Leona, Kasabian, Pete Waterman Criticize The X Factor

The British public may love The X Factor but celebrities and musicians don’t tend to be big fans of the show. I avidly watch it every week even though I do tend to quickly forget about the people on it once the end of the season comes. But some outspoken celebs (and the normally mild-mannered Leona) are ready to criticize.

Sting has already come out with some barbed comments about The X Factor, which resulted in Simon Cowell asking him to help the contestants by being a guest one week. And now three more have joined the chorus of disapproval.

Leona Lewis told the News Of The World:

“It’s more of an entertainment show. It’s a TV show and they want their entertainment value. It’s not just about singing really well anymore. When I was on the show in 2006, it was only about the singing. We were lucky if we got some good lights. I can’t believe how much it has changed.”

Leona has a point, the show has changed, and is now more about a weekly entertainment show than about trying to find the best vocalist. Partly because Simon Cowell is intelligent enough to realize he’ll have a tough time finding another Leona.

Kasabian frontman Tom Meighan told the Daily Record:

“The X Factor is like something The Riddler would do in Batman. It sucks out everyone’s brains. I can’t believe how appallingly low we have gone as a nation for people to watch that pile of s**t. It’s appalling music. It’s shocking. Simon Cowell must be laughing. For him, Louis Walsh, Cheryl Cole and Dannii Minogue, who has had very few pop hits in her life, to sit there and judge people, it’s incredible. Kids are watching that and want to be on it. Where is the push for new music for kids? It is an appalling programme.”

Funny but not that accurate. A creative rock band such as Kasabian are never going to agree with a show out to find the next big pop star. But Meighan is entitled to his opinion.

Former Pop Idol judge Pete Waterman told NME:

“Don’t get fooled by ‘The X Factor’. The fundamental question is this: What do you know about music? Are you in this for music or fame? And the musical genre – pop, rock, whatever – is irrelevant here. I’m still a cheerleader [for reality music shows] but what you’ve got now is not the show I was on ['Pop Idol'], which was why I walked off series two. The cheating has taken over! It’s irrelevant that there’s even music on these shows.”

Surely this is sour grapes. I don’t remember Waterman “walking off” series two of Pop Idol. And who is the man who inflicted Rick Astley and Sonia on the world to bemoan the people who appear on The X Factor?

[Photo Source: Newscom]