Steven Tyler isn't worrying whether "The X Factor" has stolen any thunder from "American Idol."
The longtime Aerosmith frontman enters his second round as a judge of the FOX competition when "Idol" launches its 11th season Wednesday, Jan. 18. He essentially took the spot of Simon Cowell, who left to start the U.S. version of "The X Factor," wrapping its first FOX season with the last competing performances Wednesday (Dec. 21) and the naming of the winner Thursday (Dec. 22).
"I think the personalities, Randy's (Jackson) and mine and J. Lo's (Jennifer Lopez), make for just a little richer mixture," Tyler tells Zap2it. "The interaction between the judges on 'Idol' is why I used to watch it, the few times I did. Because it was strong then was the only reason I took the job. I thought, 'They want personality? Look out!'"
Tyler thinks he made the right call, now having one "Idol" season under his belt. "I'm not always right, but I was very happy last year that it worked out the way it did. I was a little scared and a little cautious, and I didn't know what to say and how to say it. I feel a little bit better this year."
Contributing to that is Tyler's belief that "The X Factor" is "just a whole different show. It's the same thing in that it's trying to come up with the end product of a star, but that's always what I'm looking for anyway in somebody, that certain 'I know not what' that no one else has. I can see it, because I've seen it before.
"Listen to our first [Aerosmith] album. That's not the greatest singer in the world ... it didn't even sound like me, but I knew you needed to have character and bone structure. Between J. Lo's bone structure and mine, you've got enough to go around the block 10 times. And as far as character goes, that's what makes it. That is the thing."
Indeed, that's what Tyler believes earned him and Lopez many favorable notices over the course of their "Idol" debuts. "We didn't do anything but look good and just be ourselves," he reasons, "and America fell in love with us. And there's no better compliment than that. Yeah, I wore my best clothes for the first three shows, then I went into my closet and got all my ratty Tyler s***. I said, 'This is me.""
