Inside the mind of Syco Entertainment's Talent Producer Eddie Evelyn-Hall
(Photo taken from Twitter)
Eddie Evelyn-Hall came to Access To Music twice to audition our students for Syco Entertainment, and I had the opportunity to get an insight of that side of the music industry.
For those of you who don’t know, Syco Entertainment is a unique production company that combines TV and music, and Eddie works as a Talent Producer for them.
The likes of One Direction, Little Mix, James Arthur and Susan Boyle are just some of the many artists in the label. “But we also have people who’ve signed that haven’t come through television process, like Labrinth. We are unique in that way.”
Eddie casts for X Factor and Britain’s Got Talent, but he also helps singer-songwriters who aren’t suitable for the shows, so he works with the A&R department helping the aspiring artists develop into artists that could be signed by the label without having to go through TV process. They also give people a hand with their songwriting, “we link songwriters up with people who are new artists. So yeah, it is a talent department that casts for the TV as a forefront but also we cast for other things for the department as well”. If you think your songwriting skills could be improved, you could get in touch with them and see how it goes.
After he told me about the process and what they actually do, I had to ask the question everyone thinks when watching the live auditions - who says ‘yes’ to those acts that aren’t so suitable for winners of the show [If you know what I mean]. Well, according to Eddie the Talent Department is not responsible for the bad singing, he said they “would never put somebody forward who’s being represented by the Syco Talent Department who’s a bad singer.” Well, how do they end up there, then?
At least our students aren’t bad singers at all - Eddie enjoyed auditioning the Performance students and he thought they were fantastic. However he thought there were a few who didn’t tick the boxes as to what he’s looking for. “But in the same breath there were at least 5 or 6 people that I thought were great, and one band that were potentially very interesting.” Not all is lost, well done guys. And if you feel like giving it another try, or contacting them asking for help, they are willing to do so if your talent is amazing “we’ll just say to them ‘keep us in the loop, let me know what you’re doing.’”
As a talent producer, Eddie has to look for new artists every now and then, for the label and also to put them forward to X Factor and BGT. Bearing in mind that nowadays it’s hard to find something different, due to the fact that people have expanded the genres of music to such an extent, people end up copying each other...or, in Eddie’s opinion, being inspired. “I think that there’s a lot to be said about being confused, being copied and being inspired by. What is being original? Everything comes back around - it’s being inspired, developing, moving forward and any good artist has done that. A comedian is the perfect example of somebody who does that. Comedy is continuously moving forward, continuously pushing boundaries, it’s pushing that bar and that would never happen if nobody was inspired by someone else. You can’t go forward without going back.”
Eddie says that the way you perform is what gets his attention, and your performance begins the moment you walk in the room or on stage “the performance is everything.” So if you think that the singing is the only thing that counts, think again, and think about your song choice and your image regardless of your shape, size or form. “Some people say that Adele doesn’t have an image, in fact she has an incredible image and she looks amazing. She styled that out and she owns that. Johnny Cash famously wore black head to toe because it worked for him. The people who are alternative artists still have a strong image. Having no image is having an image itself.”
The Syco Talent Producer has seen a lot of artists like Amelia Lily and Misha B, but he finds it really hard to say who is the most proud of. Being at the right place at the right time with good feedback was all he did and it would be wrong if he took credit for it. “They’ve done it all themselves. The majority of the time, they were there, they just needed the help and the kind of meet in the middle.” So he’s proud of everyone he’s put forward and would gladly put his name behind them. He doesn‘t look for something in specific when he’s talent scouting, apart from the criteria he’s following. “Casting isn’t black and white. Talent spotting isn’t black and white. So I never stick to one thing”. It depends on the artist and if they’re ready for the next level, if they are growing as an artist, if they know where they’re going, who they want to be, how they want to sound and Syco loves working with people who know all of that.
We then went on to talk about former X Factor contestant, Tamera Foster, “she is a primary example of someone who’s talented but wasn’t ready, unfortunately. She was right to come on the X Factor because it is a development program essentially, but maybe she wasn’t ready for that type of work.”
People often mistake A&Rs as bad people who are going to be harsh with you, real divas that expect nothing but the best. Well, it isn’t like that. I observed Eddie doing the auditions and I could see that he is kind and easygoing. If I was auditioning, I would feel very relaxed once we engaged in conversation. After all, A&R people just want your best. “I would never put someone forward if I didn’t think the end goal was that they could be signed by Syco. And it’s that simple.” So, they’re just like your protectors - they mentor you and give you constructive criticism. “Yeah, massively, without a doubt. - laughs- They’re human beings and nobody should be forced to be ridiculed and we don’t do that from my talent department. We’re called talent for a reason and I think people should be supported, nurtured and helped, not ridiculed. That’s not our thing. I like to think that I’m warm and when they walk into the room they feel relaxed because that’s not me, I’m not a cold person.” Eddie is someone who is curious and genuinely interested in people and wants to know who you are, not just how you sing and perform. “I’m always curious as to what makes people tick. I grew up in a large family with music and the arts were a massive part of that.”
Eddie was at university studying Drama and Theatre Studies when he decided he wanted to be a Talent Producer. His strength was behind the scenes spotting talent and not on stage. He doesn’t have a common talent, instead his talent is “spotting talent. Helping people, nurturing them, producing them and getting them to achieve their goal. It makes me feel really proud.”
Eddie Evelyn-Hall advises the students to work on song choice “First and foremost, song choice and confidence. Confidence is always something that lets people down. Like I said, from the moment you walk into the room you should add hit to that. So you should be confident, think about your song choice and just own it. You’ve only got one shot and that’s real cliche but you don’t want to leave there going ‘God, I wish I done better’. Also it helps me get an understanding of what type of artists you are, especially a cover, shows me how you approach that and make it your own.”
I hope this has helped you analyse your weaknesses and how to work on them. Good luck to the ATM students who auditioned.
Keep It Locked
-- Tatyanaa
