"Idol"'s toughest judge shares his thoughts on the upcoming season of the talent competition.

Last season, "American Idol" judges RANDY JACKSON and PAULA ABDUL indicated that the talent they had competing was better than ever before. But now that the dust has settled and both JORDIN SPARKS and BLAKE LEWIS have released their albums to disappointing sales, will it will affect the seventh season of the talent competition, premiering Tuesday, January 15 at 8 p.m. on FOX? Judge SIMON COWELL weighs in on the subject.

"Last year wasn't one of our better seasons," the Brit wit admits. "You get that on all of these type of competition shows. You get great years, and then you get not-so-great years. The good news is from what we have seen from the audition shows, this is a much better season than last year. We always say, we can't guarantee we will find a superstar. We will do our best, but we are at the mercy of who turns up at the auditions."

This year's talent is younger, more current and more interesting as people. At least that is Simon's take on this round of "Idol" hopefuls.

As for whether or not he thinks there is going to be a SANJAYA effect, he says no: "Looking back, I don't think he did any harm at all, because he didn't win," he states. "There was a point halfway through, when it did occur to me after some absolutely horrific performances and the public kept him in, that we might actually have a problem. At the time, votefortheworst.com and HOWARD STERN genuinely believed that they had a huge impact on the show, which I don't think they did in hindsight."

As for how the judges are dealing together this year, it is business as usual, meaning there are the usual squabbles.

"It can be a little bit acrimonious at times, but that is what happens when you have worked together for seven years," he points out. "You get on each others' nerves. You disagree. I think we all find the new audition sequences harder and harder as the years go on. It is torture and it gets on your nerves. Therefore, you can become a bit argumentative or emotional."