Sam Smith: "X Factor & Covers Are Damaging For Artists, Only Meant For Singers"
RabidWolverine1
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From the Daily Mirror... Basically saying if you want to be an Artist X Factor can hurt you but if you just want to be a singer its a great platform.
The Stay With Me singer, 22, says he went his own way in the industry to avoid singing covers, which he believes can be "damaging" for artists.
Two weeks ago he performed on the X Factor final, but you’d never have seen Sam Smith audition for the show.
The Stay With Me singer, 22, says he went his own way in the industry to avoid singing covers, which he reckons can be “damaging” for aspiring writers.
Sam says: “It was a very conscious decision for me not to audition. It is for people, and it isn’t for people.
“I feel that X Factor is perfect for singers who sing, and that’s all they want to do. They don’t care what they sing, they just love singing.
“You could sing on a cruise ship or release a cover album, that’s what it’s for. Because when you think about it, every week, that’s what you do.
"You’re singing other people’s songs. People are judging you on other people’s music.
“The minute I started writing music, I knew that none of that stuff was going to be for me. I want people judging me on my voice and my songs – that’s what’s important to me.
“I always say to people: ‘If you’re a singer, go for it.’ It’s an amazing platform. But if you’re not, and you’re a songwriter, I think it’s actually quite damaging for you to go on there.
"You’re singing other people’s music, so then when you release your own stuff, people might not like it.”
Very savvy.
Sam, who is on holiday in Australia for New Year’s Eve, performed on the final of the series at Wembley Arena and described the experience as “amazing” – but he was disappointed not to get introduced to the judges.
“I didn’t like that I didn’t get to meet Simon and Cheryl,” he says.
“I would have thought they would come and say hello, or I’d have got to go and say hello. But I never got to see them.”
But he won’t be taking up a position on the panel any time soon.
He continues: “I’m passionate that nobody should judge anyone else until they’re at the top of their career and they can give people amazing advice after releasing four or five albums.
“That’s why I love Cheryl – she has released a lot of music and knows what she’s talking about when it comes to products and being an artist and being famous.”
Well, with his head this screwed on, he’s certainly a loss to the panel...
Sam Smith - I Would Never Have Auditioned For The X Factor
The Stay With Me singer, 22, says he went his own way in the industry to avoid singing covers, which he believes can be "damaging" for artists.
Two weeks ago he performed on the X Factor final, but you’d never have seen Sam Smith audition for the show.
The Stay With Me singer, 22, says he went his own way in the industry to avoid singing covers, which he reckons can be “damaging” for aspiring writers.
Sam says: “It was a very conscious decision for me not to audition. It is for people, and it isn’t for people.
“I feel that X Factor is perfect for singers who sing, and that’s all they want to do. They don’t care what they sing, they just love singing.
“You could sing on a cruise ship or release a cover album, that’s what it’s for. Because when you think about it, every week, that’s what you do.
"You’re singing other people’s songs. People are judging you on other people’s music.
“The minute I started writing music, I knew that none of that stuff was going to be for me. I want people judging me on my voice and my songs – that’s what’s important to me.
“I always say to people: ‘If you’re a singer, go for it.’ It’s an amazing platform. But if you’re not, and you’re a songwriter, I think it’s actually quite damaging for you to go on there.
"You’re singing other people’s music, so then when you release your own stuff, people might not like it.”
Very savvy.
Sam, who is on holiday in Australia for New Year’s Eve, performed on the final of the series at Wembley Arena and described the experience as “amazing” – but he was disappointed not to get introduced to the judges.
“I didn’t like that I didn’t get to meet Simon and Cheryl,” he says.
“I would have thought they would come and say hello, or I’d have got to go and say hello. But I never got to see them.”
But he won’t be taking up a position on the panel any time soon.
He continues: “I’m passionate that nobody should judge anyone else until they’re at the top of their career and they can give people amazing advice after releasing four or five albums.
“That’s why I love Cheryl – she has released a lot of music and knows what she’s talking about when it comes to products and being an artist and being famous.”
Well, with his head this screwed on, he’s certainly a loss to the panel...
Sam Smith - I Would Never Have Auditioned For The X Factor
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Comments
Though I do understand the jist of what he's saying.
Yeah I get what he is saying and I get your point there I think maybe people like Ella & Rebecca (And a couple of others) will always carry the stigma of "Oh its that person who used to be on X Factor".
Even if they did write all their own material chances are to people who are not fans of those artists they will probably assume they don't write their own material. Probably more to do with Simon Cowell's reputation really
There's something like 17 or 18 co-writers on Ella's album. Those aren't songs hand-crafted by Ella, they're songs bought for her by Syco.
It's much the same situation if you look at the credits on Sam Smith's album.
As for covers, most of the greats have done them. If your original songs are good, you'll be fine.
After the show, it depends on your talent and relationship with the label. Ella auditioned with an original song, did plenty of covers but ultimately got huge backing to do what she wanted to do (because SYCO shared that vision). No label wants to turn down a talented writer or a hit song.
But obviously XF winners aren't signed as writers, they need to demonstrate some ability to their labels. Ella did, Rebecca did and it worked for them. Even someone like Cher Lloyd, who may not have been a writer per say, certainly had a vision of where she wanted to go as an artist which was what interested them in the first place (as a singer she was nothing special). The ones that have the problems are the generic singers who do a lot of ballads but demonstrate no real relevance to the current market or any sense of what they want to be.
And 1D can pretty much do what they want with their music now because they're so successful. That's the other way to gain "artistic control"... although it has resulted in the demise of many a popstar!
Exactly. I don't doubt that Ella is talented, but the idea that she's some songwriting prodigy is pretty silly. Ghost is a classic example. Ryan Tedder probably had that knocking around as a demo for ages and Ella got a songwriting credit for changing the odd word here and there, or at most coming up with the vocal arrangement.
There's far fewer collaborators on Sam Smith's album, though I'm not suggesting the situation is necessarily all that much different. On the other hand the highly personal nature of the lyrics suggest he was at least involved hands on all the way through. Imagining Ella had a major hand in her album other than performing the vocals is a stretch from what we all know about how Syco operates. Hell, even Leona got fed up of not really having any say in the creative side. Add to that the rather unimigantive tell-tale nods to Adele and it doesn't really suggest an artist expressing herself, more a product put together by committee.
After Rebecca signed to Syco they tried to get her to record an album of covers but she refused this offer and surprisingly they relented and let her go her own way. Her lyrics are of a highly personal nature which suggests that her input in the process is high. She seems to have had a similar input on her second album.
Although Syco don't promote her in the same way as some others in the stable, they seem happy enough to let her go her own way.
Her 3rd album is due out in March.
To be fair Columbia, RCA & Epic all have a say in her career...while all are known assosciates of Syco I doubt it was Syco who let her make the decision not to do covers. Columbia, RCA & Epic have always seemed more flexible in letting "artists" explore their creative side.
Apparently that's what her 3rd album will be, an album of "Lady Sings the Blues" covers. I imagine she has a 3 album deal and will leave once it's up.
All he's said is this:
- The X Factor is for people who sing, but they don't sing their own songs
- If you want to JUST sing (ie. not write your own songs) then it's a good road to go down
- If you want to be a singer-songwriter, it's probably not the best idea to go on the show as it could hinder your creativity and freedom to write your own stuff. ie. it could damage the 'songwriting' side of your career.
Yet all the headlines for this story have been 'SAM SMITH THINKS THE X FACTOR IS DAMAGING' or 'SAM SMITH HAS RESERVATIONS ABOUT THE X FACTOR - HE THINKS IT'S BAD NEWS!!!" and it's making him out to be a snobby, hypocritical little **** who's doing nothing but slag off the show.
Just a classic example of words being twisted and someone being portrayed to have views that they don't actually have. I feel sorry for him.
I would agree with you about the basic sense of what Sam Smith was saying.
The implication though is that XF really only contributes one type of artist to pop music and that is the popular singing artist. Yet surely the most significant artists in British music have generally been proper creative artists who have created their own works? Many of these artists have their works used as themes on XF nights but the show itself contributes nothing to the next generation of such artists. The best UK pop music is by artists like The Beatles, The Who, Elton John, Queen, Bowie, Kate Bush, The Police, Blur, Radiohead, Amy Winehouse etc. who have all created their own works for the most part. XF won't ever create such artists. That's the bottom line.
Sometimes it's better to keep your mouth shut, specially after you've performed twice in the show and got a lot of exposure (and possibly money).
To be fair, the show needed him to perform more than he needed to. His album was already a huge seller before his first performance.
So X factor can be a great platform if you just wanna sing.
But singer/songwriters have a battle on their hands most have found out.
It's most likely the other way around. Ella brings in, the most of the lyrical content and Ryan as a multi-instrumentalist is responsible for the song arrangement.
I also doubt that Ryan had the song for ages, because there were two or three writing sessions, in London and in Denver.
And Ella at X.Factor wasn't just singing, there was also a strong change in the arrangement of the songs, so she had, I think, some input and ideas how the songs should sound.
Sorry but it has to be said.
David Gray > Any X Factor Act.
White Ladder is one of the greatest albums if not the greatest album of the 90's.
Why slag off the show after being invited to promote your songs????
No offence, but it sounds like you've bought into Syco's marketing spin. The lyrics for Ghost sound very OneRepublic, even down to the whole "keep going to the river to pray" part. Ryan Tedder is a Christian and has said he often incorporates spiritual themes into his music. As for Ella changing arrangements on the X-Factor, it is pretty common knowledge the contestants get very little say in their performances. And if those arrangements were down to Ella, she made some terrible choices like slowing You're the One That I Want down so that it sounded like a funeral song.
Even if the slowed down version was her idea, there's been many slowed down versions of You're The One That I Want over the years so it would hardly have been an off the wall moment of creative genius
And yes, Ghost is so overwhelmingly a Ryan Tedder song it's rather hopeful to think Ella had much at all to do with it's creation.
I quite like his voice, but wish he'd open his throat a bit more so that it didn't sound quite so nasal. Mind you it's not as affected as John Newman who I can't listen to at all. It's like someone scratching their nails down a black board it's so nasal and affected...
I have no doubt, Ryan had the idea of a Gospel twang in it and also probably the "keep going to the river to pray" but like I've said most of the lyrical content is Ella not all.
I mean we know she can write lyrics, so why shouldn't she does it with Ryan?
Fact is, she is in the credits of all songs bar Glow and I don't think she has the power yet of a Beyonce, who can demand to be in the credits.
If it would be a Tedder song alone, he would send a file to Syco, like Sia did with Diamonds for Rihanna's producers, that's much cheaper.