‘American Idol’ Kicks Off Its 20th Season With The Judges And Host Explaining Why It’s The Premiere Singing Competition

American Idol is back.

Yes, the series in which contestants hope to sing their way to stardom is kicking off its 20^th season.

Airing its 5^th season on ABC (Idol originally ran on FOX), the judging panel includes country singer Luke Bryan, pop diva Katy Perry, and prolific musician and singer Lionel Richie with host Ryan Seacrest. Idol’s executive producer and showrunner Megan Michaels Wolflick has been with the show since its inception. 

The competition series has produced several stars, including Grammy winner Carrie Underwood, Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson, and platinum selling artist Kelly Clarkson, among others.                                            

Now that the series has been on for two decades, a curious detail about the contestants has been noted by Wolfick. “I feel like it’s almost like contestants [have] been training for American Idol their whole life. The average age of our finalists this year is 20. It is the exact age that the show started — a full‑circle moment.” 

Seacrest, who’s been the series for its entire run, reflected on the milestone, saying, To look back at all of those moments and see some of those contestants when they first met us on the road and see the time that’s gone by and the success that they have had is impactful. I got emotional watching some of those great moments.”

About the evolution of Idol, Seacrest feels, “It’s been navigated to become a very heartfelt, human, and artist‑driven show.”

He says that he would love to see every one of the past contestants make a visit to the stage this year. “I want to see every one of those contestants to come back. I want to see way back to the beginning. I just remembered a moment with Clay and Ruben that we talk about all the time. I want to see Carrie again. I love seeing Jennifer Hudson. And for me, I can remember standing next to them, looking at their faces and reactions in moments of success and in moments of challenge.”

When it comes to the audition portion of the series, Richie says that, “Some people just walk out and they are stars. They have all the boxes ticked — stage presence, delivery, their sound, their style — they have it all there. So, when they open their mouths, you know exactly who they are.”

But he and the other judges admit, that song selection is key. “It tells us who they are as an artist. It tells us how sharp they are as an artist. It tells us how knowledgeable they are about where they want to take their career,” says Bryan.

There are some poor song choices made, says Perry. “Some of them say, “Oh, I’m going to pick an Ariana Grande song’ and then they sound nothing like Ariana Grande,” and she adds, “If you’re going to pick, like, a Whitney [Houston] song, you kind of want to reinvent it or do it your own way.”

What sets Idol apart from other competitive singing series, says Perry, is, “it’s about the contestants. It’s not really necessarily about [the judges]. We are just, kind of, guiding them and supporting them and giving them cues and all of this knowledge that we’ve been able to cultivate over the decades. I think we really, really care because we’ve been in their shoes. We want to set them up for success. So, we are hard on them because, in the real world, it is hard, but we are still doing it with grace. It’s also really about singer‑songwriters and artists and authentic talent.”

Perry says that working with the contestants has taught her, “humility and gratitude every day, all day, and just reminding us, you know, how blessed that we truly are.” 

What Richie says he loves most about Idol is, “we’re the microcosm of the way the world should be. Think about this for a moment — If you look at the judges and Ryan — we represent America. We come from very different walks of life. But at the same time, we can come together and celebrate one thing, each other.”

He goes on to say, “When you come to American Idol, it’s the American Idol family. There’s nothing else to be said. So, what we try to show America is who we are as a United States of America. The problem that most people get is they try to look at their little sections of life, but when you come to American Idol, you will see the United States of America that we portray so brilliantly.”

‘American Idol’ airs Sunday nights at 8 e/p on ABC.