X Factor Mentoring Premise Is A Joke

VFTW has known for ages that the mentoring premise on X Factor is bullshit; I even wrote an article about it two years ago. Cracks on the American version have been appearing over the past couple of weeks, first when Simon changed Emblem3's song 24 hours before their performance (5:18 mark), and this week when he did the same to Lyric 145 (at start of video). This begs the question: Where was mentor Simon all week while his acts were flailing around? As it turns out, it doesn't matter as it's the producers, not the mentors, whom decide what songs the acts are going to do, how they're going to look and everything else on this show. And now X Factor may have gotten more than they bargained for when they revealed the voting totals as the contestants at the bottom of the rankings and their mentors are letting their rage out on the Producers, the true controllers of this show.

Read on to discover all the rage and deception...

Beatrice Miller, a mainstay at the bottom of the rankings, this week hated her performance, song choice, outfit and staging. Other than that, everything was fine! Says Beatrice (via Hollywood Reporter) ...

The tune in question, “Time After Time” by Cyndi Lauper, just wasn’t much fun to perform, mused the New Jersey teen in a backstage interview. Miller said she loves to listen to the 80s classic, but singing it live was another matter. “I didn’t like it when I performed it, but I mean, I hope that didn’t show,” she said.

That didn’t come as a surprise to her mentor, Britney Spears, who advised the 13-year-old to soldier through it despite her lukewarm — make that ice cold — response to the ballad, which Miller said was assigned to her by producers, not Spears. Miller said she was informed of the theme five minutes before she met with the show’s team of voice coaches last week. “Britney knew that I hated my song this week, but you know, she just said, ‘Get through it and just try to connect with the song,’” Miller revealed. “I don’t think it really mattered to her that I didn’t like it.”

Miller also acknowledged that the mood backstage on Wednesday was “dull,” mainly because many of the contestants were indifferent to the Diva theme week. “I think the majority of us as contestants didn’t like what we were singing this week,” she said. “I don’t think any of us got exactly what we wanted because this week it was all about saluting divas of the older time and whatever, and they kind of made us into the people that we’re singing this week, which was kind of weird. I don’t like that, because it just turns us into people that we’re not.”

Beatrice also hates the look the show has forced upon her...

“I was like, ‘I hate this dress and if you don’t take me out of it and put me in some pants, then we’re going to add some funk to this outfit,’ So they were like, ‘Oh, we bought this hat for you and we’re thinking that you should wear it next week,” she laughed. “I was like, ‘Haha, no no no — we’re wearing it now because this outfit is really bad.’”

And this is only the tip of the iceberg as many other contestants hated the song they were forced to do...

Many of the contestants were hesitant upon learning what songs they’d be performing, including her teammate Arin Ray (Madonna’s Crazy For You) and Lyric 145 (Katy Perry’s ET and Queen’s We Will Rock You) and Jennel Garcia (Tina Turner’s Proud Mary). “I hated it!,” Garcia told THR earlier this week. “I remember walking into the vocal room and the guys were kinda playing it on the guitar and I was like, ‘I feel bad for whoever is singing that song.’ And they were like, ‘Oh, it’s yours.’ I was like, ‘Oh, well… Damn!’ I was so mad. But you know, we changed it in a way so it could sound like my song.”

Turns out Jennel really wanted to do You Oughta Know by Alanis, and Jennel is saying her mentor Demi was pissed off too and had this reaction...

“I think she feels the same way I do,” Garcia says of Lovato. “It’s a little bit frustrating when you know what goes on behind the scenes, and I know she’s really upset over it."

And the producers aren't the only one Demi is letting her rage out on as she's also pushed dance coach Brian Friedman under the bus twice, last week behind the scenes and this week live TV saying that the production on stage wasn't at all what she wanted (4:25 mark). But where was Demi and the other mentors all week while things like song choice, choreography and overall production were being set?...

the contestants spent very little time working with their actual mentors. Each song is initially selected by producers, and the contestants’ respective mentors enter the process only one or two days before showtime. At that point, it’s worth noting, many mentors (or producers) will hit their contestants with a change in song just one day, or sometimes only hours, before broadcast. Sometimes the swaps are due to licensing problems, other times, creative differences.

Lyric 145 was particularly pissed off with their last minute change...

“We had the best song we could have possibly had. It was our original lyrics, it was the diva of the century, it was perfect. Arguably would have been the best performance we had so far, and that was coming from the inside,” said Lyric Da Queen on Wednesday night. “Last night we got the ball dropped on us that we weren’t going to be able to do the song, and today we got the song that we were doing. It was just chaos.”

The fact that the producers control every component of this show (and American Idol) is old news to anyone who's been reading VFTW for a while. The mentoring premise on this show is a joke. Everyone seems to know this except the delusional contestants and Demi. It's nice to see all the enraged bottom feeders speaking up; everyone except Cece Frey, the contestant who should be most enraged of all. I've been blaming Demi for destroying one of the most dynamic contestants to ever be on one of these shows but now I see the blame lies with the producers. Hey X Factor big shots, your show is one of the biggest failures in the history of television. If you want to know why, all you have to do is look in the mirror.

C'mon Cece, stop playing their game. Let your claws come out...right on the producers!