Here’s some juicy X Factor-themed gossip I’ve picked up on my recent travels around Planet Pop…
- It turns out that Union J isn’t the first band George Shelley has been a member of. He was in a mixed sex pop group before he made the X Factor finals and ditched them. To be fair, who wouldn’t if you get to be in a band with this guy? He even looks good on a Boris bike!
- According to this article, the contestants signed a contract saying “the X Factor” (presumably they mean Syco/Sony?) own the rights to any original song they perform on the show, so that’s why Lucy Spraggan’s EP had to be removed from iTunes. It will be interesting if she doesn’t sign to Syco at the end as this means she wouldn’t be allowed to release anything she’s sung on the show either independently or through another label.
- I hear the new JLS album is pretty dire. Shame for them as 90s R&B sounded like a great idea to make them relevant again, but they’ve gone instead for weak faux-Timberlake and it’s not what the public wants. Greatest Hits for 2013?
- If I knew how to bet, I’d put one on I Won’t Give Up by Jason Mraz being this year’s X Factor winner’s single. It’s had a surprising amount of exposure during the series considering it wasn’t a big hit, it was featured on X Factor US last week and it has the perfect message about persevering to succeed.