Simon Cowell Interview Part II

Ken told us the other day that the two female judges were ganging up on you and that you were miserable about it, you didn’t like it, but he said it was good for the show.  I’m wondering what you would say to that.
Well, what guy would like that?  Come on.  You know?  You have two girls ganging up on you.  One is hard enough; two is unbearable.  They’ve both got personalities, they’re both very forceful and you have a … At least I’ve got Randy by my side, so it’s not that bad.

Getting back to Paula for a second, Paula, on Barbara Walters’ radio show last week, made some pretty harsh criticisms of you, claiming that you are often whispering in her ear and trying to trip her up on live TV right before she is about to speak or give comments.  It was pretty pointed and pretty harsh criticism, I thought.  I’m wondering how you react to that.
Well, guilty.  I’ve done it from day one.  I mean, that’s part of the relationship I’ve had with Paula.  I’ve looked upon it, by the way, in a fun way.  I mean, it was never done with any maliciousness.  She’s never really had an issue with me about it.  If I’ve thought I’ve gone too far, I’ve apologized.  You know, we’ve been really, I think, good friends through the process.  I thought she took most of this with a sense of humor.  If she’d really said to me, “I don’t want you ever to do it again,” I wouldn’t do it. I don’t think her remarks were as barbed as they may have appeared.  That’s always been our relationship.  We’ve always had fun with each other.  By the way, it’s not just Paula – I do it to all the judges I work with on all the shows all over the world.

You mentioned that after this many years that contestants should be well aware of the criticism they may face when they step in front of the judges.  That’s certainly valid, coming up on season eight, but I wonder, given what happened with Paula’s fan, are you considering in any way tempering your remarks?
You know, I’ve thought long and hard about this.  I think the answer to the question is that we will continue in the way that we’ve always done, which is in the main, we’ve tried to have a sense of humor over the whole process.  The show is not an inherently mean show.  It is an American dream show.  The whole purpose of the show is to find somebody – it could be a cocktail waitress like Kelly Clarkson – who through the process becomes a star.  I’ve always thought it was important to show people at home that when bad singers come in and they’re not very good, that it’s time to give up that type of dream and take a normal job.  I think that the people at home, it’s been helpful, showing people the process.  If you’re not very good, don’t waste your time – years – trying to do something that you’re not very good at doing. 

You know, as I said, when something like this happens, it does make you take a step back.  As I said to somebody earlier on, you assume that everyone who enters American Idol kind of knows the score, that if you’re not great, you’re going to get some criticism.  A lot of people have had criticism in the past, but they come back year after year after year and always seem quite happy to meet us afterwards.  We’ve known some of these contestants for seven or eight years now. 

Just looking ahead a little bit, I wondered if you could give us an idea of some of the mentors, the celebrity mentors we might be seeing this season. You’ve had so many on in the past.  Is there anyone that you would really like to get that you haven’t managed to persuade to come on the show yet?
Well, we try every year to get Paul McCartney on.  For whatever reason, he won’t come on.  People in the past, when you get someone like Lionel Richie or Quentin Tarantino, who are just brilliant fun, those are the kinds of people you would like to come back on the show.  I know Quentin wasn’t a mentor, but he was a terrific guest judge. We just recently had Beyonce on the British version of this show, who was absolutely incredible.  We had Mariah Carey on.  We had Britney on, which was a riot – I loved it.  So you want those kinds of assets.  I like people with personalities. 

We have heard that you were going to make the call in the event of a tie.  Have you been called to do that a lot, and what’s been the reaction from the other judges?
I love it.  They hate it.

What about Randy in particular?  I mean, how does he feel about you making these calls, and have there been a lot that you’ve had to do or is more of a seldom kind of a thing?
There’s been a few, and there’s been a few arguments along the way, particularly from the girls when they can’t get their own way.  There was one particular girl – you’ll see her on the show – who came in in a bikini.  I mean, the second she walked in it was a “Yes” from us guys and a categorical “No” from the girls.  Luckily, I had the casting vote and you’ll see her again.

With the talk about the wild card coming back, you mentioned personality and getting bored with some of the singers who were pretty good but might have kind of bland personalities.  How much do you deal with having personality?  How important is it in picking somebody to go through?  If somebody is a fair singer with a great personality, would you have them go through?
Well, I said this earlier on:  I think it’s absolutely vital that we’re finding people who are all around entertainers.  Some of the biggest stars in the world should be able to be entertaining entertainers.  There were just too many people, I felt, last year in particular, who just weren’t saying what they were thinking.  I’ve always prided myself on this show that it’s a two-way battle.  We can criticize them and they have absolutely every right to criticize me in return.  I’ve never ever been afraid to show that on the audition shows, the middle shows and certainly on the live shows.  Hopefully this year it might be the year of the contestant fights back a little bit more because I think we need that.

There was a lot of talk last year about some of the ringers who were on the show.  People talked about Carly and Michael and Kristy as people who had quite a bit of experience in music already.  Are there any of those kinds of people this year who we might already know from past years or who have already been in the music business?
I’m trying to remember as you’re asking me the question.  I don’t think as many as last year.  I’m not really too clear on that.  Really, I prefer if they’re kind of new people and they haven’t had that kind of experience.  It does seem a little bit fairer.  Having said that, I think the Irish girl last year in particular, she was a great singer, so I think it was right to put her on the show.

A number of idol’s this year were nominated for Grammy’s – Jennifer Hudson, Carrie, Fantasia.  I was wondering your thoughts on that.  Obviously, you must be proud.
You know what?  I absolutely love it when that happens – (a) because they deserve it and (b) I was referring to this earlier on:  There’s so much snobbery in the music business about what we do on these shows and I know how upset they all get, so I think it’s fantastic. 

You mentioned Britney being on your other show before.  She was on your other show, she’s in the midst of a comeback, she has a new album to promote.  What are the chances she might appear on Idol this season either as a mentor or at least as a performer?
Well, she would be literally first on the list as far as I’m concerned in any capacity.  I would love to see her mentor the contestants.  If she doesn’t want to do that and she wants to come on the show to perform, I would welcome her anytime.  The buzz we had on our show when she came on was extraordinary.  Even with all the stuff that’s gone on with her over the past two years, there was more excitement and interest in her than I’ve seen in anyone in years.  So she would be very, very welcome.

In the initial audition round, was there a city that really stuck out as being overwhelming with talent?  Conversely, was there a city that was maybe a little bit of a train wreck?
We didn’t have a Seattle this year, which I remember a couple of years ago wasn’t one of the greater cities we’d ever been to.  I would say it was pretty much spread.  I think all cities represented themselves pretty well.  I said earlier on that I enjoyed Salt Lake.  Louisville was good.  There wasn’t a standout good or a standout bad, I don’t think.

The show is such an event every year when it comes back on the air.  When you started with it here in the U.S., what were your expectations?  Has it met or surpassed any of the wildest expectations you could have for this show?
Well, let’s put it this way:  When I first did American Idol, the one thing I made sure I had was a return ticket because I genuinely thought we’d have been off the air in about three or four weeks and I’d be making a very hasty return back to the U.K.  Luckily, things turned out much better.  I mean, it’s gone way, way beyond our expectations.  I love the fact that at this time of the year everyone’s looking forward to the audition rounds, everyone’s looking forward to the season returning.  I think where FOX has been smart compared to other shows is that they haven’t been greedy with it.  They haven’t put it on twice a year.  That would have killed the process. We will continue to do this show as long as we’re welcomed by the audience and they seem to still like it.  We’re still enthusiastic about doing it.  It’s been the best eight years of my life.  It’s been fantastic.

Can I just say thank you to everybody today,  Also, it has been eight years – thank you once again for your continued support over the years.  It’s been amazing.