Simon Cowell Won't Be Able to Shut Her Up

Simon Cowell, beware: Your new sparring partner arrives this week on American Idol. “If he doesn’t let me speak, it’s going to be a problem,” Kara DioGuardi, a songwriter and Idol’s fourth judge, tells the New York Times. “I’m not going into this thinking everyone’s going to love me,” she said. “But they can’t take away what I’ve done.”

“She never shuts up,” Cowell has said of DioGuardi, who’s written hits for Christina Aguilera and Celine Dion, and joins Idol amidst other changes designed to stem last year’s 6% ratings dip. Producers will focus on contestants’ backstories and are seeking to shake things up at the judges’ table. “We wanted someone who would argue when necessary, a voice that would stir it up,” said a Fox exec. “She’s done that.” (More Kara DioGuardi stories.)