ABBA’s Ulvaeus accuses musical shows like ‘X-Factor’ of killing creativity

Melbourne: Swedish pop music group ABBA’s member Bjorn Ulvaeus has slammed music reality shows like ‘X Factor’ saying that such shows are cruel.

Ulvaeus accused that such TV talent contests kill creativity in music. “Such shows want to polish off anything that is original. They want to polish off the corners to make them all smooth and mainstream. I think that`s wrong,” The Daily Telegraph quoted Ulvaeus as saying. “There was nothing mainstream about The Stones or The Beatles, who were our big influence when we started out as Abba. This way of picking people by audition is very different from how Abba started out in the music industry. We grew organically,” he added. Ulvaeus formed ABBA in Stockholm in the 70s with fellow Swedes Benny Andersson and Agnetha Faltskog and Norwegian-born Frida Lyngstad. “We just happened to get together and we found that we had common interests. We started to play and sing together. We were not auditioned and that`s a big difference,” he said. “None of the talent of today go out on the road and learn their craft like the bands of the Sixties and Seventies would. Look at The Beatles, how they struggled, how they worked in order to become such a good little band. And that`s why they had such longevity and are still admired today,” he added. The 65-year-old artist said that he never watches ‘The X Factor’, because “it is very cruel and very often the contestants are given the wrong sort of advice”. “I don’t like the way a young person is standing there and is sometimes humiliated. And then someone who is not an expert in any way gives them advice. Maybe they get the impression that this is the way it had to be, which is wrong,” he said. “Everyone should pursue whatever is original in oneself. That``s the way for a long life in music. Who are the artists who are still with us from a long time back? Those are the ones that are so original that they stand out,” he added. (ANI)