"American Idol" Announces 2009 Schedule, Brings Back Wild Card Round

American Idol plotted out its season-eight schedule today, with this year's competition kicking off January 13th with a two-part season premiere before three weeks of audition episodes. As opposed to the past two seasons, this year there will be no "Idol Gives Back" episode, but instead producers have opted to bring back the fan favorite Wild Card Round, with the Top 12 finalists decided by March 10th. This year, 36 semifinalist will duke it out on air with hopes of advancing to the final 12. For three weeks, three contestants from each batch of 12 will advance on. After the first nine are selected, the Wild Card week will feature the judges rounding out the 12 with their three favorites of the remaining 27 contestants. Another change reportedly includes an emphasis on more talent and less bad singers during the show's audition episodes.

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Song Stories

“Baby Got Back”

Sir Mix-a-Lot | 1992

While watching a Budweiser commercial during the Super Bowl, Sir Mix-a-Lot thought the skinny female models in the ad didn’t represent reality. So he wrote this ode to ample bottoms, featuring its famous to-the-point lyric: “I like big butts and I cannot lie.” MTV banished the video, featuring shaking booties and sexually suggestive fruit, to 9 p.m. or later. “I thought my career was over,” he told Rolling Stone. “Then I called Rick Rubin, and I told him the video was banned, and he was like, 'Great!' We sold another 2 million records.”

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