It’s weird that I have let myself get hooked into this year’s X factor competition. This is the first year I have bothered watching. I have watched every episode and it has provided compulsive viewing. There has been a wealth of talent but I have to say that in this type of competition the voting public do sometimes go a bit potty when it comes to picking a winner. Out of the windows goes the raw talent or all round gifted talent and in comes the ‘Let’s vote for the cute one’ or ‘Let’s vote for her because she’s so young’. It’s wrong plain and simple.
I thought Eoghan Quigg had a strong first couple of weeks but has since started sounding a bit like a nervous croaky girl. He sounds like his balls still haven’t broken and cries like a toddler. ‘Oh but he’s so young’ – give it a break. He’s going to grow up one day – he might even reach puberty! I hate it when people go on about how young someone is. It’s a talent show – not a ‘Look how much you can achieve by the age of 16’ contest. Diana Vickers was another singer who looked like having promise in the early weeks. Although not my cup of tea, she did command the audience well early on in the contest. The last few weeks however, I feel she has looked nervous and her song choices have been awful.
I have liked JLS from the 2nd week and think they have had some songs which could well have done well in the charts. The last couple of weeks have seen them falter under nerves a little but they are well deserving of their place in the finals. I think if they can get it together they can do really well as a boyband. They do best when singing boyz2men style songs in my opinion.
The strongest contender but least likely to win is Alexandra Burke. She has the most gifted voice and would win the competition easily if she was the talent she is now but 15 years old. As she is now a cripplingly old 20 years of age she has little chance to overpower the might of the Irish in Owen or the cunning of Louis Walsh’s hidden call centre rigging the votes for JLS.
Luckily for all of the final 3 contestants they will all have recording contracts just as last year. The most successful single artist to come from reality TV singing shows in the UK is Lemar and he only came 3rd – so in reality it doesn’t matter who wins this year. It’s all down to who’s got the legs for the real long haul and the survival that is the music industry. the main advantage of the Xfactor show is just the initial exposure which can go an really long way for a kick start to their careers.
I’ll be watching next week as will millions of others. I will be routing for both Alexandra and JLS hoping that high school musical cheese Quiglet will be out in 3rd place. As usual in these competitions the judges will go on about how great each act was in their final performance as required so that they don’t bad mouth the winner by accident. The same old clichéd responses from the judges will spill out like water from a bottle as will Cheryl’s tears. Same old, same old! The last laugh will be with Simon Cowell who will once again be rubbing his hands at the prospect of managing yet another number 1 single.