Harry Connick Jr. thinks they “need to see” more variety on American Idol.
The popular singing competition series is famous for unearthing talent and turning them into pop stars. And one of the judges has made his stance clear on the necessity of making sure the range of performers they consider is broad.
"Of course you have to consider diversity, because the people watching this show are diverse," Harry has told E! News. "As many genres as we can have represented that are appropriate to American Idol—like we had some opera singers come in and I don't think it's the right venue for opera—but we need to see R&B singers, we need to see country singers, we need to see ‘coffeehouse' whatever."
Harry, who himself is a Grammy Award winning singer, sits on the judging panel alongside Jennifer Lopez and Keith Urban.
He explained there’s no way of guaranteeing the finalists won’t all consist of one type, but they’ve been pleased that it’s naturally panned out that way.
"Although we don't have a quota system per se, we've been very fortunate that a diverse group happened to end up in this top group because we want everybody to be represented," Harry said.
However, Keith noted his opinion that sometimes it’s difficult to consider diversity when the goal is to pick the best winner. According to him, talent trumps representing the masses.
"The best person takes it, the person whos really ready and can go the distance," Keith told E! "At the end of the day, for me, it keeps coming down to that."
