X Factor contestant speaks out over lack of song choice
“If I was to say Chris had an input in what songs I had to sing, I’d be lying," says Jimmy Davis.
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Yes there are a lot of forces behind the scenes in any Reality TV show.
In his farewell speech last night eliminated X Factor contestant Jimmy Davis appeared to be holding back his feelings about his experience on the Reality show.
“This whole thing has been really interesting, you know. You come in as a musician and you’re hoping to do as much as you possibly can. Sometimes you don’t get that, but when you do, oh my god…,” he said.
“If you’re coming into this thing and you’re an independent artist try your best to stay who you are. That’s all I can say.”
Today in post-show interviews he told AAP that mentors had too little input into the song choices put forward by producers.
“If I was to say Chris had an input in what songs I had to sing, I’d be lying,” he said.
“I did have a song change for rock week. They were going to give me an absolute shocker … Chris and his manager stood up, arguing with producers for hours.
“If the mentors really had a say it would be a much better competition.”
The 21 year old also told TV Week he was sick of performing covers and unhappy with some of the editing on the show.
“You’d say things in front of the camera but then it would come to editing and you would only get a little bit of it make it to air.
“So you’d become really conscious of what you were going to say.
“I really didn’t like that, I hated that!”
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11 Responses
I’m a huge fan of X Factor, but I dislike the manipulation that takes place. Jimmy is a great musician and singer, and I can understand his frustration with producers trying to mould him into something that he is not. I also think James Blunt is completely out of line and disrespectful towards Danni.
I tend to agree, his comments last Sunday made many assume Danni is the one solely to make song choice when now in fact it’s the producers. I for one won’t be holding the judges accountable on song choice from here on in.
The Voice is much worse. They get people who are really good vocalists and then force them to sing the current top 10. What sort of challenge is that??
Let’s be accurate rather than generalist. How are Nessun Dorma, Burn For You, Jolene, Me and Bobby McGee current top ten?
I agree with all of the comments; but i also think that the truth probably sits somewhere in the middle. Mentors have always had only a limited song choice; was the way on Idol, Voice etc. How limited and how unfair is in the eye of the beholder. It also comes down to the arrangement of any particular song. I’ve seen many contestants rework a song and come up with a winner. I think Jimmy is a nice enough bloke, but hollering in this way won’t help him in the next stage of his career. The singing comp tv show is to some extent a law unto itself. I’m sure his contract outlines it.
Its another reason I call it Unreality TV. There is little that is not manipulated.
Makes a mockery of the judges criticizing each other over song choices if they don’t have that big of an input. I feel sorry for Georgia because she was given terrible songs and to me it contributed greatly to her being eliminated. Just had to mention though how good was Jess & Matt’s performance this week. I hope they make it to at least the top 5.
Ditto to all that.
Agree – they make such a fuss of song choice. If they all know that they’re not really choosing the songs, then why the fuss?
He exposed that the show has nothing to do with making better musician, it’s all about the making a better show. Surprise! Not to worry this genre has only a little bit more life in it until the next cycle starts.
He didn’t come out of this looking good, his attitude on Tues came off slightly arrogant. You enter in X Factor and don’t understand that you sing covers? That’s on you.