Mariah Carey Says ‘American Idol’ Was ‘Not What I Signed Up For’ (Video)

For those who commented that "the real Mariah was SO not there" on American Idol during season 12, Mariah Carey agrees.

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She dished in an interview with Elvis Duran and the Z100 Morning Zoo on Wednesday morning that she was anything but herself while on the judges' panel with Randy Jackson, Keith Urban and Nicki Minaj.

"I should’ve been a mentor on the show and that’s it -- I should’ve been like the Jimmy Iovine, and we love Jimmy," she said. "Jimmy did a great job! He’s a little brutal sometimes and I didn’t always agree with his assessments, but yeah! I mean, Jimmy knows what he’s doing; he’s discovered a lot of great talent."

Carey was on a radio tour promoting her new single, "You’re Mine (Eternal)" from her forthcoming record, set for a May 6 release.

The Grammy-winning singer said that she was blindsided by the addition of a fourth judge -- without outwardly naming Minaj, she said, "what happened was that I was led to believe that I was going to be in a three-panel show, like the traditional way and yet, somehow… well, I won’t get into the legalities."

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However, she did say she was uncomfortable with last season’s drama. "Everybody’s just trying to do their job, but I felt that going in the direction of making it into a reality show, was not something I signed up for."

And as for the ratings? "I felt like, well, this reflected on me, because I was the first person that they signed, dangling a huge star. We love everybody, yay Idol, yay team that tried to make it happen, but we wish you would’ve tried it on a different season."

Watch the interview below:

Twitter: @MicheleAmabile

Michele Amabile Angermiller