Scotty McCreery Lauds Choice Of Keith Urban As “Idol” Judge

With Keith Urban official named as a judge for season 12 of FOX’s “American Idol,” season 10 winner Scotty McCreery says it’s “about time” the show got a judge from the world of country music.

McCreery tells MSN Music’s One Country he was “pumped” after hearing Urban had been chosen. “Country music has done so well on the show over the years, starting with Carrie [Underwood] and all them, so it’s good for country music, good for Keith, and I’m over the moon about it,” he says. “It’ll be fun to watch his perspective from a viewer’s standpoint.”

As for what kind of a judge he thinks Urban will end up being, McCreery says, “I can’t see him being mean. I could see him being real.”

He also thinks having a country judge should help that genre of music be better represented on the show. As for his own experience singing country on “Idol,” McCreery says, “I felt like not all the time they really understood. I remember I tried to sing Travis Tritt one week, and I did, but I had to kind of fight for it because nobody really understood where I wanted to go with it.”

Urban is already on the road judging “Idol” contestants around the country, and viewers will get their first glimpse of him at work when the show debuts in January 2013. He joins fellow judges Randy Jackson, Mariah Carey and Nicki Minaj.

McCreery thinks Minaj will be interesting to watch. “Oh lord, she’s different,” he tells One Country. “I don’t know her music that well or anything about her, but from the pictures I’ve seen she is very flashy, so she’ll be good for the TV.”