Ten years ago, amateur singers showing off their talent was becoming all the rage. Now, a decade later, TV is full of talent-themed programs and fortunately, this country doesn’t seem to be short on people who can sing, or people who think they can sing and are willing to do it (badly) to keep the audition rounds interesting. The latest trend for TV talent competitions seems to be bringing in celebrities to mentor the contestants.
Ok, technically, the celebrity mentor thing has been happening on Idol for years, but looking at NBC’s The Voice and seeing how hands on the mentors were in that show, the concept seems to be evolving into something more than just a one-off appearance where celebs smile for the camera, hug the contestants, offer a few words of encouragement or advice and leave. Fox’s upcoming new talent competition The X Factor is set to incorporate the celebrity mentor concept within the format of the show and according to Deadline, Mariah Carey may be the first on board as Simon Cowell’s personal choice to mentor his contestants.
Apparently, each X Factor judge will have a celebrity mentor come to their homes and work with their contestants in preparation for the competition. While the show is working on landing some big names for the job, Carey is in final negotiations with Simon Cowell to work on the show. Carey’s certainly a big name with a big voice and it’s likely she’ll have a lot to say about singing, but will she be a good mentor? We’ll have to wait and see, should the deal go through and she joins the series this fall.