Season 12 of American Idol kicks off on today on FOX. Mariah Carey, Nicki Minaj and Keith Urban join Randy Jackson in the first round of auditions that take us to New York City. We have some changes to the competition’s format this year:

  • Singers are be split by gender earlier, in the Hollywood Round, which narrows the field from 276 to 40 contestants.
  • The Las Vegas Round gets expanded by two weeks and includes the first half of the semi-finals. The Top 10 emerge after a viewer vote.
  • The finals begin with 10 contestants instead of the 12 or 13 in previous years.
  • No more judges' wild-card picks.
  • Small-towns get visits with a roving Idol bus tour.
  • Friends and family participate in secret nominations of contestants.