Adam Brock

The eleventh season of American Idol premiered on Fox on January 18, 2012. The show aired on Wednesdays and Thursdays at 8/7c. Ryan Seacrest returned as host, while Randy Jackson, Steven Tyler, and Jennifer Lopez all returned as judges. Interscope Records Chairman Jimmy Iovine, a songwriter and producer, also returned as an in-house mentor to work with the contestants on a weekly basis. This season followed the same format as season 10, although a new title screen and logo were created, with a different font. Tyler and Lopez announced that they would be leaving the show two months after the finale. Though Lopez later returned as a judge for the shows thirteenth season.The season set a record when 132 million votes were gathered for the finale. On May 23, 2012, Phillip Phillips became the winner of the eleventh season of American Idol, beating Jessica Sanchez, the first female recipient of the judges save.Six contestants from this season were signed to record labels. The signed artists are Phillip Phillips, Jessica Sanchez, Elise Testone, Colton Dixon, DeAndre Brackensick and Heejun Han. Several contestants that were not signed by a record label have independently released music, such as Hollie Cavanagh, Joshua Ledet, Erika Van Pelt, Jeremy Rosado and Shannon Magrane. Additionally, Skylar Laine signed to 19 Entertainments management and was in the process of finding a label, but she later parted ways with them.

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