How Pop Stars Killed 'American Idol'
Show took a different turn after Nicki Minaj and Mariah Carey joined the judges' table

But the show really went off the rails in 2013, when it brought in its most big-name judging panel. Jackson, still dispensing his long-sagging catchphrases, remained; joining him were affable Australian country-rocker Keith Urban, hitmaking diva Mariah Carey and real-talking MC Nicki Minaj. Having artists who were currently on the charts was a clear attempt to replicate the formula of The Voice, which rode boldfaced names (Shelton! Aguilera!) to ratings success.

And in hindsight, people who had been associated with the Idol machine also took that season's rough ride to heart. "Mariah and Nicki was just crazy, and then it really started becoming about the judges and took away from the contestants altogether," former Idol executive producer Nigel Lythgoe told Billboard last year.

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Truth

Kinda true.

The last Idol to get some success was Phillip Phillips (the season before Mariah/Nicki)

Poor Candice Glover never had a chance

Ellen and Kara killed AI TBH

That's when I stopped watching. I just couldn't understand wtf Ellen was doing on that panel and I hit mute everytime Kara went on.

mariah+nicki's season was the only one worth watching

True, but it was the most entertaining season ever so..

So it's the producers fault. Mariah would have been perfect by herself, but they wanted drama

I don't know why people keep saying this. The Voice is 100% about the judges and killed off Idol.

The show should've ended after Carrie won. A tired concept that hasn't produced a star in 10 years. Ciao.

The sad thing was that season 12 had some of the best performances the show ever had

The show died long before Mariah & Nicki and let's not forget Mariah Carey is the most qualified judge for a singing competition on television ever.

Nigel Lythgoe and idol producers need to take responsibility for their failures and stop trying to pass it off.

Why does this say Mariah killed idol when Nicki Minaj caused all the drama??

The combo of Mariah and Nicki killed it. If people wanted to watch that, they would watch the real housewives.

Well yeah. But viewers went into The Voice with the big names attached. Idol was always the "real" show. And once it began decline, it kept a middle America niche thing. So throwing in big names to battle its demise threw off those moms and aunties in Oklahoma. Especially when they chose two people and plotted a duel script for them.

Who won that season when they were judging?

If anything Nicki was the problem that season..

And before her fans come for me, Mariah was never the one to start a fight where screaming was involved. Throwing light shade, yes, but never to the extent of what happened that season of AI

The show stopped producing viable stars long before that.

Paula leaving and Ellen joining was the official death for me. I never finished a season after that.