X Factor!

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Has anyone else been watching the X Factor? With Saturday nights in having become my default mode (thanks to toddler) I've ended up watching more this year than ever before and now require the POPTIMISTS to tell me who should WIN.

So - Who should win?

To jog yr memory the remaining contestants are:

ALEXANDRA - Londoner (I think) who always looks a bit miserable and seems to be at home on fierce soul ballads. She is the best singer remaining and has been for a few weeks I think. Not a lot of presence tho.

DIANA - Skinny big-haired scouser who has a weird highly intense Kate Bush / Dolores O'Riordan witchy warble thing going on, quite unlike anyone else I've seen on an X Factor/Idol style show. I like her because she pushes herself (and the arrangers) to do something different with familiar songs, BUT whether it actually works or not is incredibly dependent on the song.

EOGHAN - Scary man-child with a weird mask-like face which looks 16 (his actual age), 10 or 100 depending on how the camera catches him. I am desperate for him to be sent home as he unnerves me deeply, except when he's performing when he's just rubbish mostly.

JLS - Who I always call JSL - they are a very smiley and innoccuous boy band, my wife's favourites. I like 'em and would be happy if they won because I think on the whole it's good for the balance of pop to have a boy band around, but they have as much chance of making un-bland records as I have of being picked for a Mars mission.

Does anyone else care?

Comments

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Haha I did a huge X Factor catch-up on Saturday night (didn't watch the programme but youtubed a whole load of clips). And then I got really rather angry and posted on ILX about how the British public should be banned from judging anything because they seem to hate people who are actually good at stuff.

ALEXANDRA - is the only act left in of any worth. She'd make a great anono-house diva, which isn't as backhanded a compliment as it seems - her version of 'Relight My Fire' was terrific. I love the hint of Toni Braxton in her voice. She isn't at all like Leona, contra many people on the internet: Alexandra's a natural performer and all-round entertainer. She'll be wholly dependent on her material for long-term success: give her top-notch R&B/electro productions or show-stopping ballads and she'll kill it; give her shoddy Booty Luv knock-offs and beige ballads and she won't be able to transcend them.

JLS - should be performing new jack swing and r&b classics instead of ballads and slush, but Louis is too limited to think beyond "new Westlife". Sad, because obv there's a gap in the market for a good boy band, especially an r&b one (following the Boyz II Men or Bell Biv DeVoe template would mean they wouldn't be seen as all that naff).

DIANA - uhhhh I can see how she's "interesting" but tbh her Dolores Cranberry voice and Claw of Doom do my head in. idk, the things she needs to become a compelling singer aren't going to be found on X Factor. Her 'Call Me' from weeks ago was good but every time she slows it down it's some next-level dreadfulness.

EOGHAN - is completely indefensible in every way and I actually get angry when I think about him still being on the show instead of Rachel and Ruth. Who the hell could possibly vote for him over them? People with fucking cheese for ears? I hate the British public. He's probably going to win.

Rachel was my initial favourite but I thought she was really hindered by some dreadful song choices (and, yeah, a lack of discipline). When she hit the spot she really did have something special that none of the others had, but it was clear she only had a v limited stylistic range in which she could hit that spot ('You Know I'm No Good', 'Feeling Good'). Which is OK, great careers have been built on less. It's for the best that she didn't win because it was obvious that no one had a clue what to do with her voice or volatile personality - I mean, can you imagine how early MJB or even Keyshia Cole would fare on a programme like this. I hope she gets picked up by someone else, and either writes or is given material that she can emotionally connect to, and is given the freedom to work within her comfort zone.

Ruth - haha what a powerhouse. Her 'Purple Rain' was one of the greatest performances of any X Factor. I can't believe she lost out to fucking Eoghan. She could have a v successful career singing the shit out of Diane Warren and Jim Steinman powerballads (and there is a bit of a gap in the market there), selling to the global Latin market.

The themed weeks have really hampered the contestants I think, they haven't been permitted to consistently showcase their individual talents.