Carrie Underwood Admits It’s Tough Saying No as ‘American Idol’ Judge (Exclusive)

It’s been 20 years since Carrie Underwood took the title of “American idol,” and after dozens of hits and eight Grammys, she’s coming home.

Carrie is replacing Katy Perry on “Idol,” alongside fellow judges Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan, and host Ryan Seacrest.

“Extra” caught up with the crew as they kicked off another season of auditions in NYC.

Seacrest said, “We’ve known each other for a long time… 20 plus years,” calling it “full-circle!”

Underwood told us of being back, “Everyone is so nice,” joking, “very good working conditions here.”

She went on, “It’s part of me and it is part of my history, and hopefully I've learned a lot from experience on the show and everything in the industry and hopefully I can bring that into my advice to those in front of us.”

Carrie confessed being a judge can be rough, admitting, "I'm a people pleaser for sure." She shared, “Whenever somebody is saying, ‘I can sing another one. I have this song, I have this song'... I did one yesterday, I was like, 'Okay.' But then it's like that’s even worse because now it's, ‘It's still a no.’”