Two American music icons get ‘Idol’-ized

By Jacqueline Cutler © Zap2it

Steven Tyler didn’t watch “American Idol.” He was too busy being one.

Jennifer Lopez watched religiously and picked all but two winners.

And Randy Jackson experienced every pitchy note and brilliant performance since it started.

“Season 10 — The Remix” as Jackson calls TV’s most popular show, “American Idol,” returns to Fox Wednesday, Jan. 19. Host Ryan Seacrest and judge Randy Jackson return with new judges Lopez and Tyler.

The three judges spoke separately with Zap2it about the upcoming season, why they’re doing it and what they expect. “Idol,” more so than any show, comes with expectations.

What other show heading into its 10th season can expect top ratings? What other show has people gossiping about what will happen six months before it airs? And what other show consistently turns out new stars?

Lopez, who as a singer, dancer, actress, entrepreneur, model and mother of twins nearly 3, has more than most going on, explains why she became a judge.

“Besides the fact I feel like I landed a really great gig, television has become so important in the music industry,” she says.“It’s like the new radio.When they first offered it to me, it was not something I was interested in doing. I have a record coming out.

To be quite honest, Marc (Anthony, her husband) and I have been touring.To be in one place, with the babies and the family and have some semblance of a normal life — even if it’s just for six months — that becomes a big part of your decision when you have kids.”

The three judges agree they click well.

“It has been so good,” says Tyler, the longtime Aerosmith frontman.“When I met Randy, within one minute it was like we were separated at birth. He is so open and has a great sense of humor.”

“We picked the two right ones,” says Jackson, who over the years worked with Tyler and Lopez.“We hit it off right away.”

No one makes any bones about last season working well.

“I don’t think any will ever be like the original,” Jackson says. “Who is going to be the mean one? There doesn’t have to have one.”

People are bound to liken Tyler to Simon Cowell simply because Tyler doesn’t mince words and is funny.Tyler even takes a dig at Cowell.

“It’s not about someone being in a bad mood for singing country-western,”Tyler says, adding that the couple of snippets of “Idol” he had caught featured Cowell dismissing a singer because he didn’t like the type of song.

“What kind of judge is that if someone doesn’t like the same music?” he says.

It’s not the choice of song but the singer’s abilities, the judges say. And what they say to one another, secretly, may well be the best lines.

“You do not want to hear what goes on when we’re whispering in each other’s ears,”Tyler says. “They walk across the stage in front of us, and we say, ‘What do you want to sing?’ And then they sing, ‘To Dream the Impossible Dream.’ And I will ask, ‘Did you bump your head on the way in, or did you eat a lot of paint chips as a child?’ I am being brutally honest with a 15-year-old who spent the last 10 years watching ‘Idol’ and Mom and Dad telling them they are really good.”

Lopez laughs as she talks about Tyler’s reactions to the hopefuls.

“He says things that make my head spin,” Lopez says.“I don’t even know if he knows the reaction. His personality is so unpredictable and off the wall. He’s still so pleasant. He is a soulful artist, and he loves music, and he is really great at what he does.”

Lopez and Tyler both mention that they think about the hopefuls long after the auditions.

“It’s hard because I was in that position in my career many times, and my heart really goes out to them,” Lopez says. “Steven and I have a compassion that maybe Randy doesn’t because he’s more the industry type.”

Still, Jackson has long worked as a musician. He knows theory and history, throwing Bartok and Beethoven into conversation as easily as he does Aretha Franklin. And he loves finding new talent.

“Simon gave the truth like a drill sergeant,” Jackson says.“I give the truth like somebody’s mother.”

Sometimes these are acts only mothers could love.

“When a kid comes on and can’t sing, (Randy) starts laughing,”Tyler says.“I am a transmute. I saw it first on ‘Star Trek.’ I empathize with their feelings almost to the extreme where I take on their wounds. Jennifer route. I got a little more heart. I am hoping that compassion and love is the new black.”

Jackson, with a veteran’s perspective, says, “I honestly believe we have the best talent we have had in many a year. I think someone pretty amazing will win it this year, someone completely different from the last three or four years.”

“We just want to find real artists, people with staying power and who will make a mark in the music world,” Lopez says.“We feel we know the combination of different traits it takes.”

Ultimately, the next “Idol” will “make you feel, make you think and stand up,” Lopez says.“You will cry and cheer and laugh and scream.That is kind of our goal.”

Lopez is very street, very matter of fact and to the point. If not for anything, maybe it’s not about kicking their ass with the Simon

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