Jordin Sparks Says 'Amazing' Carrie Underwood Is an 'Excellent Choice' to Be a Judge on 'American Idol': She’s 'a Powerhouse'

Though Jordin Sparks, who won American Idol in 2007, isn’t joining the reality series as a judge, she’s thrilled for Carrie Underwood, who is also a fellow AI alum.

“She’s amazing! When I saw Katy [Perry] was no longer going to be part of the show, I was like, ‘It would make so much sense to have somebody who won the show to be on it since it’s been around for so long.’ I was throwing my name in the hat because it would have been fun! Who knows! Maybe one day I’ll be able to sit there as well, but Carrie is an excellent choice,” the singer, 34, exclusively tells OK! while talking about her partnership with Kidde’s Cause For Alarm™ campaign, featuring the Living Jingle, an emotional plea and call to action – directly from the voices of children who have been impacted by house fires.

“Carrie is a powerhouse. She won the show as well, so she’s been there. She’s had a lengthy beautiful career, so it makes total sense that she would be sitting there,” the actress continues. “Now it’s fun because her and Luke Bryan can have a little competition since they’re both from the same genre. I love it!”

Sparks, who appeared on the series during Season 6, is “grateful” the singing competition series is “still around” and relevant after all of these years. “Also, that there are all these different avenues that people can pursue their dreams. I think that’s a really, really beautiful thing. For me, I’m loving that I get to watch.”

The mom-of-one, who shares son Dana Jr., a.k.a. DJ, with husband Dana Isaiah, is hopeful she’ll appear on the series again one day. “I would love to be a judge or maybe even a mentor. I don’t want to judge them — I don’t like making people feel bad because I’m going to have to tell them the truth.”

Sparks compares herself to Paula Abdul, who was always kind but gave important feedback. “I loved Paula for that reason, although I will say I appreciated Simon [Cowell] because he did give me a lot of stuff to work on,” she recalls. “Every week I basically had homework that would make me better. I think I would be in between all of them. I’d be a little bit Randy [Jackson], Paula and Simon because I don’t want to lie! That’s not going to make somebody better.”

Though the “One Step at a Time” songstress doesn’t always tune into AI due to her busy schedule, she’s dabbling in hosting, taking on a new role as host of HBO MAX’s reality competition show Roller Jam.

“Now I’m on the other side of it! I watched Ryan Seacrest when I was on Idol and always thought that would be a lot of fun and I’d love to do that one day. I’ve done a couple of different things where I’ve hosted red carpets and a couple of different charity things, but nothing like this!” she explains. “It’s very fun to take all that I’ve learned and watched from him and to be able to put it into this. These skaters are incredible and the things they can on wheels is insane! That’s been really fun as well.”

“Ryan makes it looks so easy — same with Alfonso Ribeiro, who hosts Dancing With the Stars. They both make it looks so easy, but not only are you representing yourself, but I’m the liaison between the contestants, the judges and the people at home and the live audience,” she says of hosting. “It requires a ton of energy and staying at a certain level. I knew it required that, but when I was there, I was like, ‘Oh, it’s 12 hours of being at this level. It’s a lot of fun, though.”

When Sparks isn’t recording music or hosting, she is typically hanging out with her family, including her 6-year-old son, who is also into music. “We sing everything. My husband is just like, ‘Be quiet!’” she quips. “We sing everything, and he just started taking piano and voice officially, so he’s really enjoying that. It’s been fun to see him kind of develop a love for it.”

Since the Sparkle star can carry and tune and loves to belt out songs, it made sense with her to partner with Kidde’s Cause For Alarm™ campaign, featuring the Living Jingle, which discusses the importance of fire safety education and parents opening conversations with their kids about fire safety.

“At this point in my family’s life, our son is 6 years old, so he’s very much in the space where he’s learning a lot and asking a lot of questions, and so now we’re trying to home in on safety — safety at school, safety when you’re at the park, when you’re at home, when you’re out with somebody else,” she shares. “When they reached out, this jingle made so much sense because I know as a musician, music is such a powerful tool to drive home a really important message. I remember so many different songs that helped me when I was younger, so I was like, ‘This is perfect.’”

“If I can lend my voice to something to make somebody go, ‘Oh, I should probably think about that or do that,’ I want to do it. It was a really yes to partner with them — and it’s something we’re doing with our son anyway. Being part of the Kidde’s Cause For Alarm™ campaign is really amazing because not only it is going to help my son, but it’s going to help us, too. My house is a little curvy — there’s a lot of different twists and turns, so now I know that I have to really sit down and make a map and make sure we know where the exits are and where we’re going to do. It’s been really beautiful.”

To help inspire people to prioritize fire safety, Kidde is launching its new “Living Jingle,” an emotional plea and call to action – directly from the voices of children who have been impacted by house fires.

The children featured in the film have detailed their deeply personal house fire survival stories in short videos available on CauseForAlarm.org. “On the website, there’s fire safety kits, examples of what to do and more. I’m grateful to be part of this campaign because it’s really important. Better safe than sorry!” Sparks concludes.