Justin Bieber, Elton John, The Black Eyed Peas and Carrie Underwood are some of the many artists who will be participating in an upcoming “Idol Gives Back” special to help raise awareness and funds to benefit various U.S. and international charities.

The special will be part of the two-hour “American Idol” results show on Wednesday, April 21st from 8 pm to 10 pm ET on CTV.

“Idol Gives Back” has raised more than $140 million for charity to date and this year’s proceeds will go to support the Children’s Health Fund, Feeding America, Malaria No More, Save the Children’s U.S. Programs and the United Nations Foundation.

Ryan Seacrest will host the special from the "American Idol" stage in Los Angeles, while Queen Latifah will emcee from a second stage in Pasedena, CA. As well as performances and special appearances, the episode will also feature clips from “American Idol” winner David Cook’s recent trip to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where he traveled with the UN Foundation to raise awareness about the importance of girls’ education.

Canadians can donate online by visiting www.idolaid.com or by phone at 1-877-IDOL-AID (1-877-436-5243). Exclusive coverage of the event can also be seen the following day on "Etalk."

Cecile Frot-Coutaz, CEO of FremantleMedia North America and executive producer of “American Idol,” spoke about the special in a recent conference call. Excerpts are below.

Q: Could you talk a little bit about how the elimination will be worked into the two-hour episode and why you guys decided to make “Idol Gives Back” actually an elimination episode this season?

Frot-Coutaz: We did “Idol Gives Back” twice. As you probably remember, we did the first installment three years ago and the second one two years ago and we did both ways. The first time we did it we did an extended results show, which is what we’re doing this year. The second time, we did a separate episode and we found that it worked better for us to do it as an extended results show and to make it more organic to “American Idol” than to make it a separate show … we’ll weave it through as we normally do these things. It’s a blend of entertainment and a blend of actual “Idol” competition. Of course, some acts will be dedicated to the results.

Q: To clarify on that one, it actually works better for the charity if you also have an elimination, right? Because the second time when people knew there wasn’t an elimination, the ratings weren’t as high as the first time.

Frot-Coutaz: Well, what we find with “Idol’s”, actually any of these shows, is the competition episodes work better than the specials. So you’re right.

… This (is) a tough year for this country and other countries around the world, we’re also going into this “Idol Gives Back” with a slightly different approach. We did incredibly well both times. We raised a lot of money and we’re hoping obviously, that we do incredibly well this year as well, but we’re very aware at this time that the circumstances are very different than when we first started doing this.

That’s the other reason why we’re just extending our results show and we’re doing it in a little bit more low key way than last time when we did it.

Q: (Elizabeth Gore with the UN Foundation and David Cook) have both emphasized what you can do with $5, what you can do with $10. So is that part of it, that you’re kind of getting the point across that you don’t have to donate big bucks? You can donate a small amount and still be part of it?

Frot-Coutaz: That’s exactly right. Much more low key, whatever people will donate will be great. But we realize that we can’t go into this with the same expectation.

Q: Right now you have Alicia Keys, Justin Bieber, and then you have some people like Annie Lennox and Jeff Beck, designed for maybe a little bit of an older audience. So is the whole “Idol Gives Back” special kind of designed to encourage everyone to give from all demographics?

Frot-Coutaz: I mean, it’s always been the case. Our show’s a very broad show. Obviously, our demo is fairly young but ultimately, when you have a show like “Idol,” you have to appeal to a broad demo and the performers are featured. When we booked people, we didn’t think about their demos per se. We invited groups who wanted to participate, who are excited about the notion of donating their time to give back and who would also provide some fantastic entertainment.

Q: It looks like there’s a slightly different mix this year (in terms of charities). So I was interested to hear how that selection process goes and how the money is divided up among them.

Frot-Coutaz: Historically, we’ve done 50% to Africa and 50% to domestic charities. This year, a little bit more weighted toward domestic causes because we feel it is an American show. We’re in the U.S. It’s a very, very tough couple of years in this country and that it’s only fair that we focus on U.S. causes as well as some big international causes. So that’s the overall premise.

As you probably know, “IGB” is targeting primarily kids … Kids, poverty, and health are really the issues that we’ve looked at and from the beginning, when we set it up, we were always focused on these issues. So that’s the other criteria that we apply when we choose the charities …

Q: Why didn’t you do (“Idol Gives Back”) last year?

Frot-Coutaz: Well, I think our feeling is that every two years is about right … To make sure that when we do it, we do raise significant funds. And I think by doing it every year, you might diminish the impact of it …

Q: One of the things that David Cook was talking about was the emotional impact two years ago when he and the others were watching Annie Lennox at the piano with all the pictures up on the screen. Do you think you could kind of give an example of something, preferably from the one coming up that has that same kind of emotional impact, of the singer or the song chosen or what you’re going to do with it?

Frot-Coutaz: Well, hopefully, all of it will … That’s the goal. I think the emotional impact comes both from the performers singing fantastic inspirational songs. And remember, the kids also will be singing inspirational songs on Tuesday on the performance show, the night before. And also the films, the appeal films that we’ve shot. They’ve been done both by former idols, our cast members and other celebrities who have gone to Africa, who have gone to, really, a poor part of this country. Those films are incredibly powerful. And they fill out awareness, raising awareness of some of these causes.

Until you actually go there and you see celebrities going to these places, you don’t always realize what’s out there, even in this country in terms of poverty.

Q: You mentioned that the Justin Bieber performance is obviously pre-taped. I’m wondering if you can talk a little bit about the decision both in the “American Idol” camp and also Justin, himself, about why you wanted to have him be a part of the “Idol Gives Back” episode rather than have him perform live in an earlier episode.

Frot-Coutaz: All the decisions are a matter of balance. And it’s a matter of scheduling the various performances that we have in the best way possible … Depending on the theme and the mentor, we’ll have performances that suit our organics of the results show. And then other people who want to be on “Idol” like Justin, “Idol Gives Back” was a good night for him to be in because he’s obviously phenomenal and he’s young and he’s a real inspiration for the young generation. So it was a really good fit for him to be in that special episode.

Q: I saw somewhere, there was a report that the Obamas might be participating again in some way. Can you elaborate on anything about their involvement?

Frot-Coutaz: You’ll have to tune in.