'American Idol' Season 13 receives January 15 premiere date on Fox; singing reality show to use new judges to compete with 'The Voice,' 'X Factor'

By Carolyn Menyes c.menyes@gmail.com | Oct 25, 2013 05:54 PM EDT

They say 13 is an unlucky number, but it's a good day for American Idol fans. The 13th season of the popular FOX singing competition has finally received a premiere date. According to Rolling Stone, the new season of Idol will begin on Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2014. The second episode, of course, will air on Thursday, Jan. 16.

The new season of American Idol comes with a fair amount of shakeups and fierce competition from other singing reality shows like The Voice and The X Factor. To adapt to the new TV landscape, Idol underwent an overhaul of both judges and producers.

Jennifer Lopez and Keith Urban return to Idol for their third and second season as judges, respectively. Lopez first appeared on the show for seasons 10 and 11 before taking a year off the show to promote her newest album Love?. Meanwhile, Urban joined the show last season alongside Nicki Minaj and Mariah Carey, both of whom parted ways with the show. Brand new judge Harry Connick, Jr. joined the show for season 13 after an exhaustive search for a Randy Jackson replacement.

This year will be the first without Jackson as a judge since the show began in 2002. Instead, he will play the role of in-house mentor, taking record executive Jimmy Iovine's place.

As for producers, longtime Idol employees Nigel Lythgoe and Ken Warwick left the show following season 12. Simon Fuller, the creator of the show, remains on board for the new year.

A forever constant, Ryan Seacrest remains the host for the new season.

It's sure to be an interesting and different year for Idol as it works out the kinks of new judges and a new production staff. However, some things remain the same. The show will kick off with the audition rounds, as per tradition. The show pooled from cities such as Salt Lake City, Detroit and Boston in July and August.

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