There's A Tragic Reason This Homeless Busker Won't Go On 'X Factor'

A homeless teenager has said that he won't go on The X Factor despite the fact it could lift him out of poverty.

The LAD's life fell to bits after his grandfather, who he lived with, died while he was taking his GCSEs. Watch him perform here:

Credit: NCJ Media

Describing how music became his only escape, Robbie, 19, said: "I started a band, and that was keeping me okay.

"It was nice to see when I went to gigs people were singing my songs, I felt a part of something, and that was when I realised that all I wanted to do with my life was music."

Living with his dad in a shared home with seven other people, he was unable to practice. He began staying out with his friends to see gigs and eventually his father said he couldn't live with him any more, which left him with no choice but to stay in a hostel for the homeless.

He told the Newcastle Chronicle: "If you've never lived in a hostel before, you don't know what it's like.

Credit: NCJ Media

"It's not a nice environment, definitely not home. I would do anything to go back to my granddad's."

But his tragic circumstances have provided him with inspiration for his songs, writing about life in the hostel, as well as about Newcastle and a recently ended relationship.

He said: "My songs are different now - they make me feel something, and other people say they feel something when they listen to it.

"I'm proud of it. I'll catch friends singing something and they'll say, 'Robbie that's one of yours, it's stuck in my head again.'

"When I play my songs, I feel like I can get my point across - I feel like I'm really heard."

Credit: NCJ Media

But while programmes like The X Factor potentially offer a route out, he says the thought of failing is too terrifying.

He said: "The amount of times I've heard 'you should be on X Factor'... People always say I should try it. It's something that I've always wanted to do but I'm also afraid to take that risk.

"I want to make a living out of this, I don't just want to be that guy who goes on TV once."

Good luck, Robbie.

Featured Image Credit: NCJ Media

Topics: newcastle, UK News, Simon Cowell, x factor, Homeless

James Dawson

James Dawson is a Journalist at LADbible. He has contributed articles to LADbible’s ‘Knowing Me, Knowing EU’ series on the EU referendum, the 'Electoral Dysfunction' series on the 2017 general election, the ‘U OK M8?’ series tackling mental health amongst young men, and for its ‘Climate Change’ initiative in partnership with National Geographic.

@thejaytoday