Randy Jackson, Paula Abdul, Simon Cowell… and Kara? Thats right! Season 8 kicked off last night with a new judge in tow, singer and songwriter Kara DioGuardi. The show premiered last night with the audition rounds in Phoneix, AZ which is quite possibly the best part of the show Producers have promised to shake things up this year – They’ve added new judge Kara to bring up the panel to four, they’ve upped the number of semi-finalists to 36 from 24, given the snippy judge Simon Cowell the deciding vote in any tie decision, and even re-introduced the wild card round.

As far as singers go, there seemed to be a lot more bad than there were good, but there were a few stand outs. Scott Macintyre, 23 years old, visually impaired vocalist and pianist from Scottsdale, AZ made quite the impression on the judges. He was the last audition of the season 8 opening show and won over each judge with his version of “And So It Goes” by Billy Joel. Scott earned his golden ticket to Hollywood and could very well be the emotional favorite if he can make it past Hollywood week.

New judge Kara was quiet during the first hour of the show, but her personality quickly shined through once Katrina Darrell, a Chino Hills California resident, came into audition in a tiny bikini. Singing Mariah Carey’s “Vision of Love”, she received rave reviews from Randy and Simon, but Kara’s reaction was less than enthusiastic.

Via NBC Philadelphia:

“Honestly, you don’t have the chops to sing that song sweetie,” Kara said of the girl vocals, herself beginning to sing the song to prove her point.

“Your demonstration wasn’t any better,” Katrina Darrell snapped back.

“That wasn’t the right thing to say.” The none too pleased Paula said, quickly stepping in to defend Kara.

While Randy and Simon, obviously blinded by her bikini clad body, both gave the girl their votes for Hollywood, Paula and Kara both said that she was terrible. After earning her ticket, she proceeded to hunt down Ryan Seacrest to give him what could only be described as one of the most awkward kisses on television before jumping into the pool. Also catching the judges eye was Deanna Brown, the blonde country girl who won her ticket with the song “Sittin’ On The Dock of The Bay.” Unfortunately for Randy Madden, he wasn’t so lucky. The cubical worker and self-proclaimed “Rocker in a Box” sang “Livin’ On a Prayer” in which Simon called wimpy. Also not making it through, a guy who calls himself Sexual Chocolate, apparently more interested in showing the judges his back tattoo with those words tattooed acrossed it than he was singing.

All in all, 27 contenders of the 10.000 people from the Phoenix area made it through the audition round to Hollywood. The audition rounds continue through January 29th with tonight for the first time stopping in Kansas City, hometown of last year’s winner David Cook, to see if maybe they can find their next star. Welcome back, American Idol.

Written by Holly Stafford