“American Idol” offered fans a sneak peek at their Top 24 finalists of Season 14 two weeks before its premiere on Jan. 7. While their faces weren’t seen in the short promotional video introduced by Ryan Seacrest, their voices were heard.
“It’s an ‘Idol’ first,” the long-time host touted at the start of the preview video. “Before we even show you the auditions, we are going to introduce you to the Top 24.”
The finalists each sang one line of Nina Simone’s “Feeling Good” while standing in silhouette. So while viewers don’t know exactly what they look like just yet, they do have an idea of what they sound like, and what their general shape is.
In other words, there’s a new “Idol” game for the 2015 season: Try to identify the Top 24 finalists from that one line and quick silhouette as the audition episodes progress.
The big question for Fox, of course, is if this new teaser promotion will entice viewers to tune into those audition rounds and give this latest season of the long-running reality show a chance. “Idol” remains a solid performer for the network, but it has seen its rating decline for the past three seasons, dropping out of the Top 10 for its season ratings for the first time since Season 1.
Watch the “American Idol” Season XIV sneak peek video here.
Season 14 of “American Idol” kicks off Wednesday, Jan. 7 at 8 p.m. ET on Fox, and continues on Wednesdays and Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET. This season, though, the show will trim down to one night a week once the competition gets down to its Top 10.