1. He believes that the X-Factor producers "lost control of editing" and couldn't "edit him up to look like an asshole anymore," which is what swayed the public over to his side.
2. He feels he was misrepresented on X-Factor.
They gave me this rock god persona. Everyone still thinks I'm a rock god. I'm not. It's just, this rock star thing... I dress a little bit like that, but I'll never be a rock star.
3. He describes his sound as "indie-acoustic, rock-blues."
4. Despite feeling misrepresented, he describes his X-Factor experience as "good" and "weird."
5. His favourite performance on X-Factor was "Budapest."
6. He says his experience on X-Factor "didn't change [him] at all" as an artist and that he's "exactly the same," but acknowledges feeling "a bit lost as to where reality is."
7. He was "shocked" that he got through to the final of X-Factor, because he "already knew what it was to be an artist," rather than picking someone who they could teach that to.
8. He believes that talent shows like Australian Idol, X-Factor, Australia's Got Talent and The Voice have affected the music industry negatively, stating that "all the artists are exactly the same."
9. Hearing his debut single "Coming Back" on the radio for the first time was "not really" exciting to him because he "didn't write any of the music," so he's not "sharing [his] soul".
10. He likes "a lot of older music, Blind Gary Davis, Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, Jeff Beck, B.B. King, and American folk music like Simon & Garfunkel and America"
11. Despite not really being excited about the album, he says that he is not resentful to X-Factor for making him put out an album he did not write any of the songs on.
I'm sharing somebody else's soul, so... it doesn't make sense. But they're incredible songs, great music. I love these songs. But, you know... it's different. When you write a song, that song is like, your child. You're protective, and you watch it grow. These songs were already grown. Except for "Coming Back," which is interesting, but still, I didn't write it. If I'd written this song, if this was something that had come from a deep place somewhere within me, it'd be like "Wow!" ... like seeing your kid on TV. That'll come next year.
12. He "really hates Mondays."
I really hate Mondays, like the rest of the world. I always thought to myself "I just want to get a stage where I can have every Monday off, because even if Tuesday is your first day of work for the week, it still ain't Monday. There's something about it. When Tuesday or Wednesday is your Monday, it's still not Monday, and that's gooood. I hate Mondays.
13. He sees himself being "based out of the States" in ten years, doing larger, longer tours with his partner, Australia's Got Talent winner Bonnie.
I'll buy a house in Melbourne and come and go from the States. I'll probably be most likely on the road with my partner Bonnie, so we're gonna do a lot of duet stuff, we'll have our solo careers as well, but if we go away on the road, she'll be [the] special guest and vice versa. That's how you make a relationship work in this industry. It's luck that you have a situation like mine where you fall for someone, they fall for you and you're both in the same industry. We understand the industry and how shit it can be, how hard it is...
14. He says that he will probably collaborate on some "total club tracks" with his girlfriend Bonnie.
15. His genre of music cannot be defined.
There's no limit to what I'll be doing. I don't fit one genre. The genre that I write is sort of almost a genre of its own. It's not country, it's not folk, it's not rock, it's not contemporary. It's weird. It's just, it's an easy listening thing. It's a mix of everything.
Dean Ray's X-Factor journey album is released on November 21, and his single "Coming Back" is out now.
