Nick Jonas Confirms, Updates 'American Idol' Negotiations

True, two of the rumored four seats at this fall's "American Idol" judges' table have been filled. As the fall season on FOX nears, rumors of whose butts will fill the two other supposed chairs fly a little faster by the day, it seems.

For what it's worth, we may seemingly count Nick JONAS in for FOX's twelfth "Idol" campaign, Jonas told The Huffington Post recently. Jonas recently hooked up with his two brothers to plan a one-off gig at New York's Radio City Music Hall, the first Jonas Brothers live performance in three years.

Jonas has been a talked-about option since Jennifer Lopez and Aerosmith singer Steven Tyler made their respective departures official this past July within days of one another. It's not a gig Jonas is considering lightly, either.

"[There's been] lots of speculation . . . it's something I would like to do if it was right, but it's got to be right on both ends," Jonas said. "It's an ongoing discussion, but as soon as we know if it's right . . . we'll see. But regardless of whether or not it happens, my most exciting thing at this moment being back with these guys."

For him, it's a balance of how many years he's lived versus how much musical life he's lived in those years. Does quality negative a shortage of quantity? And where exactly would he get off levying criticism against musicians numerically his elders?

"I would be the youngest [judge], but I've also been a professional musician for about eight years of my life," 19-year-old Nick said. "That's a major question: Would you be okay to criticize? If I can help someone be better, that's the ultimate goal, not putting them down or making them feel irrelevant. As much as we are going to get along, there still is a bit of tough love there, which is important."

In the meantime, Mariah Carey is locked into a staggering $18-million contract to fill one of the vacancies. Us Weekly recently claimed that rapper Nicki Minaj is "100% confirmed" to fill a second spot. Word picked up steam Wednesday that FOX executives have their eye on Kanye West to fill a third seat, and West is rumored to be keen on the gig. JONAS would then round the panel out at four.

Speculation has Randy Jackson taking a step back from judging after 11 seasons to take on more of a "mentor" role to contestants.