American Idol 2014 News: Expanded Song Book Allows Contestants To Sing Newer Songs, Harry Connick Jr. Adds Breathe Of Fresh Air

News, Previews

One of the most anticipated shows of the mid-season is the return of American Idol and at the TCA panels in Los Angeles, the show introduced even more changes to its original format.

One of the major complaints about reality music competitions is that the song choices are out of date. No one really wants to hear a ‘motown’ or ‘big band’ theme anymore as Idol‘s younger audience would prefer to singalong to songs that are currently charting.

Producers have listened and executive producer Trish Kinane confirmed today that Idol has expanded its song list and this will allow for more contemporary songs to be performed. This also means that the aforementioned theme weeks will change.

Executive producer Per Blankens said:

“We’re going to work differently with the themes. We have a new approach… where we try to get songs they can relate to and pick from.”

In addition, new judge Harry Connick Jr. will undoubtedly be the toughest judge on the panel. Instead of sugarcoating criticism, he said that “if somebody can’t sing… they need to go home.”

Murtz Jaffer is the world's foremost reality television expert and was the host of Reality Obsessed which aired on the TVTropolis and Global Reality Channels in Canada. He has professional writing experience at the Toronto Sun, National Post, TV Guide Canada, TOROMagazine.com and was a former producer at Entertainment Tonight Canada. He was also the editor at Weekendtrips.com.