Contents

American Idol season 16

In early 2017, Variety reported that FremantleMedia was in talks to revive the show for NBC or for its original network, Fox.^[1] A dispute between Fremantle and Core Media Group derailed these plans.^[2]

Then, in May 2017, it was announced that ABC was making a bid to revive the program.^[3] Later, ABC announced that it had acquired the rights to the series, and that American Idol would return for the 2017–18 television season.^[4][5] On November 6, 2017, it was announced that the revival season would premiere on March 11, 2018.^[6]

On May 16, 2017, Katy Perry was the first judge to be announced by ABC.^[7] On July 20, 2017, it was announced on Live with Kelly and Ryan, that Ryan Seacrest would be returning as the host for the revival season.^[8] On September 24, 2017, Luke Bryan was the second judge to be announced for the revival season.^[9] On September 29, 2017, Lionel Richie was the third and final judge to be announced.^[10]

On February 21, 2018, it was announced that iHeartRadio radio personality Bobby Bones would be the mentor for the Top 24 this season.^[11]

In June 2017, it was announced that American Idol would begin two bus tours in 19 cities, later increased to 22, for audition starting August 17, 2017.^[12][13] Those who passed their first audition would go in front of the producers where they would be selected to appear before the judges in different cities. Instead of focusing on a city in each aired episode as in previous seasons, this season each episode shows a compilations of auditions from different cities, for example the premiere episode features auditions from New York, Nashville, and Los Angeles.^[14]

During the live broadcast of the 2017 American Music Awards, three contestants who did not pass the audition in front of the judges were given one more chance to allow the public to vote for them.^[18] The three candidates were Maris, Britney Holmes and Dominique Smith. The winner of the golden ticket to Hollywood was then revealed the following night on an episode of Dancing with the Stars. Lionel Richie appeared in the show announcing that the public vote was in favor of Britney Holmes, a 28-year-old vocal coach from Texas, who is headed to Hollywood as the first declared semifinalist of the season.^[19]

Hollywood Week aired over two episodes on March 26 and April 1. It features three rounds: Lines of 10, Group Round, and Solo Round. In the first round, each contestant sings individually, and after ten has sung, they gather in a line. Those who impressed the judges are advanced to the next round where the contestants perform in groups of four or five, singing a song together.^[20] The remaining auditionees who passed the group rounds perform their final solos to advance in the Showcase Round.

The Showcase Round aired on April 2, which featured the top 50 performing for the judges and a live audience at Exchange LA, a nightclub in Los Angeles. The following day, the judges narrowed the number of contestants down from 50 to 24 in the Final Judgement. The top 24 contestants then move on to perform solos and celebrity duets.^[21][22][23]

The following is a list of the contestants who reached the Top 24 and the song they performed at the Showcase:

Color key:

The Top 24 contestants will be split into two groups of twelve. Prerecorded performances of the first group will air on April 8 and the second group on April 15. On the following day each week, prerecorded performances of each contestant's duet will air, as will the judges' selection of seven contestants from each group to advance to the Top 14. Idol contestants will pair with celebrity singers as their duet partners. The artists set to duet with the Top 24 include: Banners, Aloe Blacc, Bishop Briggs, Cam, Colbie Caillat, Luis Fonsi, Andy Grammer, Lea Michele, Patrick Monahan, Rachel Platten, Bebe Rexha, Sugarland, and Allen Stone.^[25]

Color key:

On the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the premiere episode holds an approval rating of 67% based on 18 reviews, with an average rating of 6.08/10.^[45] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the season a score of 60 out of 100 based on eight reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews."^[46]

• Mara Justine appeared on the ninth seasonofAmerica's Got Talent as a Top 12 finalist.^[47]
• Caleb Lee Hutchinson, Maddie Poppe and Cade Foehner failed to score a chair turn on the ninth, tenth and eleventh seasonsofThe Voice, respectively.^[48][49][50]
• Michael Woodard won Majors & Minors in 2012.^[51]

• Official website