He may have won the 2010 season of The X Factor, but Matt Cardle hasn’t exactly been given the victor’s treatment.
Even before One Direction exploded in America, it was the boyband – who came not second but third in Matt’s final – who were invited to perform at Wembley for the 2011 final. Since then, Rebecca Ferguson (second place) has had her incredible record Heaven pushed worldwide while Cher Lloyd (fourth place) is working hard in the US.
So you can understand why the ‘Run For Your Life’ hitmaker has decided to part ways with Syco and Columbia and take his career into his own hands.
He confirmed on Twitter:
I have parted ways with columbia records, we were heading in different directions, big news coming soon…. So excited! : ) love you all xx
Numbingly mediocre as it was, and much as it may have been vastly outsold by One Direction and Rebecca Ferguson’s releases, Matt’s album Letters did sell over a quarter of a million units – a fairly solid amount when you consider how poorly Leon Jackson and Joe McElderry (God love ‘em) did with their first attempts.
Whenever anyone says “parted ways” the first reaction is “they were dropped”, but most media reports say it was Matt who threw in the towel over the two parties pulling in “different directions”. Whether the “different direction” was “this time, we’re only giving you a £5 budget” or “this time, you’ve got to sell 500,000 or you’re done”, we’ll probably never know. But in any case it’s unlikely that they definitively dropped him, even if they did provoke him to leave more than he’ll let on.
In any case, his new material will be the decider. Letters had promise but was over-produced and over-wrought. It was a bit beige. His second album will help us determine whether the fault for that laid with him or with the Syco/Columbia A&R team.
In the meantime, with Joe now on Decca, Alexandra Burke with RCA and Shayne, Steve and Leon (as far as we know) without deals, that leaves Leona Lewis (whose third album is pretty make-or-break) and Little Mix (yet to even release an album) as the only two winners of the show still with their original deals in place. Brill.
Leona will probably quit, how long has her album been delayed for? Pathetic excuse for a record label.