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"X Factor USA winner Melanie Amaro has said that she is glad new boss LA Reid was honest with her throughout the competition. The 19-year-old won the debut season of the Fox competition in December and has since signed a recording contract with Epic Records, where Reid serves as CEO and chairman.   Speaking to AJ Hammer on Showbiz Tonight, the teenager was asked whether it would be &amp;quot;awkward&amp;quot; working with Reid following some of his &amp;quot;tough criticism&amp;quot; to her throughout the course of the show.  &amp;quot;Not at all because to me, to be honest, I was so happy he was honest with me every week,&amp;quot; she replied. &amp;quot;I would hate for him to say, &amp;#039;You know, you were great every week&amp;#039; and not say what he was actually feeling and then I don&amp;#039;t progress each week or I don&amp;#039;t make it through. I&amp;#039;m glad he told me how he was feeling so each week I could use what he said and build and get bigger and bigger.&amp;quot;   Amaro, who was mentored by Simon Cowell, won a $5 million recording contract and the chance to appear in a Pepsi Super Bowl commercial when she triumphed on The X Factor&amp;#039;s December 22 finale.  She recently said that the outpouring of support from the public is one of the best things to have come out of her X Factor experience, saying: &amp;quot;To get that from so many people that support you on Twitter and so many different places and say, &amp;#039;We love you, we support you, and we&amp;#039;re here for you...&amp;#039;  &amp;quot;That, for me, was a really big part. To see how many fans and supporters I have, and I truly appreciate that.&amp;quot; Amaro has also teased that she plans to surprise fans with her debut album, saying it will have a mix of the big ballads she became known for on The X Factor but also tracks from different genres. &amp;gt; Read Digital Spy&amp;#039;s full X Factor headlines Watch Melanie Amaro performing &amp;#039;Listen&amp;#039; below:       "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/the-x-factor-us/news/a359094/x-factor-melanie-amaro-on-new-boss-la-reid-im-glad-he-was-honest/>