Picture this, it’s 2012, you’re sitting in your living room watching X-Factor, and all is right in the world! That’s a headspace we’re always wishing to go back to, and lucky for us, two of our favorite contestants from X-Factor, Carly Rose and Diamond White, are transporting us back with their newest podcast Ex-Factors! These two multi-talented artists (who are real life best friends) are deep diving into all of the behind the scenes tea, doing deep dives on their experiences and hope to bring us exclusives with other people who were involved in the show. The first three episodes are available now (of course we’ve already binge listened) and we were lucky enough to get to chat with Carly Rose all about everything Ex-Factors!
Check out ‘Ex-Factors’ here!
Hi Carly! Thank you so much for taking the time to talk with us! To start us off can you tell us a little about who you are as a creative?
As a creative? Hmm, I’m a singer, songwriter, artist, all around creative human. I’ve been writing music since I was, well, longer than I can really remember. I’ve been performing since I was 7 years old and started professionally in sessions and started writing music when I was 14, after coming off of X Factor. And it’s ever since been my main form of creative expression, singing, and songwriting and helping create the tracks that support the songs and just listening to music in general. I think it is probably my favorite thing in the entire world. So it’s all music.
‘Ex-Factors’ is a genius concept! What made you guys want to go on this journey together of breaking down your time on the show?
I think it really just came from us enjoying speaking to each other about it. We would be out and about, going out together, because we really are best friends. It would come up more often than not; something would remind us of something. All of a sudden, we’d get on this banter of talking about the show. Five minutes later, after we’d gone on this back-and-forth banter, we’d think, “Wait a second, I feel like there are people who would care to hear what we just spoke about.” It was very much a natural progression. We talked about it for a bit and then eventually decided, “Alright, let’s actually do this because it’s fun.” It’s fun for us, and it was also a way for us to make plans. We both have different responsibilities in LA, so it can be tough to make plans with people. This was a good way to force us to make plans. We had to be at the studio to record, and from there, we got even closer. Now, I’m with her all the time.
We can imagine that being on a competition-based reality show brings forth a specific set of difficulties, have you guys found that finding a friendship in each other has helped you over the years work through any struggles being in that environment brought forward?
Definitely. I think there’s no one who can relate to that experience like Diamond. Anyone who was on the show can obviously find so much common ground with each other. We all went through this crazy experience together, and we have the similarity in our ages. We were all going through this experience at the same exact age, ended up in the same city, and shared the same career paths and dreams. For a while, we weren’t really in each other’s lives as much as we wanted to or should have been, not for any bad reason, just because I went to college and Diamond was focusing on her acting career and music. We were in different circles. When we got brought back together, it was like, “Wait, I’ve needed you all this time.” She really fills this void for me, and now we really do help each other in a lot of ways.
When you look back at your time on X-Factor, is there a specific moment you remember your friendship with Diamond really beginning to form?
We do. It was Diamond, Dee, and I. We mentioned it on the show sometimes; we would go to Universal Studios in Hollywood. On a break from the show, or when we weren’t filming or in between live shows, it was our version of what you do in high school. We were walking around, meeting up with different people. At the time, there were Instagrammers or Viners, and we would hang out with them. Our parents would be there. We thought we were so cool, just living life as 14-year-olds in LA. That really secured a bond for us outside of the show, just as young girls. We came up with these nicknames for each other that we somewhat remember to this day. I think it was Diamond who tripped on a fence, and it was the funniest thing that ever happened at the time. We gave her a nickname for it. We all had different nicknames and still remember that we did that. When we were recording the episode, we talked about it, but it’s a little hazy as to why we made them and for what reason. It was more about hanging out as young kids and friends outside of the show.
When creating the ‘Ex-Factors’ podcast, were there any particular contestants you knew right away that you had to have on the show?
B was definitely one of them. When we first asked on our socials who people would really want, B was a main answer that popped up. I think the Fifth Harmony girls would eventually be cool to have on as well. Who else? Also, this is kind of a dream scenario, but we’ve talked about having the judges on at one point, which would be a really interesting conversation. Going from a contestant to a judge, talking about their perspective on it all, I think that would be, for me at least, the coolest conversation we could have. So maybe one day?
Carly, as we know there’s an EP coming soon, what has that creative process been like for you? What are you hoping fans take from this project?
That process has been really amazing, honestly. It’s my first time making a full project purely with one person, with one writer, and one producer, with the exception of one song.
In the past, a lot of the music I’ve put out was born from random sessions here and there. That’s how it often works in this industry—you’re thrown into sessions with different people to explore and see what comes out of it. There’s so much to be said for that. But this time, I happened to meet this writer named Thera Close, who ended up writing the entire project with me. We really clicked, and it was at a time when I wanted to take a break from the merry-go-round of sessions and find someone to lock in with. The writing of the EP started when I was in a relationship and continued after it ended.
It’s interesting because the EP reflects the rise and fall of our relationship. That’s what the EP is really about, and it was happening in real time while it was being created, which is really cool. So, I don’t remember the exact question, but hopefully that gives some insight.
When you look back at your time on X-Factor, is there a specific performance you remember really being proud of?
I think my answer at the time versus now, when I look back, is probably different, which is interesting. At the time, I remember being really excited about “It Will Rain” because I just loved the song. It was the only contemporary pop song they let me do, and I think I had partially fought for it, if I remember correctly. A lot of the other songs I did on the show were older power ballads. I was 13, so having a Bruno Mars song in the mix was very exciting to me. I also really liked what I was wearing for that performance, so I felt cool about it as my 13-year-old self.
Looking back now, in terms of vocal performance, maybe “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” or “My Heart Will Go On.” Honestly, I don’t really go back and watch these performances. The only times I’ve done it have been on the podcast, and that’s more about commenting on the experience and what I remember from that time, not about evaluating my performance. But those ones were just really hard songs. Taking on a Celine Dion song at 13 was a big challenge.
Obviously filming a show is one thing, but it’s a whole new ball game once it’s live and everyone is watching and commenting on it. What was the process like of watching the general public and the people around you watch every week?
It’s an interesting thing because I didn’t really understand the scope of what I was doing and the reach it had at that young age. Diamond and I related to this when we were on the show. When you’re that young, it’s really difficult to grasp the full extent of it. I think I only understood that looking back. Performing live and understanding the number of people watching was a very scary experience, but it taught me a lot about live performance. I still get a little nervous before any live performance, but if you can handle that, you can handle pretty much anything. I hope that answered the question. I do watch what people say, but I didn’t really take part in watching the episodes when they aired. The main thing I remember is seeing my friends support me during the show. It was really cool to see photos of my friends painting windows in my hometown with messages like “Vote for Carly” and things like that. I remember that more than actively watching the episodes.
Thank you again so much for your time! We have loved the first few episodes of the podcast! What can fans expect as we round out 2024?
They can expect more exciting guests. Diamond and I are getting more comfortable with it and becoming more un-hinged. Now that we’ve seen the reaction to the first few episodes and noticed that people respond well to us being raw and unfiltered, we can go further in that direction. There are a lot of things we’ve wondered if we should say, and at the end of the day, we decided, “Why not?” We didn’t start this project to take ourselves too seriously. We’re having fun with it, reminiscing about an experience we shared when we were young. They can expect us to lean more into the lightheartedness of it all, be honest and truthful, and not hold back.
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