Tulisa Contostavlos has told Ayda Field to remember to always put her acts first if she becomes a judge on ‘The X Factor’.
Ayda, 39, and her husband Robbie Williams are the favourites to join the judging panel on the next series of the ITV talent show, after holding discussions with their friend and show boss Simon Cowell.
Tulisa, 29, sat on the panel in 2011 and 2012 and in her first year she mentored Little Mix to victory, making them the first group to win the competition.
During an appearance on ‘Loose Women’, the ‘Young’ singer spoke with Ayda about her potentially being a judge and told her, if she does accept a job from Simon, to forget the circus that surrounds the show and remember she is responsible for young artists’ hopes and dreams.
Tulisa said: "I think the hardest part of the show, it’s logical to anyone, it does become more so about you than the show when you’re a judge. In terms of the invasion of privacy. The important thing is to always keep your eye on the ball. Someone’s life is in your hands in terms of an artist on the stage. What you do is going to affect their career for the rest of their life, so always keep your eye on the ball. That’s the hardest."
Seven years on, Tulisa is still in touch with the Little Mix girls – Jesy Nelson, Jade Thirlwall, Leigh-Anne Pinnock and Perrie Edwards – and admits she still can’t believe that they’ve gone from four "normal" girls to global pop icons.
She said: "I am in touch with them. I still get emotional. I saw them on a BRITs performance I started crying, sitting on the sofa with a cup of tea.
"When they were first getting together, what was different about them, you get a lot of girls bands coming on and they’re all very sex appeal and look at me … they were very geeky, little glasses and bow ties. Someone at the time said you should try and dress them up and sex them up a bit and I was like, ‘No way – what makes them so relatable is they look like normal girls, with normal problems, real people.’ "