Not budging: Mariah Carey stayed squarely on her chair when her fellow judges jumped up to salute J-Lo’s performance on Thursday’s American Idol performance

In a way, Lopez was selected as the next Mariah after their relationship break up meant that Carey had to leave Mottala’s stable.

It was reported that the enmity still ran so deep last year that Mariah insisted on $2 million more than Lopez to do Idol.

And as her tenure there has drawn fewer viewers than J-Lo’s, there had to be an air of Eau D’Hubris wafting around Mariah’s delicate nose as she watched the more successful judge perform on Thursday night.

Fixed grin: Mariah smiled but even a round of applause was too much to ask for

Working it: Lopez has the edge over Mariah when it came to 𝑠e𝑥 appeal, if not song quality

Feminist: Empowering Pitbull opens for J-Lo on the single Live it Up

Lopez, 43, delivered a typical frenetic, scantily-clad dance routine to accompany her new single, Live it Up, which features Pitbull.

It’s not, it has to be said, up there with the classic Mariah ballads like Hero and Vision of Love; in fact none of Jenny from the Block’s tunes hit the notes like Carey’s back catalogue.

Nobody would ever have the first dance at a wedding to Jenny from the Block, for example, while Hero offers a soundtrack to dodgy footwork at hundreds of nuptials each year.

Sexy: J-Lo’s performance on Thursday’s American Idol Final was energetic, entertaining and it seemed to irk her former nemesis, Mariah Carey

 

Working up a sweat: Jennifer really threw her all into tonight’s performance of Live it Up

Arriving in style: J-Lo materialised from the dry ice and dancers

Angels and divas: Both performers wore white but went for very different approaches

Sizzling: Lopez – a judge on a more successful season – got higher billing than Carey

The mother-of-two materialised in typical style after having Pitbull work the audience up into a froth surrounded by Jenny-lite dancers.