‘American Idol’: Nigel Lythgoe on Angie Miller, Janelle Arthur, and judging panel

Earlier in the day, we posted some song spoilers for Candice Glover and Kree Harrison for Wednesday night’s “American Idol” performance show. Luckily, executive producer Nigel Lythgoe seems to be in a pretty giving mood, as he was also kind enough to share some scoop on some of the other contestants, as well.

Remember that there are two themes for this week in “Divas” as well as “Songs from the Year of Your Birth.” We’ve tried to specify which is which, at least for as much as we can figure out.

-Angie Miller is apparently going to be singing Beyonce’s “Halo” during the “Divas” round, which shows that she is embracing the ballads more than ever now, which is good in that it seems to be what is getting her votes.

-Janelle Arthur’s “Diva” track is “Dumb Blonde” by Dolly Parton. A very cool, very refreshing choice that is not one of the all-too-familiar artists covered on the show.

-Meanwhile, Amber Holcomb is being very brave in taking on Barbra Streisand’s “What Are You Doing The Rest of Your Life.” We’re not actually sure what theme this is for, given that the song original came out in the late sixties (though Barbra covered it later).

Nigel also made some pretty interesting comments today in an interview with Zap2It, saying that Fox chooses the judging panel and not him, and he (rightly) blames the decline in the show’s ratings this year to the terrible chemistry between the four people critiquing the singers:

“I don’t think we have good chemistry with the judges … And that saddens me. They are good individually, but I miss the camaraderie we have had in the past.”

Who knows at this point? Maybe “American Idol” needed someone to speak out publicly to change things in the future.  Want more news for this week’s “American Idol”? If so, be sure to check out the story over at the link here.

Photo: Fox