American Idol's new judges seem to get that they're not judging a singing competition

Decider

Katy Perry, Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie have already rejected some perfectly good singers because they know that the show is about finding the modern pop star, says Meghan O'Keefe. American Idol faltered in its last years on Fox because it was too focused on finding good singers, instead of singers who could actually become pop stars who sell albums -- like Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood. "American Idol is not — and has never been — a 'singing competition.' Like poker, chess, and CBS’s reality juggernaut Survivor, American Idol is a game of strategy," says O'Keefe. "Sure, the goal is to be crowned America’s next great music star, and to get there, contestants have to survive months of cagematch-like musical battles. You’ll hear judges give lip service to things like pitch and timbre. You’ll even notice the glory of a high note and catch the tragedy of a badly executed key change. But you don’t win American Idol by being the best singer. If that were so, Season 6 vocal standout Melinda Doolittle would be the show’s biggest success story." ALSO: Too many contestants have auditioned with original songs this season.