American Idol (season 12) American Idol (season 12) The twelfth season of "American Idol" premiered on January 16, 2013, as part of the mid-season of the 2012–13 network television season. Ryan Seacrest returned to host. Randy Jackson returned for his twelfth season as judge and was joined by new judges Mariah Carey, Nicki Minaj and Keith Urban, who replaced Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler. The season was the third to have four judges, after the eighth and ninth seasons. It was also the first season in the show's history where all the finalists of one gender (male) were eliminated before any finalists of the
Asian Idol Idol" performance show. The Idols performed two songs each—one in English and another in their native language. In addition to the coverage of "Asian Idol", RCTI ran a series of features called "Asian Idol Extra" between late November to mid-December 2007. Every competing country sent a judge to serve as the contestants' critics, but comments from only three judges on each performer were shown due to time constraints. Special guests in the Results Show included "American Idol" winner Taylor Hicks, "Australian Idol" winner Guy Sebastian, "Indian Idol" judge Alisha Chinai, and "Vietnam Idol" judge Siu Black. It also featured performances