Former judge Kara DioGuardi finally explains her 'Idol' departure

(NewsCore) - Wednesday night's "American Idol" season premiere will be missing a familiar face -- Kara DioGuardi.

DioGuardi, who judged "Idol" the past two seasons, left the show last year in the massive shakeup which also saw Ellen DeGeneres' departure and the arrivals of Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler as the new judges alongside Randy Jackson. At the same time Simon Cowell left to work on Fox's "The X-Factor."

"The show was in transition, and, for me, it complicated a lot of things in my own life," said DioGuardi, breaking her silence on her departure.

"I don't think people realized how many jobs I had and the things I was doing [outside the show], and when it looked like the show was in transition, I decided it was time for me to go.

"It was my decision ... the transition made it hard for me to not make the decision to leave."

Since leaving "Idol," DioGuardi signed a deal to be a judge on Bravo's "Platinum Hit" -- a songwriting reality competition premiering this summer -- and finished her book, "A Helluva High Note: Surviving Life, Love and American Idol," out in April.

She's also returning to judge the second annual Folger's Jingle Contest, which kicked off Tuesday at bestpartofwakingup.com.

"People don't know that [music industry] side of me," she said. "I'm not sure people knew who I was or what I did [before 'Idol'] -- it's like, 'You grabbed this girl with a really weird name that sounds like a disease and put her on this show.'

"It was very strange," she added. "I'm really happy with where I am in my life and getting a semblance of normality back. I had no way of knowing what 'Idol' would entail. I said, 'Yeah, how hard could this be?'

"I had no idea what the train ride was gonna be like, how intense and time-consuming it was, even though it was amazing."

On "Platinum Hit," DioGuardi will judge aspiring songwriters who will live together in a house while vying for $100,000, a publishing deal with Sony, BMI Songwriters The Writing Camp and a recording deal with RCA/Jive.

"It's all about the songs and has nothing to do with the performances," DioGuardi said. "We're judging songwriters on whether they've written a hit song ... it's based more on a melody, getting the lyrics across, a great concept.

"These [contestants] have basically released their own songs and have never been around mentors or people who do this everyday," said DioGuardi, who's also a Warner Bros. exec and has co-written songs with Christina Aguilera, Miley Cyrus, Celine Dione and Britney Spears, among many other A-listers.

"I think [Jon] Bon Jovi said it best," she says, paraphrasing the rocker, "'The difference between a singer and an artist is really the pen.'"

"If you don't have hit song, you're nowhere," she added.

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