The Gay UK December 2015 | Page 99

COVER JH: So who would be the person? A: That’s a good question... Oh gosh… happen in America so Simon and me have a lot in common, little did you know! JH: Is Jennifer Anniston too conventional? You’ve kind of have a similar look going on… A: Yah! JH: The rest of the World loves you… so it doesn’t matter really right? A: Hello the World is big! JH: Would you have to dub the vocals in? A: I dunno man, I’ve never heard her on the karaoke, so she could really blow you away. She could rock out to one of my songs and I’d be real surprised. I would see Jennifer Anniston possibly playing me in the current stage… Yah, she could play current me. Younger me could be Emma Roberts. She’s sorta has the humour, but she has the serious and emotional. Not that she looks anything like me, but I’d like to look like her. I’d like to pick the person I’d like to look like. Do I have to look like myself in my movie? JH: They have to look like you; you’re the famous one! A: Oh come on… It’s my movie, this is my movie, I can pick what I want! (Laughs) JH: Are you a fan of the X Factor juggernaut – considering its artists are also homed at Sony? A: I’ve always loved it. My own career got discovered off something that was before Idol. It was an MTV show called The Cut. Lisa “Left Eye” Lopez was the host. It was the artist singing their own material, not cover songs, so it was a hard swallow for the public, because people didn’t know your material. The song that I was singing was Not That Kind, it’s a song that inspired people. I wrote it and I could sing it well. My look was so different that it just worked. I know the machine of a show like that and what it can do for people’s careers. I’ve seen what his (Simon Cowell’s) show has done for a lot of the winners and some of the people who didn’t win! It still is an entertainment show at the end of the day, we all know this, but there is talent within the entertainment as well. (X Factor) is a brilliant idea, who knows why it didn’t quite fly in America, but I can say the same about my career! (Laughs) I don’t really JH: The World is massive! A: Right and I think Americans forget that. JH: If you were going to be contestant on X Factor today, what song would you choose to audition with? A: Maybe Left Out Side Alone because there’s such a different range of where I go with that, from operatic to low voice to belting and it’s really catchy. It’s a very difficult song to master, vocally. I think the most popular one on X Factor is I’m Outta Love. Simon has said (to me), “I frickin hate your song!” Not serious but in jest. He’s like, “please don’t sing Anastacia, it’s like killing it”. It’s the same with Mariah Carey, Celine Dion and Patti La Belle if you really wanna go with a shocker song, you really gotta come with it honey. JH: There is the saying, ‘don’t sing Mariah Carey unless you’re Mariah Carey…’ A: Yah, she does such a unique thing with her voice. Now, I will say that when Leona (Lewis) came out there I was like, “I can’t be mad with her if she sang any Mariah Carey” ever. JH: But her albums didn’t sell after the first… A: The X Factor has that extra added value of an audience that can make them fall in love with you in editing. Even though Leona’s voice is amazing you still have t