Jimmy Iovine Talks "American Idol" and Top 2

By Jamie Ruby

Jimmy IovineThis season of American Idol marked Jimmy Iovine's second year as the in-house-coach. He helps the contestants each week to pick their songs and mentor them to improve each week. He also generally gives critiques of their performances during the show.

Recently Iovine talked to the media about his time on the show and his thoughts on the top contestants.

Iovine knew early on that the top three contestants on American Idol had something special. "I had it pretty early on that Joshua, Jessica, and Phillip had what it takes to be in the final three. I did not know who was going to proceed or not when Joshua got cut, but those three I always knew would be, I felt personally they would be in the final three. I'm not surprised at the final two, but if it was Joshua and someone else I wouldn't have been surprised at that either."

The mentor also had some tips for Phillip and Jessica after the show is over, regardless of who wins. "Usually when someone makes their first album they're coming from really trying to figure everything out and no one knows who they are. In the day of becoming very popular on your own on the Internet, or something like American Idol, the first album you're entering a different place than most artists in the past, so the best thing you can try.. is to collaborate and make that first album feel like your first album, where you've taken the input you need and working on it and that sort of stuff. Quite a few times what I've seen in the past is that it's hard to go on TV in front of 20 million people, 25 million, whatever it is, and then go make your first album. That's a tough trick."

Iovine has yet to be asked to be a judge on American Idol, but he doesn't know that he would accept if he was. "I like working with musicians and I like the creative aspect of what I do on the show. I really enjoy that. It's a lot of fun for me. And that would change that, so probably not."

FOX Conference Call
American Idol
Jimmy Iovine

*Note that this interview took place before the season finale*

May 21, 2012
1:00 p.m. EDT

Jimmy IovineJIMMY IOVINE: Okay, hi guys. There you go. How are you doing? So let's go.

QUESTION: This is your second year on the show and you do such a great job with these contestants on a weekly basis. I'm curious though, the last few contestants outside of Scotty haven't done the greatest in recent times post-Idol. What tips do you maybe have for Jessica or Phillip moving forward, whether or not one of them wins the show or not.

JIMMY IOVINE: Well, you're dealing with a very unusual situation. Usually when someone makes their first album they're coming from really trying to figure everything out and no one knows who they are. In the day of becoming very popular on your own on the Internet, or something like American Idol, the first album you're entering a different place than most artists in the past, so the best thing you can try to do is to get...head space is to collaborate and make that first album feel like your first album, where you've taken the input you need and working on it and that sort of stuff. Quite a few times what I've seen in the past is that it's hard to go on TV in front of 20 million people, 25 million, whatever it is, and then go make your first album. That's a tough trick.

QUESTION: [You have] celebrated your honesty during the elimination episodes and slammed the judges for constantly positive critiques. Would you ever consider being a judge?

JIMMY IOVINE: No one has asked me, and not right now. I like working with musicians and I like the creative aspect of what I do on the show. I really enjoy that. It's a lot of fun for me. And that would change that, so probably not.

QUESTION: Do you think the judges showed too much favoritism towards Joshua this year?

JIMMY IOVINE: Oh no. I think what they do is really cool. They were fans of a lot of the kids on the show, and Joshua does great work. He really has an impressive, impressive voice and I can see why you're sitting there getting excited about him. But they always loved Jessica and they like Phillip and they liked Hayley, and they liked Alicia. I feel they spread the love around, you know?

QUESTION: The mentoring sessions have been really interesting to watch and they seem to have been very helpful for the contestants, sometimes resulting in them changing the song that they've chosen or the approach. Can you tell me when in the week do they happen and how long is each session?

JIMMY IOVINE: The sessions are approximately probably half an hour each, or maybe a little bit more, and they happen on a Friday. But I give a lot of thought before I go in, and I've been doing this a long time so what I'm doing basically is what I do in my office, I talk to musicians, or when I was a record producer what I would do, and yes, it's a contest and it's a show, so it was all kind of squished into a show at a time. But what I was most shocked about this year is that every one of these kids were cooperative and wanted to learn and wanted to be better, and especially the final four or five, these kids really cared and really were interested in, okay, is this how it's done. And so I really liked the kids this year a lot, quite a bit, so it made me able to do more. And I would bring my friends in that also have a lot of experience, and so if we need more time the kid leaves and comes back. Everybody's treated equally, and that's how it works.

QUESTION: You have these two goals with Jessica, one is for her to sound age appropriate, but the other one is for her to show that she has this big voice that she can use. And it seems like that's hard to pull off, because most songs for 16-year-olds are little songs, and she needs to show off the big voice. How do you make that work? What is she going to have to do on Tuesday to win?

JIMMY IOVINE: I worked with both Phillip and Jessica, and Jessica has to, on Wednesday, find that balance between what her capabilities are and reach inside and have the right song to click the emotion, because she has to get people to vote for her, people that haven't voted for her in the past. So I think she's up there. I think she has to have 10, 10, 10. I think she has to do, on her songs, what she's capable of doing. I believe in the songs that she's chosen and that Simon has chosen for her, Simon Fuller, and we worked on an original song, which I really like, and I think she just has to go there and do what – she's a pro. She's 16 years old, but when this girl's 18, when she grows the next few years, as they would say, she's going to be a problem, meaning that she's going to do really, really well. She's got all the capabilities and all the pieces to just do great. I'm really excited. I get excited when I work with her.

QUESTION: I know you were born in Brooklyn, what area were you born and did you grow up [there] as a kid? And how did you get into music as a kid?

JIMMY IOVINE: I was born on Second Place and Henry Street, down by the Battery Tunnel. When I was there it was called Red Hook Brooklyn, and now it's called Cobble Hill. I just liked music and at that time wanted to get out of Brooklyn, and it was either that or sports. And if you met me or see me on TV you know sports wasn't an option, so I got into music. I met a girl named Ellie Greenwich who was a great songwriter, and she got me a job in a recording studio cleaning up and stuff. I was able to watch and from there I went to another studio. I had three studio jobs, like custodial, help out, set things up, and then eventually this guy, Roy Sacolo liked me and he put me in a studio and I kind of got started, I was about 19 years old.

QUESTION: What do you think about the possibility of [Jennifer Lopez] not returning and do you think that Idol might lose some of its star power if it loses Jennifer?

JIMMY IOVINE: Do you know something, she's incredible. I hope she does it again. I know nothing about this fortunately. On this particular show it's a decision that's way below my pay grade. I just mentor the kids and do my thing. And Jennifer's wonderful and funny and beautiful and talented, so I hope they keep her.

QUESTION: In the past three seasons many people have been saying only a boy can win, only a boy can win. However, we have now a boy and a girl in the finals and they're both very strong. Can you say why you think Jessica has a really good chance this year to win?

JIMMY IOVINE: Yes. Jessica is born with one of those gifts that you see very, very rarely. Her voice, the tone of her voice, the range, her poise, she has every, every chance to win this thing because she can strike a chord in you with the right song that just no matter what you're thinking before you hear that, you will vote for her. She can change your mind on a dime, because those voices don't come around every day. That's why there are so few people that sing like that in the industry today. I wish there were more, but there aren't. There just aren't voices like that.

QUESTION: There have been a lot of shocking eliminations over the course of Idol this year. Was there anyone in particular that you were really shocked to see go home early?

JIMMY IOVINE: Well, I had it pretty early on that Joshua, Jessica, and Phillip had what it takes to be in the final three. I did not know who was going to proceed or not when Joshua got cut, but those three I always knew would be, I felt personally they would be in the final three. I'm not surprised at the final two, but if it was Joshua and someone else I wouldn't have been surprised at that either.

QUESTION: This season has been full of surprises, from bringing back Jermaine Jones to saving Jessica Sanchez, Colton Dixon being eliminated, and now Joshua Ledet. What do you make of this season of American Idol and what do you think it means for the future of American Idol?

JIMMY IOVINE: Well, I'm really pleased about, go down to the last two weeks, Phillip is a very unusual artist to get this far on American Idol, and I'm really impressed with that. Phillip's career is going to be based on, he's a writer and a singer/songwriter, so you don't have the world to pick material from. He may take some help in collaborations with different things that he does, but for that secret to still be in the bag and to have him this far as a singer/songwriter, a big part of it is those songs, Dave Matthews, Paul Simon, Bruce Springsteen, what...songs. So that part the audience doesn't know yet, but I believe in him a lot and I think that he's got crazy charisma. He's got incredible charisma and an incredible sound, so I'm really happy about that. I think that bodes well for American Idol, that a kid like that can get this far. And I just think that there's something about this group.

First of all, let me say one thing. The judges, what they do is so difficult, to go on the road and listen to people sing a cappella, thousands of them, I couldn't do that, and differentiate and define one kid and not the other. What they do is really extraordinary, and that's what I think you're seeing on American Idol that was missing in some of the years right before that, in our process, that these judges collectively do is really extraordinary. That's the thing I'm most impressed with.

QUESTION: If [Phillip Phillips] did win, the last three guys that were similar that they were great close up and personal singers just didn't do well selling records at all.

Jimmy IovineJIMMY IOVINE: Scotty did.

QUESTION: Yes, because that's a good thing for country. It doesn't seem to work as well on pop. So what do you think, what would Phillip have to do to actually be successful as a –

JIMMY IOVINE: It's a very good question, actually. Again, singer/songwriters it's a complicated thing and how they use – he has the advantage now of being exposed, of people hearing him in incredible circumstances, and a lot of people know who he is, and that's an extraordinary advantage. But now he has to go make a record that lives up to the popularity and the hype, and yet go make his first record as an artist, which is not always the easiest thing. So his record, he's got to put a lot of work into it and we're going to help him a lot. But he has a certain thing that some of those other people you're talking about didn't have. This guy, I don't know how he was missed in the industry because he really has such charisma and such a vibe and such a great character that he was looked over probably, and it's great that he got on this show. And it's terrific for the show that he made it through. It's just great. I'm really pleased for everyone.

QUESTION: Going back to last season and right up to this one, I have to mention that there are a lot of viewers who appreciate some of your candor and some of your humor as well when critiquing the contestants. Last year was a feeling out period with the introduction of Steven Tyler and Jennifer Lopez and yourself, and I'm curious about your thoughts with those behind the judges' table, as opposed to what you do...

JIMMY IOVINE: Here's the thing about that, I'm, what do you call it, a mentor, a coach, an executive producer, a producer, whatever you're doing I'm in the creative process. I'm on their side. And then at the end of the game we get to talk about what happened. And if you're in a playoff game and the coach comes back and says, "Well, this guy blew it. This one did great." It's just about what it is. So my responsibility is to just say what it is and help the artist, the singers, and the audience, give them my take on actually what's happening and what did happen, why that happened...why things happen and why they don't, or why I felt that it didn't work, or why I agreed or disagreed with the judges. It's part of the creative process. I'm on the front of it and the back of it. And that's my responsibility, to train the team and then let them know what happened, or how I see it anyway.

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