James Arthur claims he has to deal with "snobbery" in the music industry because he started out on ‘The X Factor’ and it’s his talent show past that stops him from being booked for Glastonbury.
The 31-year-old singer is desperate to perform at this year’s Glastonbury Festival, but fears that because he is a previous winner of Simon Cowell’s talent show that he is "overlooked" by Michael and Emily Eavis.
James actually thinks it’s "amazing" that he’s managed to "sustain a career" after being crowned the winner of the ninth series of the programme in 2012.
Speaking on UK TV show ‘This Morning’, he said: "It’s amazing that I’ve managed to sustain a career. It’s amazing what the likes of myself Olly Murs, Little Mix, have been able to do to be considered viable enough to come from a show like that and still be relevant. Because there’s a little bit of snobbery attached to being from a reality TV show and maybe we get overlooked for things like that [Glastonbury] and for me it sucks because I believe I’m made for those kinds of things."
The ‘Say You Won’t Let Go’ hitmaker went on to say that he had no alternative route into the music business other than ‘The X Factor’, as he didn’t have "people pumping finance" into him as a youngster from a modest background.
He said: "I was in a position where I had to go for ‘The X Factor’ I didn’t have any money, I didn’t have people pumping finance into me which a lot of these guys have. You hear these guys on the radio who are billed as these kinds of home grown [artists] and they’ve worked their way up but really they come from some kind of money I think, and that’s not me being bitter it’s a fact."
It may not be too late for James to be added to this year’s already star-studded line-up as it was announced this week that Lewis Capaldi, The Proclaimers and Japanese pop-metal band Babymetal have been added to the bill.
They join previously announced headliners Stormzy, The Killers and The Cure, as well as other performers such as Miley Cyrus, Liam Gallagher, Janet Jackson and George Ezra.
James Arthur says ‘snobbery’ has cost him Glastonbury slot
