Catching up with Nadia Turner

Four years after her days on the "American Idol" stage, Season 4 finalist Nadia Turner  lives in New York and is playing music with an "eclectic bunch" called Black Brown, a band with a "soulful, rock, reggae kind of vibe." Nadia has two singles available on iTunes and is working on getting an album released. She's currently featured on Fox's "American Idol Rewind," a behind-the-scenes and hindsight look at each season that is currently reliving the highlights of Season 4. After experiencing the hectic world of "American Idol" and the hottest heat she's ever felt in Doha, Qatar, en route to Afghanistan for a USO tour last August, the Miami born and bred 32-year-old is taking it easy in the city on "mom duty" with her 9-year-old daughter. We caught up with the "Idol" alum this week.

Q: What was the USO tour in Afghanistan like last summer?

NT: It was amazing. It was, it’s one of those things where, you know, you watch the news and they give you bits and pieces and, you know, you hear the commentators and the news reporters, their opinions of things. But it’s a whole 'nother thing when you’re there. You know, when you’re talking to the soldiers and they’re telling you exactly pretty much how they feel about being there, the ones that support it, the ones that you know, that just want to go home, they’re just exhausted and they miss their families, and you see the sadness. I mean, it was amazing as far as getting a hands-on experience but, at the same time... it emotionally saddened me, because I even went to the hospitals where some of the soldiers were missing limbs, you know, where they’re about to be transferred back … just hearing stories about the Taliban, who puts toys in mine fields for the Afghanistan children to run and get, and then it explodes. I mean, just real horrific stories and just seeing it, being there, hands-on, it just really, it changes your life. It was a life-changing experience.

Fox Reality tsar foresees a season of raw emotion

When the first season of Fox’s “American Idol” debuted eight years ago, no major media outlet wrote a story about the little summer replacement series that seemed like a desperate attempt to revive the 80s show “Star Search.”

Eight years later, Idol has seen a drum roll towards Tuesday's season premiere that has made the Presidential primary seem minimalist and low key. Every fluctuation in the format has been the subject of rumors, counter-rumors, leaks and denials. And this season’s major changes – the potentially risky addition of a fourth judge – have only fueled the frenzy all the more.

At the center of the media whirlwind is the man who arguably has done more to shape reality television than anyone - Fox’s head of alternative programming, Mike Darnell. The executive said he’s excited anticipating the reaction to the shake up within America’s most popular television program.

“I’ve now seen four of the audition cities cut and they’re really good,” said Darnell of the new season. “Not only is the talent great, but the introduction of the fourth judge is really creating a great dynamic. Better than I expected to be honest.”

The new judge, songwriter Kara Dioguardi, joins the holy judging panel that has formed the show’s backbone since its early days. On-air chemistry can be like lightning in a bottle, something hard to capture or replicate, but Darnell believes that Dioguardi will actually heighten – not detract from - the show’s original elements.