SIMON COWELL Interview
THE X FACTOR Coming in the Fall on FOX
April 15, 2011
Lena Lamoray
THE X FACTOR is a competition series that gives viewers the opportunity to help choose the next musical megastar. The judges will travel the nation searching for undiscovered talent of any age – both solo artists and groups – who are willing to brave the panel of experts and the American public for a chance to make it big. THE X FACTOR raises the bar and takes the initial auditions to an exciting and explosive new level as the hopefuls will audition not only for the judges, but also in front of a live audience of thousands in venues across the country. The concert-like atmosphere will bring a new dimension to the performances, giving the contestants an opportunity to prove they have the whole package – vocal ability, charisma and stage presence – from the moment they step on stage. Those contestants who survive the first auditions graduate to “boot camp” and will then be divided into four categories: girls under 25, boys under 25, individuals over 25 and groups. Each category will be mentored by one of the show’s judges, including the inimitable Cowell. The contestants will be put through the paces and mercilessly whittled down until the top acts remain. Not only is it a battle between the hopefuls to stake their claim for the coveted win, but it’s also a showdown among the judges as to whose acts will dominate and make it to the finals. The judges may have their say in how the competition progresses, but it will be up to America to decide who ultimately has THE X FACTOR.
SIMON COWELL took the time to chat with us about his show, THE X FACTOR, which will be premiering in the fall on FOX. He talks about auditions, Fergie, audition booths and more. Simon was always my favorite judge on AMERICAN IDOL because most of the time he said exactly what I was thinking. Are you looking forward to THE X FACTOR?
Q: Can you just talk about how these booths are going to work and just to follow-up on that, the cities you chose for these booths?
Simon Cowell: Well, the idea was that we could only go into so many cities to do the open auditions. When we spoke to Fox and we spoke to Pepsi, they wanted to get a further reach and these booths came to my attention about—just under a year ago. Very reputable company, they work and the idea is that—like Alex said, we go into as many cities as we can—give other people a chance to audition. It’s like doing an audition in front of the producers or the guys in the record label as an open audition. They’re officially branded X Factor Audition tapes and they’ll be sent to the producers and everyone, effectively, will be auditioned by a producer. The whole idea of the show was that we’ve invited the whole of America to audition and this is just another attempt to get the reach out, really.
Q: How are the auditions going so far?
Simon Cowell: They’re going great, actually. The numbers are much higher than we anticipated. We started off in L.A. and it was just under 20,000, apparently, actually turned up and everyone was seen. The latest count from Miami is—it’s around 8,000 to 10,000 are expected. The word’s got out; the numbers are up. Apparently, the producers are very, very happy with what they’ve seen so far in Los Angeles and we’re getting the right message out. We’re asking people to come along and audition as if they’re in the real world to compete with people in the charts. … until I actually sit in the audition rooms myself, because I’ve been told this a million times, “Everything is going great and then you turned up on the first day and it’s a nightmare.” We’ll see, but people seem optimistic. Most importantly, the numbers are up because the worst thing you can do is that you announce the auditions and no one turns up.
Q: What would be the top three things we should look for in the contestant?
Simon Cowell: I’ve been trying to get the point out, as I said to the previous caller, that don’t turn up and do a typical talent show audition. If you’re 16, sing like a 16-year-old. If you’re 12, try and appeal to 12-year-olds. What we used to see a lot of is people prepared to audition by their moms and dads and we said to everyone from the age of 12 to 18, “Seriously, don’t listen to your parents.” Everything’s available on YouTube now or on the Internet. All the clues are out there. Look at what’s happening in the charts at the moment and you’ve got to speak or sing, literally, with your own voice. Try and be original. Try and stand out. Try and do a song or a version of a song no one’s heard before and don’t be afraid to be different now. I mean, we’ve got to be much more open-minded in terms of what we’re looking for. The whole idea of the show is you find the winner and it launches a career, which is going to last for a long time and hopefully, you sell records all over the world. Otherwise, this whole exercise has been a complete waste of time.
Q: I know you’ve been traveling back and forth between the U.S. and England, but have you actually had a chance to attend any of the auditions so far?
Simon Cowell: No, I haven’t and funny enough, I never have in the past because I don’t really like to see or hear what I’m going to see in advance. When I see it in the audition room like the other judges and the audience behind me, I’ve got absolutely no idea who’s going to come in, what they’re going to sing or what they’re going to be like because if you knew in advance, it would be even more boring than the process is. These are long days and the fun of it is that when you get surprised—I mean like the Susan Boyle clip is a classic example. Everybody thinks that I had seen Susan before. I had never met her in my life. So, when she sang for the first time, I was genuinely shocked and I like that feeling. That’s why I haven’t been to any of the open calls yet, but I get calls all the times from the producers. They let me know how it’s going and when they get excited because they found someone. As I said before, everyone seems happy.
Q: Can you confirm or deny the reports that Fergie is a possible contender to be a judge on The X Factor U.S.?
Simon Cowell: All I can tell you is that her name was put forward, but like with a lot of other people we’ve spoken to, we have to check out everyone’s availability. There’s a lot of time you have to put into the show because it’s not a two-day a week job …. When you’re in the live show, it’s because you’re mentoring the contestant. You’re working five or six days a week. So, I can confirm that her name is being put forward, yes.
Q: What are the advantages to doing the booth auditions as opposed to doing the traditional route?
Simon Cowell: I don’t know if there’s an advantage or a disadvantage to be honest with you. All I know is that in some of the places we’re going to, I think it would be physically impossible for some of the people to attend the open auditions, so that’s why we’ve gone to a lot of the places which are far away. I mean, what they will find—it’s professionally done. You can sing whatever you like. It’s a relatively straightforward process. I don’t think it’s probably as fun as attending an open audition, but it is your chance to be seen and heard and that’s why we’ve done this. I’m going to try and put these in as many cities as possible prior to our filming.
Q: Does it really matter if you guys produce a star because with a lot of these shows, it would seem the chase is more appealing than the end result. People get behind someone. They want to see them win. They win, but then after it’s over, they really don’t care what they do after that.
Simon Cowell: That’s a very good point and that’s why, as I’ve said many, many times, when we agree to do the show and we put the $5 million up, that’s with a belief that you’re going to find somebody who’s going to have a long-lasting career, and it does happen. I’m not saying it happens every year. That’s why I’m going to a lot of effort to get the word out, to get as many people turning up as possible. Because, if you get a year where everybody’s hopeless—and it has happened—you don’t have a show. So, with the booths and the open auditions, we’re trying to see as many people as possible. If I can’t make it work after all this effort, I’ll admit that I failed. So, there is a certain amount of pressure. You’re right, you don’t just want somebody who wins the show and then they’re forgotten about. You want it to be the start of—whether it’s Carrie Underwood or Susan Boyle or Leona Lewis, they’ve got a career. It’s a launch pad. So, we’re working hard at it.
Q: We saw a contestant eliminated on American Idol who had previously done pretty well on America’s Got Talent. I’m wondering if you’re finding that there are a lot of familiar faces that are out there that are turning up at X Factor auditions, maybe people from other shows that you’ve been on, been involved with or watched.
Simon Cowell: Apparently yes. I would much prefer that we see new faces; otherwise, it’s going to get a bit boring for me and for the viewers. Having said that, if we come across somebody who we think is genuinely talented or wasn’t given a fair chance, I think you’ve got to consider them along with everybody else, but looking at the amount of people who are turning up, I don’t think you’re going to see a lot of people you remember. I think if that’s the case, then I haven’t done my job properly in getting the word out.
Q: People who have followed the U.K. show have said that you come across on that show as being a lot nicer as opposed to the callow character we got to know on Idol for so many years. I’m wondering if given that and given the new approach to the way Idol is handling things with softer gloves and the other singing show that’s coming out is all about mentoring and coaching, have we reached a time when these competitions are no longer about knocking people down and they’re more about building people up. Do you think we’ve sort of turned a corner there and what was the point that …?
Simon Cowell: Well, it’s a good point. It all depends who’s in front of you and you’ve got to remember that the audience at home are not stupid. So, if you’ve got somebody in front of you who can’t sing a note in tune, nobody—or certainly not me—is going to turn around to that person and say, “You’re wonderful or take a couple of singing lessons and you’re going to become a mega-star.” I mean, that’s ridiculous. I’ve never believed in patronizing contestants. On this show, we’re going to say to everybody in advance, “You know what the rules are. If you’re hopeless, we’ll tell you. If you’re great, we’ll tell you you’re great.” I mean, you want to find great people, but there’s always going to be times when bad people come along or on the live shows they do something stupid. I think it’s my job to say that. Otherwise, I think these shows become boring or fake and it’s just not my style.
Q: Do you think that the rise in the last several months of sort of instant stars like Rebecca Black and the young lady who did the YouTube copy of Lady Gaga, does that work for or against like a new show like X Factor?
Simon Cowell: Definitely works for it. I’ve had a lot of times in the U.K. where we’ve had clips—I mean, I mentioned Susan Boyle and before that, Paul Potts. I mean, they’re really good examples of where you can audition on this show and YouTube and all the other Internet sites pick up on the clip and suddenly, you’ve become a star all over the world. Honestly, we pray for that. You want a moment where something magical happens in the audition room and then outside of people watching the show, they’re interested in the clip. I’m always very, very aware of that. You always hope that you’re going to get that moment. You look at what’s happened to Rebecca. I know she’s had a bigger …, but I mean she’s going to be laughing all the way to the bank. I mean, that’s what the Internet does to you nowadays. This would never have happened ten years ago. She’d be singing that song in her bedroom ten years ago. Now, she’s known all over the world. So, I think it’s incredibly positive and I’m excited about the fact that we’re in this world when we shoot auditions that you know you’ve got it right when your clip …. So, I’m always looking for that.
Q: Do you think that the social media sites like Twitter and Facebook will be built into The X Factor when it launches?
Simon Cowell: Oh, God, yes. I love it. I like the fact that people are going to be twittering and watching at the same time or on Facebook. I think we’re in an incredibly exciting time to make these shows because you get this instant feedback. You know whether you’ve made a good show or a horrible show within about five minutes. When I launched Idol, we didn’t have this. So, we’re embracing it. We encourage everyone to be a part of it and I think it just makes it more exciting. Having said that, with the Twitter, I mean when you do something wrong, you know about it instantly. So, you’ve got to watch yourself very, very carefully.
Q: How close are you to getting a deal with the final judges? When can we get that?
Simon Cowell: We’re still having nightly arguments with everyone trying to get everyone to agree is the truth. If you asked everyone involved on this show who they’d like as the panel, you’d have about 25 different opinions, and I’m used to this. I’ve done shows in the past where the day before filming we still haven’t agreed on the fourth judge because people freak out. They have different ideas, another name comes into play, I mean, in Miami today, out of the blue, Gloria Estefan turns up and apparently she did a fantastic job and I had no idea she was going to be there. So, I’ve kind of found the whole process really interesting to see who’s enthusiastic about being on the show, and you get to see people’s commitment and enthusiasm. So, I think it’s been fun, but it really does show publicly how complete and utter indecisiveness.
Q: Gloria Estefan showed up in Miami unexpectedly. Are they auditioning themselves?
Simon Cowell: I guess she is and apparently, she did a great job. I’m all for it, but I mean she’s been a sweetheart for doing it because it made a big, big difference today apparently and she gave everyone a lot of support and encouragement and not a lot of people would bother to do that.
Q: We always hear the same cities mentioned over and over again, so I love the fact that you’ve got Hawaii and Alaska in there.
Simon Cowell: You know what? I’m dying to go to Alaska one day. I’ve got to go. I mean, I would have done it this year. I don’t know why we didn’t do it, but if we’re still around next year, I’m going to make a big push to go there because I love going to places we’ve never been before like you said.
Q: Are you optimistic about it? I mean, other than Jewel, no star has ever come from Alaska. Are you optimistic that you’ll find someone up there?
Simon Cowell: Of course, that’s why we’re going there. I think you’re going to get a lot more enthusiasm and I don’t know what we’re going to expect, but we’re going to find out. It’s definitely going to make it more interesting. These are probably going to be the first tapes everyone’s going to watch, is my guess.