Justin Bieber “would be awesome” as an American Idol judge, according to Carly Rae Jepsen.
Amid speculation that most, if not all, the current crop of judges on Fox’s show are getting the bullet at the end the season and talk that Bieber, Pink, Diddy and Selena Gomez are being courted to replace them — Jepsen has made her vote clear.
“He’s got lots of great opinions when it comes to the music world and he’s very experienced especially for being so young,” the 27-year-old explained to The Hollywood Reporter .
Jepsen should know. A 2007 Canadian Idol finalist (she finished third), she was signed as an artist to Bieber and Psy’s manager Scooter Braun in 2012 after the teen star recommended her.
Since then the “Boyfriend” singer actively promotes Jepsen via his social media accounts, has appeared in an alternative video for “Call Me Maybe” — one of the fastest and biggest selling singles of 2012 — and has a stake in her deal.
Jepsen was also one of the support acts for Bieber on the first leg of his Believe tour.
Despite Bieber’s stormy headlines while on tour — and off — Jepsen had more praise for the 19-year-old, telling E! News :
“All I see is an incredibly hard worker and a man who’s just passionate about what he does. Just putting it on himself to take on a lot all at once.”
She continued: “I think if anything I’m inspired by how hard he works, and I definitely want to add that to my own mantra as just like working really hard and doing my thing.”
A recent Juno Awards triple winner, Jepsen also debuted her new song “I Take a Picture” on last night’s Idol . It was co-written with Season 12 viewers through Coca-Cola’s “Perfect Harmony” program.
Meanwhile, on the Idol judges front, following last week’s shock announcement by Randy Jackson that he wouldn’t be returning to the show , augurs for Mariah Carey, Nicki Minaj and Keith Urban’s exit took an ominous turn this week.
None of the judges were present at Fox’s upfront presentation to advertizers on Monday. Former Idol and now X-Factor judge Simon Cowell who was at the event, reportedly teased : “Where’s Randy?”
To which, Ryan Seacrest replied: “Ask Kevin,” referring to Fox entertainment chief Kevin Reilly.
For his part, Reilly told reporters in a call that Monday that he had no news to report on the Idol judges , adding that the show would “likely” go back to having three for the next season. He also said all of the the judges were “welcome back, absolutely” and that “everything is on the table.”
Lastly, Gomez recently added her opinion to the buzz about possibly becoming an Idol judge, telling MTV that she would be too “sensitive” for the job.
[ Image via s_bukley / Shutterstock.com ]
