American Idol season 13
The thirteenth season of American Idol, styled as American Idol XIII, premiered on the Fox television network on January 15, 2014.[1] Ryan Seacrest returned as host for his thirteenth season. Keith Urban was the only judge from the twelfth season to return. Former judge Jennifer Lopez, who returned after a one-season absence, and Harry Connick Jr. both joined the judging panel following the departures of Mariah Carey, Randy Jackson, and Nicki Minaj, although Jackson remained as a mentor, replacing Jimmy Iovine.
American Idol
January 15 –
May 21, 2014
On May 21, Caleb Johnson was announced the winner, with Jena Irene as the runner-up.
Changes from previous seasons[edit]
There were a number of major changes this season. On May 9, 2013, Randy Jackson announced that he would no longer serve as a judge.[2] On May 30, 2013, Mariah Carey and Nicki Minaj both also announced they would not return to the judging panel.[3][4] On August 1, 2013, it was confirmed that Keith Urban would return as a judge for another season.[5] Executive producers Nigel Lythgoe and Ken Warwick were succeeded by Per Blankens, previously of Idol, the Swedish version of American Idol.[6] On June 25, 2013, it was confirmed that producers Jesse Ignjatovic and Evan Prager would join Blankens as executive producers of the show.[7] Bill DeRonde replaced Warwick as the director of the audition episodes and Louis J. Horvitz also replaced Gregg Gelfand as a director of the live show.[8] Fox television executive Mike Darnell, who helped launch American Idol in 2002, left as programming head of Fox, and Fox Sports executive David Hill was hired to oversee the series.[9] Rickey Minor returned to the show as musical director after having left at the end of the ninth season.[10]
In August 2013, it was reported that Jennifer Lopez would be returning as an American Idol judge.[11] On August 22, 2013, it was reported that Jimmy Iovine would not return as the in-house mentor this season, and that he would be replaced by Randy Jackson.[12] On August 30, 2013, The Hollywood Reporter wrote that Harry Connick Jr. had signed a deal to join the judges panel and that Simon Fuller had held a party the night before with all three judges to toast the forthcoming announcement.[13] On September 3, 2013, Lopez and Connick Jr. were officially announced as judges for this season. It was also later reported that alumni Adam Lambert and Chris Daughtry would assist in mentoring the contestants.[14]
In a rules change from past seasons, semifinalists from the twelfth season who had not made it into the top 10 would be eligible to audition again, provided they met all of the other requirements.[15] This season, the viewers were also able to vote for their favorite contestants via Google Search. American Idol teamed up with Facebook to present "on-air visualizations" showing real-time East Coast voting developments, including live "demographic voting trends and relative contestant rankings."[16] Voting could also start as soon as the performance shows began this season, and real time vote rankings were shown while the show is still in progress. Additionally, each contestant was assigned the same telephone number for the entire competition.
Hollywood week[edit]
A new "Hollywood or Home" round was introduced this season where contestants could be eliminated soon after they had landed at LAX airport. 52 contestants performed solo in an airplane hangar, and of those, 32 were immediately sent back home.[28] The 160 contestants left then proceeded to Hollywood and performed solo at the Dolby Theatre in groups of ten. After this round, 104 contestants remained and they performed in groups of three or four. 77 contestants went through to a solo round.
The Hollywood rounds ended with a top 30 being announced on February 12 and 13, 2014. However, a new twist was added where the judges only choose 15 female contestants and 14 male contestants, with the 15th man to be chosen by the public. The options were either Ben Briley or Neco Starr. The result was revealed at the end of the females' semifinals episode, and Briley was the selection.
Controversy[edit]
Caleb Johnson comment[edit]
During his interview with AfterBuzz TV following the top 5 elimination show, Caleb Johnson made offensive remarks about his fans who tweet him song suggestions.[55][56] "[Twitter] gives access to a bunch of retards to talk to me," Caleb said. "I don't really enjoy having to see somebody telling me what song I have to sing. I think at this point of the competition, I can pick and choose my own songs and represent me. I don't need 10,000 people saying, 'You should sing this, you should sing that. Listen to me!' Fortunately, guys, I'm going to listen to myself, whether you like it or not."[57][58]
His comment was described as "arrogant," with some fans becoming angry.[59][60] Caleb issued an apology on his Facebook page.[61] "For the record that juvenile comment I made in the interview was not directed towards my fans but to the wackos that send hundreds of hate messages a day to me! You guys are amazing and I cannot thank you enough for your support. Sorry if it offended anybody it was the wrong choice of words. Also I greatly appreciate it when you guys give me song suggestions but it gets really overwhelming at the volume it comes in so please understand! Rock on!"[62]