Entertainment
Lucy Spraggan calls for ‘massive change’ to X Factor ahead of rumoured reboot: ‘They need to look after people’-Louise Griffin-Entertainment – Metro
‘They need to look after people and they need to be more frank about how traumatic fame is.’
A lot has changed since Lucy Spraggan appeared on the X Factor (Picture: REX
Lucy Spraggan has called on the X Factor to make ‘massive changes’ if it returns next year as rumoured, saying it ‘needs to look after people’.
The singer rose to fame when she auditioned on the show in 2012 with her original song Last Night (Beer Fear), which has since become a massive viral TikTok hit.
A decade on, she’s released her song Everything Changes, which beautifully samples Last Night (and is probably about to make fans cry), and she’s getting reflective about the past 10 years.
‘It’s really different growing up in the public eye. You can’t ever undo going on X Factor,’ Lucy, 31, told Metro.co.uk.
‘People will always say, “Are you that girl off of X Factor?” Even if you look completely different, people will still ask. I look back on it – there were some really f**king hard things I went through, but I’m sitting here right now because I did.’
Speaking about the rumours that X Factor will return next year, Lucy pointed out: ‘There would have to be a massive change.’
She added about the show and talent shows in general: ‘I’m really keen to be a part of that change and I’ve been having some conversations that I can’t really talk about now but about being part of that change so that’s really positive.’
However, she does think the show ‘still has a place’ on British TV.
‘I didn’t really consider this until I was talking about why people go on X Factor and, more specifically, about why I went on X Factor,’ the singer explained.
‘If you look at the North/South divide in this country, if you’re from the south, generally your parents might have a little bit more money – there’s lots of southern artists whose parents were famous.
‘In the north, we go on reality TV shows, because otherwise you’re going to be stuck in a cycle of playing pubs because there’s no money and that’s where you go. So I do genuinely believe there’s a place for the X Factor in this country because that’s where the working class g to have music careers.
Lucy reflected on the past 10 years (Picture: Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)
‘But they do need to look after people and they need to be more frank about how traumatic fame is. I think they need to get contestants to say, “What do we need to do here?” Ex-contestants [to say], “How can we make this better for other people?”‘
On the rumours that there will be a documentary ’exposing bullying and exploitation’ on the show, Lucy said: ‘I think there’s a lot of stuff people have to say.
‘I’ve spoken to a lot of people about their experiences and there’s two types of people that had a bad time on reality TV. One was they were treated really badly by production and by the show itself – very valid, very true.
Lucy is thrilled to get back on tour (Picture: Shirlaine Forrest/Getty Images)
‘The second one is the people who weren’t able to activate the career they wanted from the platform of the show and it gets a lot of people into an upset circle of negativity.
‘I’ll look forward to hearing what they had to say but there are a lot of people who are toxically negative about their experiences because they didn’t get what they wanted and I’m never really game for hearing that perspective.’
The ‘documentary’ has not been confirmed and is currently only speculated.
A spokesperson for The X Factor previously told Metro.co.uk: ‘Duty of care to our contestants is of the utmost importance to us. We take welfare very seriously and have measures in place to ensure that they are supported.’
10 years on from her first audition, Lucy appears to be thriving. She threw herself into health and fitness, publicly documenting her journey, and is now releasing her seventh studio album, before embarking on her tour.
A lot has changed since Lucy appeared on the X Factor (Picture: Ken McKay/Thames/REX/Shutterstock)
Chatting about why she sampled her song Last Night in Everything Changes, Lucy explained: ‘One of the reasons was I wanted to remind people of that song and where I started and where I come from, but at the same time I wanted there to be a huge contrast between then and now.
‘I really felt the only way to do it was to actually have an audible reminder of that. The other thing is that bloody song’s been viral on TikTok for like as long as TikTok has existed! I was like, from a TikTok perspective, how can I tap into that?!’
During the pandemic, Lucy was open about how she had struggled financially with not being able to tour.
‘It’s amazing to be able to see everybody and get them all in a room safely,’ she said, of being able to get back to touring.
‘Lockdown changed a lot for me as well because I just toured my a**e off and I didn’t have a moment to think about enjoying it or taking time and making the tour something really memorable.’
Now, she’s got a whole new approach, bringing her love of health and fitness to the tour.
‘We changed up our entire team,’ Lucy explained. ‘We looked for tour managers, for crew, for musicians who are invested in their personal health and their journey and so on the call sheets, where it might tell you normally where you can get good beer, it tells you where you can find a gym, or a class, and we’re going to do group training and running.
‘It’s more about sharing space with people who are thinking about it. We all want to have a great time on tour, so when we’re on stage, people can go, “Oh my god, they’re having a f**king great time and so are we.”‘
Reflecting on what the past 10 years have been like, Lucy went on: ‘I spent loads of time thinking, “I’ve not done enough, my career’s not where I want it to be,” and then one day, I was like, “Hang on, I’ve done amazingly.”
‘This is my seventh record that’s coming out and I have all these people who make me feel dead supported. I love having been in this for 10 years. It’s the biggest privilege ever.’
Reps for the X Factor declined to comment.
Lucy’s new single Everything Changes is out now.
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