‘The X Factor’ USA: Beatrice Miller, Jennel Garcia, and Demi Lovato drama

Is there some controversy brewing behind “The X Factor” USA at the moment? Definitely, and the cracks that are starting to show are so immense that it makes you wonder just how they are going to be able to improve its reputation moving forward.

We already knew that the contestants were not really given that much flexibility when it comes to their song choices, but here is something even more stunning to go along with that knowledge: the songs are not always even picked by the mentors. Instead, Beatrice Miller reveals to The Hollywood Reporter that their songs are actually picked for them by the show’s producers days before they even sit down with their mentors. She also claimed that she and many other artists this past week hated the songs that they were given, but were forced to sing them, without much input from the people supposedly guiding their careers:

“I think the majority of us as contestants didn’t like what we were singing this week. I don’t think any of us got exactly what we wanted because this week it was all about saluting divas of the older time and whatever, and they kind of made us into the people that we’re singing this week, which was kind of weird. I don’t like that, because it just turns us into people that we’re not.”

The fact that the show needs a teenage girl who is not even old enough to have a driver’s license to call them out on how different the show’s “creative process” reality is behind the scenes says a lot, especially compared to “The Voice” and “American Idol,” where contestants do at least have some say in what they are doing. Then again, contestants also sign a contract not to talk about production, and we wonder yet again if subjecting a young child, especially one who has already professed to having some stress put on her at home, to this sort of competition is the right move.

As for the song choices that sent Jennel Garcia and Lyric 145 home, they were originally hoping to sing “You Oughta Know” by Alanis Morrissette (which should not have been a licensing issue, given the show has featured the song before) and a version of “Respect” by Aretha Franklin including some original rap verses. Demi Lovato was apparently so upset about what happened behind the scenes, including Jennel forced into a look that she really was not happy with, that she barely spoke to reporters after her elimination.

Do you think all of these problems behind the scenes are going to lead to “The X Factor” USA losing even more viewers?