Twelve Things About 'American Idol'

by Kate Conrad Jan 15th 2011 at 2:01PM

Confused by the changes to 'American Idol' for Season 10? Steven Tyler sure seems to be! Let us help you out with twelve things about the show.

There have been a lot of rumors about changes to the structure, format and more on 'American Idol' this year. Check 'em out below. We hope this clears up the confusion for both you and Steven Tyler.

Resident meanie, Simon Cowell, is gone from the show. After 9 years and lots of disses, we know we'll miss him. Randy Jackson will be the lone, surviving, original judge.
Also departing the show last season were Kara DioGuardi and Ellen Degeneres. Ellen had only been on the show one season, Kara had been on two seasons. We don't feel we got to know them well enough to truly miss them.
Departing judges means the addition of new judges ... Welcome Steven Tyler and Jennifer Lopez to Season 10 of 'American Idol.' We can't wait to see how they do.
The set is going to have some major changes, such as a different location for the band.
The elimination process is going to be much faster. For example, the Top 24 may be whittled down to 12 or 15 instead.
The voting process is being overhauled, with some significant changes. We don't know what they'll be exactly, but we hear there may be online voting -- YAY!
The contestants will reside in an Idol Mansion, hmmmm that might be incentive enough to try to make it to Hollywood Week.
The contestants will have help from the industry's best, as usual. But this year they'll help them pick a song and then arrange the musical accompaniment. This means songs should sound more like original music, than a boring karaoke cover.
There won't be theme weeks this year, so contestants FINALLY won't have to sing based on theme. So, someone like Carrie Underwood, who is an amazing country singer, won't have to sing a rock song that doesn't showcase her amazing abilities.
There's potential for contestants to make music videos but this hasn't been confirmed.
Finalists will release music much sooner so that we don't have to wait months and months to get the songs for ourselves. Our iPod will be so happy!
We might get to hear more from the contestants throughout the show, as they may be allowed to tweet. This could really change the way people feel about the contestants and really affect the voting. We're PSYCHED!