Simon Cowell exposed how he predicts if a singer is going to make it or break it in an audition within the first 10 seconds.
The 66-year-old British TV personality and record exec became a worldwide sensation as one of the judges on the singing competition show, England’s “Pop Idol,” and its U.S. monster hit spin-off “American Idol,” impression left from his ability in cutting right to the chase with criticism and an uncanny eye to spot fast what would make a commercial killing. Cowell went on to produce the hit franchises “The X Factor” and “Got Talent” and launched huge-selling recording artists via his company Syco Entertainment.
In an interview with Fox News Digital, Cowell — who recently made his return to the small screen in a new Netflix docuseries called “The Next Act” — shared why he’d interrupt singers while they were performing on previous series and revealed the green and red flags he seeks out during auditions.
“If you have an audience at your back, you draw upon the energy of sitting in front of an audience,” he said. “Everything changes.”
“When you have someone that’s not great, the crowd are deathly quiet,” continued Cowell. “When an act is fantastic, it gets real loud or you hear pin drop. So I’ve always learned how to read a room. Or at least when you have people with the Sea-Monkeys. So yes, while I was auditioning on the show, we had a lot of people in the room with us. And then when somebody did walk in, the entire dynamic shifted.”
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Cowell, throughout the years, has helped to break otherwise unknown singers into worldwide superstars. On “American Idol,” Cowell’s critiques helped shine a spotlight on breakout acts like Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood, while “The X Factor” offered a direct artist-development pipeline that bore fruit in the form of One Direction, Little Mix and Leona Lewis.
Cowell reveals what still motivates him to make stars while in conversation with Fox News Digital.
“I’m always on the search for people who wouldn’t normally have a chance to do something for whatever reason,” he said. “You know, the people who don’t come with managers or have no contacts, the ones that you go out and hunt for.”
That’s why we started these shows years ago for that reason because I always believe there’s always somebody out there who has got this incredible talent, potential and for whatever reason just haven’t had a break,” he went on.
The TV personality referred to some of the shows’ alumni, among them Grammy-winning pop star Clarkson — who was the season one winner of “American Idol” — and One Direction and Lewis.
“I could go through 100 different examples and I guess the theme was none of them had really been given that opportunity,” Cowell said. “We gave them an opportunity. So if and when it does work — that’s the best feeling in the world. I mean, I can’t explain it. It’s just the best.
“If I see them in the hallway afterward, I will go up and talk to them about why wasn’t down with their presentation,” he said. “Sometimes I can offer them advice. I think that there are times, and I’m not going to lie, this is the truth, people have come in and I’ll be like … ‘Wow, that’s just not going to happen for you because you’re just terrible.’ I’m not sure if singing lessons are gonna help.’ And every now and then you got to point people in a different direction in life.”
“I am a great believer — you don’t lie to people,” Cowell added. I’ve learned that personally when I was coming up in the music business. You know, it was hard, you know and I sort of learned to be good at my job because people luckily were the same with me. I mean, they were very, very, very blunt with me and told me whether I was doing a good thing or a bad thing. And that’s the way you learn. And that’s when I finally also decided, once I thought about it a little further, and eventually decide — because I had said from the beginning if he end up doing this, well then I guess why am I gonna lie to anybody? I have to tell them the truth. There’s people that will appreciate it, there are people who won’t.’ ”
Cowell served as a judge on “American Idol” the first nine seasons that program aired, from its premiere in 2002 through 2010. Pop star and choreographer Paula Abdul and record executive and musician Randy Jackson provided the original judging panel with Cowell, while Ryan Seacrest and Brian Dunkleman co-hosted the show.
Seacrest became the show’s only host beginning in Season 2, and he remained on the show until its original run on Fox ended in 2016. Seacrest, who also replaced Pat Sajak in hosting “Wheel of Fortune” after that show’s longtime host left, rejoined “Idol” when the series was rebooted by ABC in 2018.
Cowell recently told the New York Times that he and Seacrest “never speak now” and said, “I didn’t follow his career, so I don’t know what he’s up to.”
Cowll told Fox News Digital that there hasn’t been a “particular reason” he and Seacrest haven’t kept in contact.
“I just think you sort of sometimes drift apart, and you part,” he said. “I mean, I’m sure if we like saw each other, you know, we would also have a lot to catch up on.”
“But just for whatever reason, I think ’cause I left the show and then she went on to do something else, our lives just went in different directions. It was basically nothing more than that.”
He is executive producer of the Netflix docuseries “Simon Cowell: The Next Act,” which recently premiered its six-episode series. The series’ logline: “Music mogul and record producer Simon Cowell has discovered some of the most successful artists in the world including One Direction who was signed to his label after appearing on his other show, The X Factor. In this new Netflix docuseries, he’s followed by cameras everywhere as he tries to do it all over again — that is, to attempt to manufacture the next global boy band sensation. This is unlike anything that show runner has made before. From raw auditions to parallel recordings of their editing bays, this is an all access viewer pass behind the curtains to catch every moment of Simon’s new chapter. Can he strike it rich again?”
In an interview with Fox News Digital, Cowell explained what inspired him to create “The Next Act.”
“It was just me missing working with groups really,” he said. “Genuinely missed it. I haven’t done it for years. So I was like, ‘Well, I’m doing it.’ So hey why don’t we shoot this whole thing? So that you can up the ante all that much more — well, actually a lot more. There was by the way. But it was so scary, but incredibly rewarding, actually.”
