Hope you don't mind my jumping in here with my 2cents.
This is my 1st year watching NS. I love AI, and wanted more.
The reason I don't like it, even though I like country music, is because that's all it is each week. Country music. This IMO, makes the show boring. Whereas AI, is fun to watch because you don't know how the singers will perform each week with each new challenge.
In NS, they all sound great to me every week. But it gets old.
I like the variety of music that AI offers, too. :)