Simon Cowell earned notoriety during the early aughts for sharing his harsh feedback on American Idol. Yet the media personality has sustained a successful presence within the reality competition circuit. Now, he’s taking a moment to reminisce about Idol‘s first season on Fox (which aired in 2002) as well as its breakout star, Kelly Clarkson. Cowell also explained how Clarkson’s star power — and her likeability factors — helped the show avoid flopping.
Ahead of the release of his upcoming Netflix show, The Next Act (for which a trailer was recently released), Cowell chatted with Rolling Stone about the various competition shows he’s been a part of. Naturally, American Idol, the small-screen juggernaut that kicked off the singing competition show craze, came up. With that, Clarkson’s victory during that inaugural season was also mentioned. All in all, Cowell, seems to have positive feelings about how Clarkson closed out Season 1, saying:
You couldn’t have asked for a more perfect winner. And we’re still friends today. She’s a amazing person, incredible personality. And just this killer voice. It was like a movie. I just wish it wasn’t the guy. There was this other girl, Tamara, and she was phenomenal, and the two of them in the final [episode], that could have been amazing, but it didn’t quite work out.
I 100% agree with his feelings about the OG American Idol winner, and I feel that Tamara Gray could’ve given her a run for her money. And, while she didn’t enter the competition until Season 3, Jennifer Hudson also could’ve given Clarkson some competition. (If you couldn’t guess, I was watching in real time and was devastated when Gray and Hudson were booted in their respective seasons.) Ultimately, though, the “Stronger” singer’s historic reality show moment was just the beginning of a career that would be marked by multiple hit albums, a Vegas residency and even a nationally syndicated talk show.
Kelly Clarkson’s iconic win was also huge for the success of American Idol. Simon Cowell seemed to be confident, in some ways, about the show’s potential to dominate in the ratings. However, that was far from a certainty for the series, which was also featured Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson as judges. When talking about his headspace, Cowell said:
Oh, it was like a dream. I do remember actually saying to someone, hypothetically, ‘I’m certain there’s someone out there and he or she’s probably working in a bar, has tried to get a deal, can’t get into the right people or the label, but is brilliant.’ I just had that feeling. It took a while to get there. Some of the early people we saw in the first couple of cities — everyone was terrible. So I thought this show could be a disaster.
Again, his assessment, to me, is spot on, as Clarkson was just a young woman going about her business in Texas. But, even with that shimmer of hope, the margin of error was huge, given that televised talent competitions hadn’t blended with reality shows in a fuller capacity at that point. At that point, series like Survivor and The Bachelor were on the reality competition scene alongside MTV’s offbeat offerings. Star Search already existed, but that show had been off the air for years by the time Idol arrived.
Obviously, since Kelly Clarkson won that first year, American Idol has had its fair shares of ups and downs. Other shows offering similarly exciting fare also entered the arena and shifted the paradigm, so to speak. Also, even years in, Abdul left the show, Cowell left soon after, and Jackson called it quits just shy of the 15th Season, with Ryan Seacrest remaining as host throughout the entire run . Eventually, Fox canceled the show in 2016, but it gained new life in 2018 when ABC picked it up for more episodes.
Even though it’s been over two decades since Cowell and co. crowned Clarkson the first American Idol, the show remains a pop culture staple. And, quite frankly, I love to see it.
American Idol is set to return to ABC amid the 2026 TV schedule. In the meantime, stream episodes of the show using a Hulu subscription.