‘American Idol’: Why Did Hollywood Week Move to Nashville for Season 24?

Hollywood Week is going to look a bit different on Season 24 of American Idol. The biggest change, of course, is that it won’t even be taking place in Hollywood at all! Instead, Hollywood Week is in Nashville this year, and it’s being dubbed Music City Takeover.

Contestants who received golden tickets in the Auditions will move on to the next phase of the competition, Hollywood Week. But while the grueling portion of the competition used to happen months after auditions, it’s now happening immediately afterwards to build on the excitement of making it to the next round for the singers.

“The momentum of getting through, getting a golden ticket, making it to Hollywood in the past has been maybe sometimes months,” showrunner Megan Michaels Wolflick explained to Deadline. “There was a momentum that I wanted to experiment with.”

With the Auditions all taking place in Nashville this year, it made sense for Hollywood Week to continue in Music City. The music industry in Nashville is just as strong as it is in L.A., too,” Michaels Wolflick added. “It is a hub and a dream for people to go to.”

This year, 30 artists will make it out of Hollywood Week and into the next new round of competition, the Ohana Round. At this point, the 30 singers will head to Hawaii to perform for their fellow finalists, two family members, friends, and a group of “industry tastemakers.” Ten singers will be eliminated in the Ohana Round.

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“The judges will comment, and at the end, each of the groups will pick their favorite person,” Michaels Wolflick explained. “Those three people will get the platinum ticket.” She didn’t specify what the platinum ticket would entail (in the past, it was given out to three artists in the Auditions and allowed them to skip the first portion of Hollywood Week).

Of the choice to put some decision-making into the hands of a group other than the judges, Michaels Wolflick said, “The judges have the power right all the way up to America’s vote of who they want to put through and I thought it’d be interesting to do some sort of focus group before they get to America’s vote to inform the judges of who people are responding to.”

American Idol, Season 24, Mondays, 8/7c, ABC