Jennifer Lopez seems to be fitting in nicely with her new co-workers at "American Idol." On Tuesday (October 19), she stopped by CBS' "The Talk" and opened up about sitting alongside Randy Jackson and Steven Tyler.
"[Critiquing the bad singers is] the easy part... I'm loving it," she said. "It's so much fun. When it goes live I'll be home for, like, five months. It's been great."
The happiness didn't stop there. "I love everybody," she said. "It's such a machine. It runs like clockwork. I love [executive producer] Nigel [Lythgoe]. I love Ryan [Seacrest]. I love Steven [Tyler]. I love Randy [Jackson]. Everything's great!"
Well... not everything. There is one part of her job where the fun takes a back seat. "It's easy when they're really good and it's easy when they're really bad," she said. "It's when they're in the middle."
Lopez explained that contestants get trapped in "the middle" when they have a look but no sound, or a sound but no look. "It's a really hard process. It just depends how you are in the audition," she said. "I think it is a good depiction of how the business is. I think it's just fast-forward."
During an "Idol" stop in New Jersey last month, Lopez expressed a similar sentiment. "I don't want to let anybody really great [not make it through] because they're nervous, and not get to see what they could have did," Lopez said at the time. "They're going to come in here and be a little bit nervous in the beginning, and then you realize, 'Wow, that person is really talented.' So we work them a little bit more than maybe you've seen in the past. We've given them more of a chance."
Describing her judging style as "tough, easy and fair," she noted that she understands the emotions going through hopefuls' heads. "We know what it's like to be out there," Lopez said. "I was energized by all of their spirit when they come in here, and they're so hopeful about what could happen and how it could be."