Lopez, out. Carey, in.

One pop diva will replace another on American Idol next season as Mariah Carey said Monday she's signed on as a judge. The deal was announced with show biz flair at the Television Critics Association summer tour in Beverly Hills during comments by Fox Entertainment President Kevin Reilly about the exodus of Idol judges.

Steven Tyler and Jennifer Lopez have both quit, and Randy Jackson is said to be on the bubble. "We do, in fact, have one judge whose deal closed very, very recently," Reilly told reporters at the Beverly Hilton. "It's an artist that many contestants have tried to emulate, have tried to have sung the songs, have tried to hit the notes and because it really was concluded only hours ago, our judge couldn't be with us."

He then put a phone call on speaker phone, and Carey's voice could be heard. "I am so excited to be joining Idol," she said. "First of all, I wanted to be there today and I wish I could've been there to tell you, but I think you know this all kind of just happened real quickly, so I can't wait to get started in a couple months."

沪江娱乐快讯：在史密斯飞船乐队主唱史蒂芬·泰勒和42岁的拉丁天后詹妮弗·洛佩兹先后宣布不再担任《美国偶像》的评委后，人们对接班人选一直有诸多猜测，如今，有一位重磅候选人已经确定：美国乐坛流行天后玛丽亚·凯莉将以1800万美元的薪酬成为新一届美偶评委！

1800美元/年，这个惊人的数字将创下电视音乐竞赛类真人秀历史上评审薪酬的新高。相比较之下，克里斯蒂娜·阿奎莱拉将在第3季的《美国之声》拿到1000万美元；J.Lo去年的合同为1200万美元；而成为《X达人秀》评审的布兰妮·斯皮尔斯的合同则为1500万美元。

这位五次格莱美奖得主最近正在工作室准备新专辑并录制产后复出的首支单曲“Triumphant”，将于下个月初推出，她表示，《美偶》的工作能让她充满创作的灵感。凯丽在自己的推特上说道：“能在《美国偶像》工作，一定能得到非常多的乐趣。作为一名歌手和写歌的人，我非常兴奋能够帮助选手找到并支持他们的才能。爱你们更多--MC。”