X Factor final

[martinskidmore.livejournal.com]

(haha this almost ended up on fooptimists through not paying attention)

I've watched Pop Idol and X Factor a lot, but this is the first time I've felt myself really caring about who wins. We have Ray, a charming and likeable young man who would like to have been in the Rat Pack, and Leona, the first woman in an X Factor final, a powerful singer in a Mariah/Xtina vein. Ray is fine, but his singing is pretty limited - I suspect he will crop up in a big West End show in a few months, and probably do well in it. Leona strikes me as having ability that could make for one of the greatest three or four female voices the UK has ever had. I really think she is hugely talented, and the moment where she started singing A Million Love Songs and her backing vocalists joined her on stage, and they were Take That, was jawdropping.

I hope she wins it, but I suspect they will already have the song ready for the winner, and it'll be a lame ballad about chasing a dream or something that will suit neither of the contestants (nor the Rod Stewart/Joe Cocker type, Ben, who finished third). Give her the right songs and production, maybe only available in the US, and I think she could make records to stand comparison with Christina. Give her limp ballads produced to not offend anyone, and she'll have one #1 and fade quickly into the distance. I fear the latter is the more likely scenario.