"We've had some incredible country voices -- in truth, Simon would have gotten rid of them straight-away because he wasn't a country fan. This season we have a 16-year-old kid with an incredible voice and a jazz kid who does this fabulous scat-singing. Again, we wouldn't have had him on the show because Simon would have said, 'He's not an American Idol! Get rid of him!' ... What you are definitely going to get this season is an American voice and American music."

-Executive producer Nigel Lythgoe on the benefits of Simon Cowell leaving American Idol.

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