'American Idol' Producers Launch New Country Music Competition

Nigel Lythgoe

Toby Canham/Getty

American Idol executive producer Nigel Lythgoe is teaming up with his son Simon to launch CMT's Next Superstar, a new singing competition that will begin in April on CMT. According to Lythgoe, the program will be distinct from Idol not only in its emphasis on country music but in that contestants will be judged on their songwriting and music videos.

Photos: Random Notes

Though CMT'S Next Superstar is set for a 10-episode run with a finale at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium, none of the show's judges or celebrity guests have been announced. The winner of the contest will be announced at the CMT Awards in June.

'Idol' producer launching a country music competition [CNN]

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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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