Mariah Carey: 'I shouldn't have been a judge on American Idol'

Mariah Carey is convinced she should have been a guest mentor on American Idol instead of a judge.

The Hero hitmaker served on the panel for the talent competition for one season, and she endured nearly a year of drama due to an on-screen feud with co-star Nicki Minaj.

Carey now tells New York radio station Z100 that she accepted the wrong job, insisting, "I should've been a mentor on the show and that's it. I should've been the Jimmy Iovine."

Music mogul Iovine, the boss of Interscope Records, served as a mentor to the aspiring artists on the show from 2011 until 2013, frequently providing constructive criticism.

Carey went on to critique Iovine's role, adding, "There needed to be that person that was brutally honest, but the brutality didn't have to be so visceral. We didn't need to be brutal to people just to make ourselves feel bigger."

She continues, "I felt that going into the direction of making it a 'reality show' isn't what I signed up for. The real Mariah was so not there."