A Britney-Topping Salary Could Keep J.Lo On 'American Idol'
by Sean ComerIf FOX wants Jenny staying put on the block, it could put a Britney Spears-proportion dent in the "American Idol" budget.
Sources indicated across the board yesterday that Jennifer Lopez' second season beside Steven Tyler and Randy Jackson at the "Idol" judges' table would be her last, what with four-year-old twins growing up and mounting a worldwide concert tour and all. That's not to say her time doesn't have a price, Perez Hilton reports today.
Still more sources have emerged today claiming that J.Lo's demands boil down pretty simply: match what "The X Factor" producers shelled out for Britney Spears. The blonde icon and Demi Lovato will join the "Idol" FOX rival this fall to fill the voids left by the departing Paula Abdul and Nicole Scherzinger.
"I enjoy it. I really do enjoy," Lopez said of the "Idol" experience while promoting her new flick "What To Expect When You're Expecting" on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" recently. "I miss doing other things. It really does lock you down . . . Now [her four-year-old twins] are getting more mobile. They're about to go to school. I just don't know. I don't know."
Hilton's inside source doesn't believe anything is that simple here.
"J.Lo and 'American Idol' are striving for headlines, along with it being 'strictly business,' she is also for sure wanting more money than Britney Spears to return," the source reportedly said. "She is not signed for next year but nothing is better in [producer Nigel Lythgoe's] eyes than people talking about 'American Idol' and who the judges will be all summer. Look at what it did with 'The X Factor'!"
Point, taken.
Given the culture that always surrounds these shows, it makes sense. Think about it: when "Idol" began, it was judged by a British super-producer who was an unknown commodity stateside, a pop star who'd been largely outside the greater public visibility years when the show debuted, and one of the many not-Michael-or-Janet Jacksons. Now, though?
"The Voice" became a platform in its first season for Christina Aguiler and Maroon 5's Adam Levine to pimp the bejeezus out of their collaboration "Moves Like Jagger" while helping to maybe launch a new recording career or two.
Aerosmith - complete, of course, with Tyler as always - will debut a new single on this season's "Idol" finale.
On the second season of "The Voice," more big fuss was made about Levine and Aguilera. Again.
NBC moved production of "America's Got Talent" to New Jersey, so that Howard Stern could fill the Piers Morgan vacancy alongside Sharon Osbourne and Howie Mandel without sacrificing his Sirius XM duties.
As season after season of show after show has come and gone without anybody really panning out into the next Carrie Underwood or Kelly Clarkson, the only safe bet for getting a show noticed has become giving pop stars their platforms to pimp their next projects.
It's a win-win strategy.