Mariah Carey: I Hated Being on 'American Idol'

ABC News' Abbie Boudreau reports:

Mariah Carey's year on the "American Idol" judge's panel made headlines for her feud with fellow judge Nicki Minaj, and now Carey's making her feelings on the subject clear.

"Honestly, I hated it," the superstar singer said Tuesday in an interview with deejay Angie Martinez on New York radio station Hot 97.

Carey, 43, explained that she believed she was going to be part of a three-judge panel. Instead, she appeared during the FOX reality TV singing competition's season 12 alongside rapper Nicki Minaj, country singer Keith Urban, and longtime "Idol" judge Randy Jackson.

It was no secret Carey and Minaj were feuding since the start of the season. The friction between them was sometimes apparent during the broadcasts.

"It was like hell - going to work every day in hell with Satan," Carey said in a video of the interview that was posted to YouTube.

"Really?" Martinez replied, and Carey quickly added: "Nah, just playing. It didn't affect me that much … I was disappointed."

She said she loved the contestants, some of whom she said were good and "really good people, you could tell. And it would just - it was disappointing when they would, for political reasons just not put people through."

Read: Nicki Minaj Feuds with Ousted Contestant

"I was like I don't have to sit here and do this," Carey told Martinez. "I could put this person in the studio and record a record with them."

Minaj, Carey and Jackson will not return to the show for the new season.

"I like being in the studio better and going on my own tours better," said Carey, the mother of two-year-old twins with husband Nick Cannon. "So we're going back to that."

"American Idol" remains popular but has lately experienced a ratings decline.

The 13 th season of the show premieres on January 15, 2014. Urban will be joined on the judge's panel by former "Idol" judge Jennifer Lopez and singer Harry Connick Jr.

FOX declined to comment when reached by ABC News.