L.A. Reid Calls ‘The X Factor’ USA “The Worst Thing I’ve Ever Done”

by Olivia Truffaut-WongJune 9, 2015, 8:02 pmNews, News Feed >

L.A. Reid recently revealed that his two seasons as a judge on The X Factor were “the worst thing I’ve ever done.”

L.A. Reid Says The X Factor Ruined His Taste In Music

Reid served as a judge on The X Factor for two seasons, from 2011-2012, and said that, while he enjoyed his time during the series’ first season, he lost his taste for it during season 2.

“The first season, yes, I had a great time. It was a little bit of a vacation. I’d been making music, working at running labels for a long time, and it was a little bit of, ‘Let me just have some fun.’ But the second season I was fully engaged trying to run a label, and it wasn’t fun anymore,” Reid said at the Midem music industry conference.

Reid didn’t stop there, saying that being on Simon Cowell’s singing contest caused his taste in music to deteriorate. “And more importantly, it really affected my taste – it almost destroyed it. It completely threw me off,” Reid said.

“What works for television isn’t necessarily the thing that works in the traditional journey of music, so I adjusted my taste for television. But the truth is, I lowered my bar – my bar was quite high, if I’m being honest, and as a result I didn’t have the same level of success. The bar is quite high again now, but it was damaging,” Reid added.

Reid also told the crowd that he is coming out with a book soon that will detail his experience on The X Factor. The Epic Records exec made clear he didn’t intend to insult Cowell with his remarks, saying, “I worked with Simon Cowell, who I love and have great respect for and he has great taste, but being around him for that long, I started to take on his taste, and I’m an amateur at having his taste –– I’m good at my kind of taste.”

The X Factor was cancelled after three seasons, and one of its major problems was the constantly rotating judges panel. During Reid’s two seasons with the show, the judge’s panel was changed drastically. Reid began the show alongside judges Cowell, Paula Abdul, Cheryl Cole. Cole left the show before the first season got off the ground, and Nicole Scherzinger took her place. The following season, Demi Lovato replaced Abdul and Britney Spears joined to take Scherzinger’s place.

Speaking on the show’s success, or lack thereof, Reid admitted that The X Factor suffered from competition. “To be honest? The truth is: The Voice cleaned our clock,” Reid said. After his comments gained traction, Reid took to Twitter to clear things up, saying his comments “were not meant to reflect on Simon Cowell, the X Factor, or its successes.”

Simon Cowell Responds To L.A. Reid

Cowell didn’t respond directly to Reid’s comments or tweet, but he did comment on it on his own Twitter page, calling Reid “a friend.” Of course, Cowell also poked fun at Reid by sharing Reid’s recent a congratulatory tweet about Fifth Harmony, a group that was formed on the second season of The X Factor, saying.

Cowell also issued a thinly veiled jab in his next tweet, writing, “And back to the UK were we like working on X Factor this new @LittleMix single Black Magic is looking huge.”

Article by Olivia Truffaut-Wong

Olivia Truffaut-Wong was born and raised in Berkeley, California, where she developed her love of all things entertainment. After moving to New York City to earn her degree in Film Studies, she stayed on the East Coast to follow her passion and become an entertainment writer. She lives on a diet of television, movies and food.