X Factor’s Fleur East opens up about split Simon Cowell’s Syco label

Fleur East has opened up on her split from Simon Cowell’s Syco label.

Fleur appeared on The X Factor back in 2014 where she finished as runner up to Ben Haenow.

She was quickly signed up by Simon and released hit single Sax shortly after the live shows.

An album followed but Fleur’s career seemed to fizzle out and it was confirmed in 2017 she had left the label.

Now preparing a music comeback, Fleur has explained what went on behind the scenes.

In a new interview, Fleur claimed that the success of Sax had been “a blessing and a curse.”

She said: “I feel like everyone in the camp was sort of, ‘Oh, we need to match this’. But me as an artist, I was like, I just want to get music out. I don’t care about trying to match that or try to chase a #1 single. I just want to release music because ultimately, that’s what I came to do.

“I was recording for over a year and a half and I constantly kept thinking that I have the new single. I’d go into the meetings and be like, ‘Guys, we’ve got it’. And the team would say ‘No, I don’t think we’ve got it, I don’t think it’s strong enough’. That was really hard so I had to keep going back to the drawing board on several occasions.

“And ultimately, it just got to the point where I was like, I’m not releasing any music. I don’t want to be signed for the sake of being signed, there’s no point. I didn’t come here to just have the accolade of being signed to a major label, I want to release music. That’s what I want to do.”

Fleur says that the two sides eventually decided to part ways, with Fleur now with new music distributor Hunter Corp.

She told That Grape Juice of her new deal: “It’s really cool. Pretty much they are trying to democratize the music industry to make it fairer for artists, and you basically go into a joint venture with them. So, I ‘m essentially the CEO of my own label. I’ve put together my own dream team and they believe in me and they’ve helped fund my project.”

You can read the full interview with That Grape Juice here

Fleur’s single Favourite Things is out to download and stream now.