Simon Cowell reportedly regrets choosing 'Forever Young' as Louisa Johnson's 'X Factor' winners single.

Louisa Johnson

Louisa Johnson

The 56-year-old music mogul is disappointed the 17-year-old singer's rendition of Bob Dylan's hit has flopped in the charts and believes a more up-tempo song would have earned her this year's coveted Christmas number one.

A source told The Sun newspaper: "It's an embarrassing result for Syco. Even though Louisa had two fewer days of sales, they expected the single to fare much better.

"On reflection, they feel picking a more up-tempo, anthemic song would have been a better idea.

"But they are fully behind Louisa and insist the poor chart position was down to the song, not the performer."

However, despite the bad start for the Essex beauty, Louisa hasn't let it dampen her spirits as she hopes to be selling out arenas and have a few albums under her belt in five years.

She said recently: "In five years I want to be selling out arenas, have a few albums out and a big fan base that respects me. I am just going to work as hard as I possibly can and concentrate on myself. That is the only way to do it.

"I want my album to connect with the fans. Obviously I'm young and I don't have a huge amount of life experience, so I want it to connect with other people."