Music mogul SIMON COWELL has explained why he talks to his AMERICAN IDOL co-judge PAULA ABDUL during wannabes’ performances – he taunts her feedback style.

Acid-tongued Cowell is often criticised for not paying contestants the courtesy of his undivided attention during their auditions.

But he tells chat show host Ellen DeGeneres, in an interview airing on US TV tonight (30Apr07), “I’m taunting Paula throughout the performance. I’m saying to her, ‘Try to say something interesting, try not to use the words mountain and lakes in your critiques because it’s always, ‘You’ll climb mountains, you’ll swim lakes, whatever.’”

But Cowell insists he still has time to listen to the auditions properly.

He adds, “I’ll tell you a secret. I watch the dress run so I actually hear much, much easier what they really do sound like.”

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Music mogul SIMON COWELL has blasted the most recent AMERICAN IDOL winner TAYLOR HICKS for lacking the talent to become a pop superstar.

Cowell, who is a judge on the hit reality TV show alongside PAULA ABDUL and RANDY JACKSON, confessed last Thursday he wanted to axe Hicks early on in American Idol last year.

And British Cowell isn’t surprised 30-year-old Hicks has struggled to sell records, while fellow contestant CHRIS DAUGHTRY has.

He says, “They (Abdul and Jackson) loved him. I couldn’t stand him. I didn’t get it.

“At the end of the day you have to find a bona fide recording artist. Just because you win the show doesn’t mean you will sell a lot of records. Chris is the one who sold the albums, not Taylor.”

(c) 2007 WORLD ENTERTAINMENT NEWS NETWORK LTD. All global rights reserved. No unauthorized copying or re-distributing permitted.

Read more at andPOP. andPOP - POP Culture with Substance