Jennifer Lopez felt awkward judging American Idol.

The sexy singer - who recently announced she was quitting the reality TV show - is thrilled to be back on stage for her Dance Again world tour and says she feels far more comfortable performing to thousands of fans than she ever was judging others on the show.

"I'm a professional! And as fun as it was to take a break from everything and do that for a little while, this is where I belong. I'm so much more at ease on stage than I was sitting in that chair," she told The Los Angeles Times.

The curvy Latina star has credited the show with inspiring her musical comeback in 2011 and is thankful for the experience. "Idol was a catalyst for all this movement in my life. Talking to the contestants and sharing what I've learned over the years performing live and singing in the studio - it got me back to those things. All of a sudden I realized I knew all this stuff," Jennifer enthused.

Pop diva Mariah Carey has been chosen to replace Jennifer on the panel and Nick Jonas and Pharrell Williams are hot contenders to replace Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler. It now appears P. Diddy is the latest star to be considered for the American Idol judging line-up.

"Producers at the Fox show have reached out to the Bad Boy Records founder," an insider told The New York Post.