Ryan Seacrest continued to host the show, while Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul, and Randy Jackson returned as judges.

[1] Changes were planned for the seventh season designed to return attention to the contestants by providing more information on their backgrounds and families.

In a major change for the seventh season, contestants were allowed to play musical instruments,[2] an element that originated on Australian Idol.

This year, the process was altered slightly to ensure that no talent would be prematurely dismissed, and there are no group performances.

For the first time ever, contestants had the option of either being accompanied by the band or playing an instrument themselves, such as a keyboard, guitar, or drums.

Unlike previous seasons, contestants whose performances were not considered good enough were afforded a second chance rather than immediate elimination.

Another piece of drama involved contestant Kyle Ensley, when Simon Cowell voiced strong objection over him not being selected for the semifinals.

His non-selection was later revealed to have resulted in serious rift between Cowell and the show producer Nigel Lythgoe.

The semifinals took place over three weeks, resulting in six males and six females being eliminated, leaving the other six to form the top 12.

David Archuletha won the coin toss after the results show the prior week, and chose to perform last.

To further complicate things, Randy Jackson worked for MCA during the same period of time that Smithson was signed.

The media noted that several of the other season 7 semifinalists had previously also had record deals, including Kristy Lee Cook, Brooke White, and Michael Johns.

Diverting from the usual format due to time constraints, the judges' critiques were to be bundled until after both songs were performed.

However, after the first round had finished, host Ryan Seacrest asked for comments, and judge Paula Abdul, in discussing Jason Castro, delivered feedback on his second song before he had actually performed it.

In order to keep the competition fair, these singles were not allowed to appear on iTunes sales charts until after the finale.

[24] Cook teamed with Grammy winning producer Rob Cavallo (Green Day, Kid Rock) on the album.