Paula Abdul: Tread carefully with your 'American Idol' contract negotiations...

This is the advice of Entertainment Weekly's Michael Slezak in his latest PopWatch column.

Apparently, Paula Abdul has already lowered her demands from $20 million a year to $12 million a year.

So her manager boldly declares she won't be around next season, then lowers her pay demands dramatically. Hmmm. These negotiation tactics are FAIL.

I still believe that American Idol will keep Paula, but she might get less than what she's asking for.