The fourth season of American Idol premiered on January 18, 2005 and continued until May 25, 2005. It was won by Carrie Underwood.
Because of the highly unbalanced finals in Series 3 where female contestants took a clear supermajority of the Final 12, rules were changed to prevent a similar incident from happening again.This season also implemented new rules for the final portion of the contest. Instead of competing in semifinal heats in which the top vote-getters are promoted to the final round, 24 semifinalists were named -- 12 men and 12 women, who competed separately, with 2 of each gender being voted off each week until 12 finalists were left.
Auditions
Auditions were held in Washington, DC, St. Louis, Missouri, New Orleans, Louisiana, Las Vegas, Nevada, Cleveland, Ohio, Orlando, Florida and San Francisco, California. There was originally supposed to be an audition held in Anchorage, Alaska, but that was changed about a month before so they could go to Orlando, Florida. Auditions were held from August to October 2004. While in the past seasons celebrity guest judges have been invited to participate during the competition, this was the first season where guest judges were invited to participate in the auditions.
It is also the first season in which the age limit was raised to 28, in order to increase variety. Among those who benefitted from this new rule were Constantine Maroulis and Bo Bice, considered to be the eldest (and most experienced) of Idol contestants. They were also constantly mentioned by Ryan Seacrest and in the media as "the two rockers", since their long hair and choice of songs made them stand out from conventional Idol standards.
Finals
The fourth season finale featuring Bo Bice and Carrie Underwood aired May 24-May 25. It featured appearances by former auditioners, and celebrity cameos by Kenny G, Rascal Flatts, David Hasselhoff, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, George Benson, Billy Preston, Babyface and Lynyrd Skynyrd. The winner of the competition was Carrie Underwood.
visitors
