Tom Odell has confessed he has never watched the X Factor — despite being invited to perform on the programme’s grand final this weekend.
“To be honest, I’ve always been working when it’s on,” said the 23-year-old singer. “I spent my early years gigging every night at weekends, so I was never in to watch it.”
He admitted the prospect of working with judge Nicole Scherzinger and singing before a television audience of millions was “terrifying”.
Sam Bailey, Nicholas McDonald and Luke Friend are the three finalists on the show, and Odell is on a list of guest performers that includes The Killers, Sir Elton John, Katy Perry and One Direction.
Odell, who won the Brits Critics’ Choice award this year and topped the album charts with his debut Long Way Down, said: “Nicole introduced me to one of her contestants the other week, Hannah [Barrett], and we started talking about music. I listened to her sing and she blew me away.
“People can say what they like about the show, but it is incredible that someone as talented as her has been brought to the masses.”
He said of his forthcoming performance: “I’m actually quite terrified. I’m not a TV star. I come from a background of playing in clubs — I’m really not used to playing in front of that number of people. I honestly don’t know how the contestants do it.”
This week, it was revealed Odell would be a support act for next summer’s British Summer Time festival in Hyde Park, but he said he was not letting success go to his head: “I force myself to get on the Tube to go to the supermarket. There is a temptation to go to these celebrity parties, but I’d rather just go to the pub with my mates.”
