‘American Idol’ guest judge tells Ryan Seacrest that she’s looking for an Idol with ‘natural style.’
By Jocelyn Vena
Victoria Beckham
Photo: Kevin Mazur/ WireImage
Victoria Beckham, who was just announced as a guest judge for the upcoming ninth season of “American Idol”, said she can’t wait to sit next to the former A&R guy who once rejected the Spice Girls, fellow Brit Simon Cowell.
“He is the only man in the music industry who turned down the Spice Girls and said we would never work,” Beckham told Ryan Seacrest on his radio show on Friday (August 7), just before she sat in on auditions in Denver. “I like that fact that he’s honest. I think he’s very funny.”
She added that she doesn’t know Cowell very well, but very much understands his attitude and sense of humor. “He has a very tongue-in-cheek British sense of humor, which I have too. I’m looking forward to a bit of banter,” she said. “I hope he does give me a little bit of a hard time. I love that. I feed off of that.”
Abdul was always the sweet ying to Cowell’s sour yang, and it’s a tradition that Beckham hopes to uphold during her tenure as judge. “I want to be nice to people. I know how it feels to stand there and be judged, and how it can feel when nerves get the better of you. I don’t want to shatter anybody’s dream,” she said. “But at the same time, there’s nothing wrong with constructive criticism.”
As for replacing Abdul, even if it is for a brief amount of time, Beckham doesn’t feel bad about it, because she knows that soon enough the former judge will be great at whatever she does next. “I don’t. I’m a spiritual person, and I believe that you get back what you put out there, and I hope she does something that is bigger and better,” she said. “There’s something great for her around the corner, I’m sure.”
Beckham said she’s looking for an Idol with a “natural style.” “What I’m looking for [in an Idol winner] is a great singer and somebody who has that star quality,” she said. “It’s about the whole package.”
