Seeking the next Taylor Swift! Scott Borchetta, the President and CEO of the BIg Machine Label Group, is slated to be announced as the new mentor on the upcoming season 14 of American Idol, a source exclusively reveals to Us Weekly.
According to the insider, Borchetta will fill the void left by Randy Jackson and Jimmy Iovine on the beloved reality competition series that launched the careers of previous winners including Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood.
Borchetta, 52, is credited with discovering Swift at age 14, when he started his record label Big Machine. Ten years later, his independent Nashville-based label is now home to megastar artists including Swift, in addition to country's biggest names like the Rascal Flatts, the Band Perry, Reba McEntire, Tim McGraw, Florida Georgia Line, and Brantley Gilbert.
The source tells Us that Borchetta has a great eye for developing new and emerging talent, as well as reviving stars who have been in the industry for many years.
Borchetta will join seasoned music veterans on the show like judges Jennifer Lopez, Keith Urban, and Harry Connick, Jr. Jackson announced last month that he was leaving Idol after 13 seasons on the show.
Most recently, Borchetta defended Swift after she pulled her music off streaming service Spotify. "The facts show that the music industry was much better off before Spotify hit these shores," Borchetta told Time magazine. "Don’t forget this is for the most successful artist in music today. What about the rest of the artists out there struggling to make a career? Over the last year, what Spotify has paid is the equivalent of less than 50,000 albums sold."
The new season of American Idol returns on Jan. 7 on Fox.
