Britney Spears On ‘X Factor:’ Singer Comes Out Swinging

Britney Spears, alongside Demi Lovato, L.A. Reid, and Simon Cowell, made her debut on this season of FOX’s The X Factor last night, and the singer was clearly in the mood to shut down those hoping to leave their mark on the talent competition. According to USA Today, the singer wasted no time knocking people down to size, delivering an array of memorable one-liners in the process. Sweet sentiments from Spears, it would seem, were in a very short supply.

“I thought it was just kind of bad,” Spears told one unfortunate contestant. “The singing came in, and it wasn’t very nice,” she relayed to another hopeful. These criticisms may appear somewhat tame compared to some of the singer’s other critiques.

After one poor wannabe finished up, Spears issued the following sentiment: “I felt like I was listening to Alvin and the Chipmunks.” If that wasn’t bad enough, Britney told someone they sounded like “Vanilla Ice meets Lauryn Hill meets ‘West Side Story.’” Ouch.

“I wanna know who let you onstage. I feel uncomfortable with you even staring at me,” Spears explained to another singer. When you’ve effectively creeped out Britney spears, you know you’ve done something special.

However, Spears did have a few words of encouragement for those contestants who met her lofty standards. According to People, Britney had nothing but positive things to say about 21-year-old mom and nursing student Paige Thomas.

“You are so bright and beautiful on stage and you exude so much confidence. You’re flawless,” Spears explained. When asked if she would vote Thomas, through, the singer reportedly exclaimed, “Holy cow, yes.” A ringing endorsement, for sure.

To be fair, Spears wasn’t altogether picky when it came to sending people through to the next round. Despite some hiccups in her performance, Spears welcomed Quatrele Da’an Smith’s performance of Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way” with open arms.

“You were off key a little bit but for the most part you were really entertaining,” she stated. When the time came to vote Smith through, Spears said, “I’m going to say yes … I loved it.”

Do you think Britney Spears was too mean on the season premiere of The X Factor?