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.

Comments

[martinskidmore.livejournal.com]

I didn't know that! Didn't stop her making great records soon after. Actually, I wrote my comment on it while Ray was singing it - when it came to Leona's turn, it sounded rather more impressive. I'm very pleased Leona won it, anyway.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Yes, the single is really awful, but most reality TV type winners tend to start off making deeply conservative dishwater music - on the evidence of Will Young and Kelly Clarkson's debuts I wouldn't have guessed either would end up being the fantastic pop stars they are now. I suspect a lot will depend on Leona's own drive to ensure that she makes her mark - I'm very glad she has the chance to do so.

On a positive note, the rate of reality TV failures whose careers are now dead precisely due to dishwater balladry is so high that I'm sure there will be people around Cowell warning him not to piss away Leona's talent.