Mason Noise: “There’s a lot of different sides to me”

In this year’s lovey-dovey* X Factor* (even the judges are getting on), Mason Noise is the one controversial chink of light – and responsible for the show’s most jaw-dropping moment so far.

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Complaining about not getting enough airtime at the Six Chair Challenge, Mason managed to rile the usually unflappable Simon Cowell, who branded him an “arsehole” and ordered him off the stage.

But as everyone caught their breath, there was a sudden turn of events as Mason was brought back by Nick Grimshaw for the boys category.

When we met him last week, we expected a teen with an ego the size of Kanye West’s (who Rita Ora compared him to), but Mason, 22, was surprisingly thoughtful, bright and spiritual. We’ve only seen one side of this contender…

Did you pre-plan what you were going to say to Simon?

I knew that if I was going to leave the competition I wanted to go out with a bang, and I had pre-planned something, but I was in two minds about whether to go ahead with it. When the last seat was taken, I kind of went, “Well, we’ll go out here then.” I didn’t know what to expect, I just threw it out there.

Have you spoke to Simon about it?

It’s all fine. He called from LA when he asked me to come back on the show and said he respected me as an artist and that we were both frustrated and protecting our crafts.

You’ve already been signed – why go on The X Factor?

I never went on the show thinking, “I want to win* X Factor*” – I just went on there to have a stage to perform on. I’ve spent the past few years going up and down the country, doing two or three different shows a night in clubs and getting things thrown at me by drunk people. It’s not glamorous – I went through a lot of stuff and someone suggested meditation as a way of coping.

What kind of “stuff”?

I was feeling impatient with the industry and going through things like anxiety. I had panic attacks, too – it was stress that triggered it off, worrying about my future.

How does meditation help?

It’s good to have a moment of calmness – I’m very spiritual. It’s nice to be able to take things off your shoulders and kind of give the responsibility to God, or whatever you believe in.

OK. We didn’t expect that…

There’s a lot of different sides to me, and people will find out about them eventually – I’ve never been someone to give it all up immediately. There’s a long career [ahead of me] for people to find out about things.

Read the full interview in this week’s heat magazine – OUT NOW!