Season 23 is under way…

Lionel Richie and Carrie Underwood on American Idol Season 23.

(Image credit: Eric McCandless)

American Idol fans got their first real glimpse of Carrie Underwood as Katy Perry’s replacement during the American Idol audition special that aired on the 2025 TV schedule after the Academy Award winners were announced Sunday night, and wow, things certainly have changed. The Season 4 winner will officially make her debut as the new judge when Season 23 kicks off March 9, but it’s already obvious to her (and Lionel Richie) how much things have changed.

It’s been 20 years since Carrie Underwood stood in front of Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson in the audition that would lead to her being named the winner of American Idol Season 4. Back then the show (which aired on Fox for its first 15 seasons) sprinkled in some bad auditions among its uber-talented hopefuls, basically just to embarrass them for the audience’s entertainment. Underwood told EW:

It was a different time in the show — in the world in general — and there was a decent chance you might get super-duper humiliated in front of tens of millions of people. It’s changed a lot, and hopefully people can leave with some information that will make them better — no matter how long they are on the show.

Gone are the days where people like William Hung were encouraged to sing in front of the judges for the sole purpose of being laughed at and insulted (although he did get the last laugh, becoming one of Idol’s most famous contestants). Removing that aspect was a big change made when American Idol was rebooted on ABC for Season 16, and Underwood noted that they want to give the singers feedback that can help them grow.

Lionel Richie, who continues his role as a judge alongside Carrie Underwood and Luke Bryan, added that while the old way may have been more entertaining for a TV audience, today they give artists more grace. He said:

Before, it was a great TV show where you go, ‘Boy, you suck. Go home,’ you know? ‘What the hell?’ Now, it’s, ‘Okay, the kid is, first of all, traumatized from being here. A nervous wreck. How do we calm them down to build them up so they can get the best out of themselves?’ If they go through, fantastic, but if they don’t go through, we want to build them up enough to where they can go out and go, ‘Okay, I gave it my best try, and Lionel and Luke and Carrie said I need to try harder.’ And they’ll be back.

I love that regardless of if the artists make it through to Hollywood week, this current trio of judges wants everyone to be able to take something away from their audition.

In Carrie Underwood’s time, Simon Cowell was known for being especially harsh — though it’s been said that rudeness might have been faked for TV — as he criticized everything from contestants’ song choice to wardrobe and even their weight.

While many of us agree American Idol is better without such personal insults, Randy Jackson thinks American Idol has gotten too nice. He has said the music industry is a mean business, and if someone is terrible, it’s better that they know that. Season 2 runner-up Clay Aiken said he liked the judges’ criticism, because it allowed him and other artists to grow, and it made for better television because you could see the singers’ improvement over the course of a season.

Theoretically, though, both things are possible, and we’ll have to tune in to see how Carrie Underwood’s judging philosophy contributes to the overall goal of developing music idols while not humiliating anyone who puts themselves out there. Tune in for the American Idol Season 23 premiere at 8 p.m. ET Sunday, March 9, on ABC and streaming the next day with a Hulu subscription.