 12 start in the UK on Thursday 17

On Channel 5* (which is a bit strange as that's just a tiny channel but at least it's on Freeview and not Sky subscription! Phew.

I have just found some pretty good rumours for the Top 40 (20 Boys and 20 Girls) from people who have seen the audition rounds so far. No Danielle Castleman after all. Maybe Randy just got her a contract there and then, or she bombed hopelessly at some stage.

Some interesting names there with a dozen or more from previous Seasons having another go - some very deservedly too. Check out the link above if you want to see these. I am working my way through videos that I can find but so far I haven't found anything worth promoting here. There is one Jessica Sanchez type girl who looks and sounds good and one Hollywood fall-out guy who could well make the Live Shows but I shall hold those back for a while yet.

I still don't understand why Jessica's Jump In hasn't been released as as single. Perhaps now that the Christmas Chaos of X Factor and Charity stuff has died away it will come out - January and February do tend to be dull months with some records lying around the charts for weeks.

Danielle Castleman auditions on a very big stage indeed

Jessica Sanchez - Jump In

This is really good and just the sort of stuff Jessica should be doing. One of my favourites and runner up in American Idol 2012, with a Glee role too, this girl is going to be everywhere soon, just like Will.i.am seems to be these days, with one of his Black Eyed Peas team helping to turn this into a major release, (albeit only in the Phillipnes at the moment!)

A12: Ryan Seacrest interviews Randy Jackson

American Idol. And The Winner is...

Trying to keep away from announcements of the winner, tweets, news bulletins, Google+ and Facebook has meant that I've had virtually to hibernate for two days! I genuinely still don't know what the result is and am writing this live with the UK showing.

After the seriously odd anti-climax of Part 1, which is usually the exciting and best part when the last two really turn on all that they have to attract as many votes as they can, I have no idea what to expect tonight but it can only improve...

Well, white suits certainly put a smile on my face! I am just trying to imagine what Phillip would ahve said had he come 3rd and been asked to don the white gear and do the sing-a-long and dance bit!! He must be so relieved. And the organisers.

Shannon is so tall.

That was all totally pointless but nice to see the whole gang again.

Ryan tells us that an extraordinary 132 million votes were cast. With numbers like that then it probably doesn't matter who sang what in the first part. If Jessica has managed to get the whole of The Philippines and Mexico dialling then - who knows - she may have got 130 million of them.

My own preference is for Jessica to win. I feel she could be the future star and appeal to the music generation of youngsters out there and transfer from the US too. Phillip is solid and pretty much faultless in terms of notes and stuff but he seldom seems to be challenged or doing anything that special. The single written for him is cool. But that's as far as he goes.

Phillip gets first bash at convincing us he's worth all the effort with a performance with John Fogerty of Creedence Clearwater Revival. Now I bought all their albums when they came out so that guy must be getting on for 70 but looks younger than he does on the cover of Cosmo's Factory! Crazy. They do a couple of tracks. All good stuff. I do like Who'll Stop the Rain.

Joshua next. Is he in the Final after all? Everyone's thinking he should be. Fantasia comes on and squawks at him quite a lot. Both of them head for the audience and frighten the pants off the front row. They seem to keep going, squawking ever louder and annoyingly. Eventually the ads appear, presumably while the producers try and shut them up and shove them off the stage.

Jessica must be wondering whether everyone's forgotten her.

Chukka Khan comes next and a string of stars including Rihanna doing great stuff. Well, with all the money from 132 million votes they can afford to splash out.

Finally Jessica gets a chance. A perfect version of I Will Always Love You. Beautiful. Pity there's no more votes to gather. But then she disappears again and we get the Top 12 prancing around and doing cover versions again. How come Phillips gets two shots with the old guy and Jessica gets just one repeat of an earlier track? I'm beginning to think she may have a chance of winning after all and they're saving her for the end.

Neil Diamond!? Good grief! this show certainly pulls in the stars, albeit those from my day more than today. (OK, I know, Rihanna and Fantasia are current but most of the numbers the idols do and a good number of the guests are older than I am and I'm pretty ancient.)

Jennifer Lopez gets to promote her new releases. They're OK but her baggy pants look silly. In fact there was one part with a female backing singer whose voice was really good. No idea who she was.

We then get a couple of old idols on stage and the guy proposes to the girl who does actually look genuinely surprised. Luckily she says 'yes'. Oh boy, this is a strange show tonight.

Hollie comes on and starts You'll Never Walk Alone a bit uncertainly. then introduces Jordin Sparks who is twice as tall and has a far more expensive dress. For a short while Jordin seems to be demonstrating just how the song should sung but then Hollie finds her confidence and blows the big girl out of the water with her performance. Jessica  is still missing and is probably wondering what sort of job she'd have made of that. My guess is that she would have started better than Hollie but not finished as well and would have been tempted to do some runs and wobbly bits that simply wouldn't have suited that classic track. personally, I still prefer Gerry & The Pacemakers' original version. I think it was them, at any rate. Perhaps they'll come on in a moment. they're so old that they probably do have pacemakers now. talking of 'moments', if anything, Jordin and Hollie did provide a bit of a moment there. remembering earlier years, though, we're missing that special Christina Aguilera or Lady Gaga performance. Now they were moments.

Oh dear, poor Robin must have been turning in his grave as the guys attempted the first of a medley of Bee Gee numbers. Awful. Colton rescues things but has to cope with the other four coming in at the wrong times and in the wrong key to ruin the next number. Finally, Joshua fixes things with his pretty passionate interpretation of To Love Somebody and just about manages to drwon out the idiots backing him who really should have been left sitting in the audience for this show.

I had thought that this series was going to be a bit special with what appeared to be some real talent. It seems that many got worse over the weeks instead of getting better.

Now we get Jessica, with Jennifer Halliday. Compare that to Phillip and Fogerty. Hmmm. No. No comparison. I'm not particularly fond of the scrunchy vocal performances that the Jennifer woman does but you have to be impressed with Jessica, probably one sixth the age of the other but actually sounding the better of the two. Still don't think that Jessica's best style, though.

Hello. Aerosmith! Steven Tyler has a new record to promote now. All good stuff and he seems to have altered some words to include reference to the idol girls. I heard Jessica, Jennifer and Hollie. Legendary being the not so clever title as it sounds more like Letch In The Dairy or Ledge 'N Hairy. Before he has a chance to get himself in trouble with the Protect Our Youth Brigade they morph into Walk This Way and all is fairly safe after all and the very innocent under 18s are not in any way provided with unsuitable or suggestive material. They still have to wait until their 18 to do what most of Europe is doing at 15 these days. Or 21 if it involves alcohol. I suppose Steven is this year's Lady Gaga.

Phillip must have fallen asleep by now behind the curtain. Someone needs to wake him up during the ad break. There's only 14 minutes left. That's 6 minutes, allowing for ads and him singing the new single and smiling inanely as the bags of glitter burst above him. Well, that's what I think will happen next. I may be wrong.

Piano intro. It's Jessica. And Phillip, now in black. He did look ridiculous in white. Up Where We Belong kinda works but it's like Jessica is the lead singer and he's just one of the backing guys. Pretty bland, to be honest. It's returning to the dire stuff we had in Part 1.

OK. Here we go. Dim the lights...

The audience is so much in favour in Phillip. So just as well he won. The bookies were right all along. And he definitely has the best single.

That's it. Season 11 is over.