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Nicki Minaj Joins 'American Idol' as Judge

Nicki Minaj

On Sunday, the Fox network announced that rapper Nicki Minaj will join the list of American Idol judges alongside Randy Jackson, Mariah Carey and Keith Urban. The singing competition returns for its 12th season, following two years with former judges Jennifer Lopez and Aerosmith's Steven Tyler, according to USA Today. The first round of auditions begin on Sunday in New York.

The panel touches most of the major music bases as Idol, which returns in January, will have its first judges with backgrounds in rap and country. Minaj, 29, known for explicit, animated lyrics and sexy, outlandish costumes, has seen her career powered by two hit albums,Pink Friday (2010) and Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded (2012). The Starships singer uses several alter egos in her rhymes and has a base of rabid fans who call themselves "Barbies. 

"Grammy winner Urban, 44, who last week announced he was bowing out of Australian's version of The Voice, released his sixth studio album, Get Closer, in 2010. It follows 2009's platinum-selling Defying Gravity. The Nashville-based singer, married to actress Nicole Kidman, was born in New Zealand and raised in Australia. 

"Nicki's an unbelievably captivating international phenomenon who has made an indelible mark on rap and pop. And Keith is another great addition to Idol -- he's one of the biggest stars in country music," said Mike Darnell, Fox's reality programming chief. The network announced in July that Carey, 42, would join the Season 12 panel.

The singing-competition focus these days is on contemporary star power, from Idol to Fox's The X Factor to NBC's The Voice, Adgate says. "They're going in for â??Let's get a big name.' I think someone like (X Factor's) Simon Cowell would never get a job as a judge with the current trend."

That creates a problem, says Richard Rushfield, author of American Idol: The Untold Story "In all the singing contests, the three people who have turned out to be very good at doing this over all these years are Cowell, (X Factor's) L.A. Reid and (Idol mentor) Jimmy Iovine. And they're all record executives," he says. On Idol, "the question is, what kind of judges will they be? Maybe one of them will turn out to be the person who can really shape the show and just explain the process to viewers. But thus far, stars haven't proved very great at doing that."

In the past year, Rushfield says, stars such as Duets' Kelly Clarkson and X Factor's Britney Spears "haven't provided a straight-out-of-the-gate ratings bump. â?¦ I don't think if Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler were introduced now that they would drive up ratings the first year even. It's just been so saturated" with singing shows and music stars.

With the additions, Idol returns to the four-judge format that it abandoned two seasons ago. The new judges will replace Lopez and Tyler, who announced their departures this summer after two seasons.

The makeup of the judging panel has become much more variable in recent years. It was a rock of certainty for much of its run, with the original three judges -- Jackson, Paula Abdul and Simon Cowell -- all working together for the first eight seasons, the last with Kara DioGuardi.

Since then, Abdul, Cowell and DioGuardi left and new judges -- Lopez, Tyler and Ellen DeGeneres -- have come and gone. Going forward, judging changes are likely to be more frequent than in the past, Fox entertainment chairman Kevin Reilly said recently.