The X-Factor Final 2011 - Little Mix create history

By Jason Wright (Entertainment Expert)

THOUSANDS had applied and now just two acts remained.  Following Amelia Lily’s departure at the end of Saturday’s show, just two now were left to fight it out.  Marcus Collins and Little Mix would compete over two hours on Sunday night to decide who would win The X-Factor 2011.  They were ready, the audience was ready, the judges were ready and Britain was ready to meet its next big popstar.

Before the serious business began, there was once again time to enjoy a performance from the eliminated contestants (minus Frankie for obvious reasons.)  In his place, there was a cameo appearance by Goldie Cheung; the act that Louis Walsh had initially sent through to the live finals, but declined to participate.

Turning back the clock to the past

Each act had three songs to win The X-Factor 2011.  In their first performance of the night, both of them performed a song from a past live show and they both opted to reprise their numbers from Movie Night (Week 7 of the competition, to you and me.)

GALLANT: Marcus was a creditable runner-up

First Marcus performed ‘Higher and higher,’ bringing back the gospel choir he used to great effect back then.  Just like the previous night, he had opened this leg of the final in sensational style.  Then Little Mix jumped onto stage to perform ‘Don’t Let Go.’  The song once again showed their unique abilities of being a group with either no lead singer or someone who gets the majority of the lyrics.  They all get their fair share and that’s why the public love them.

Giving Seasons Greetings

The X-Factor wouldn’t be the same without some Christmas cheer, something it has ignored in the last two series finals.  So it was nice to see it reinstated for 2011.  Marcus first gave a performance of Wham’s ‘Last Christmas.’  It was a song that was sort of lukewarm but the judges didn’t care, it was the final after all and it was all about standing out from the crowd for them.

Little Mix then next performed ‘Silent Night.’  This was them at their best, a song which just focused on their amazing voices that have grown throughout the competition.  With every performance that goes by, the belief that this could be the year of the Groups was growing.  All that Tulisa could do, as she had been doing throughout, was to make a loud plea for people to vote for them and that was an X-Factor political broadcast by “Tulisa’s Little Muffins” Party!

As the acts went backstage to prepare for their final and most crucial performance of the evening, it was time to look back at a series full of highs and lows.  Westlife, who have just announced they are splitting up, performed an acclaimed rendition of ‘What About Now,’ with a montage of series highlights being shown on the big screen behind them.

Just one more chance left

So it had all come down to this.  One song now stood between Marcus and Little Mix from victory – the winner’s single.  Reverting back to old rules, both finalists ad recorded versions of the Damien Rice ballad ‘Cannonball’ but with one difference, both acts had recorded it in their own style and how they saw it fit.  Unfortunately, both performances would be overshadowed by what is the worst ever X-Factor winner’s single!

Marcus went for a mixture of high notes and up-tempo base for his performance.  Although many might have predicted it would suit him more, it didn’t quite turn out the way many expected but what couldn’t be taken away was the power and soul put into it and it even had Gary Barlow shedding a tear or two.

Little Mix opted for the more traditional route of keeping the song as a ballad throughout its entirety.  They put plenty of dedication, emotion and other all sorts of dimensions into it.  It sounded like they been in the music industry for years.

ELECTRIC: Coldplay put on a stunning performance

A long wait would now have to be endured as it was time for another X- actor first.  This group had declined from appearing on the show, until now.  The biggest band in the world, Coldplay performed two songs from their recent new album, ‘Charlie Brown’ and ‘Paradise.’  The Wembley Arena crowd was transformed into a sea of glow lights for the performance and the group worked so hard that lead singer Chris Martin was left sweating like a pig after their performance.

An emotional and fairytale climax to an incredible weekend

Now came the moment Britain had been waiting.   Could Marcus make it four wins for the Boys in five years?  Or would Little Mix claim a long overdue triumph for the Groups?  In what was the closest X-Factor final ever, with just five per cent of the votes separating the two acts, and the standard long pause, the nation decided that the winner of The X Factor 2011 would be

…LITTLE MIX!

After eight long years, the group’s category had finally hit the jackpot!  In the past, the likes of G4, Same Difference, JLS and One Direction had tried and failed to win the final.  Now Little Mix had well and truly showed them all up.

The girls were undoubtedly overcome with emotion over the announcement; tears’ streaming down their faces and even their mentor Tulisa cracked and was a sobbing wreck too.  Throughout all they had been through, the public saw faith in them and they had well and truly beaten the odds.  Marcus was left to just offer his congratulations but again, he will surely be on his way to a bright future.

That just left Little Mix enough time to wipe away their tears and perform their debut single before being enveloped into a massive group hug by all of the finalists.  The race will now be on to get the single to Christmas Number One, but with that contest being taken place over two weeks this year and with a strong challenge from the ‘Military Wives’ charity single, it isn’t going to be easy.  However, they will surely be virtually guaranteed number one in next Sunday’s chart beforehand.

Series eight in a nutshell

It’s fair to say this year’s series of The X-Factor has had its ups and downs.  It started off so well in the early stages with rave reviews from critics over the new judging panel.  Once the live shows started, it descended into chaos, which put a bit of a damp squib on the competition because, at least in my opinion, the talent was much better than in previous years.

When Strictly Come Dancing started in October, the expected ratings switchover happened and The X-Factor struggled to maintain its grip with Strictly’s approach to hit the show where it really hurt.  Even the first night of the final on Saturday was outfoxed by Strictly’s semi-final and on Sunday, the peak audience was just over 15 million.  As anticipated, this was the most watched show on the box on Sunday but still a massive four million down on last year’s finale and the overall series ratings were below both 2010 and 2009.

As for “The Next Generation” judging panel, Gary Barlow was a creditable addition and delivered his promise to be fair and brutally honest in his role.  When Tulisa was appointed, I didn’t have any high hopes, but she has actually turned out so great in her role and my opinions on her have changed.  The least said about Louis Walsh, the better, and Kelly Rowland was strongly opinionated and honest in her feedback but looked out of her depth in the UK.  I wouldn’t be too surprised if at least one of these judges gets their P45 orders before next year however, with Nicole Scherzinger potentially switching from the US version to the UK edition next year.

Congratulations to Little Mix: X-Factor Winners 2011

Lastly, congratulations to Little Mix for a well deserved victory.  Now will they turn out to be successful – the answer won’t be revealed until next autumn but with acts like Shayne Ward, Leon Jackson and Joe McElderry having failed to build on their success, and with last year’s champion Matt Cardle seemingly going the same way, there will be huge pressure on them to deliver.  However, we should leave this until when that moment comes and celebrate on the foursome becoming the first group ever to win the competition.  The countdown now begins again to summer 2012 for when the search resumes for the class of series nine.

It may have not been a vintage series but The X-Factor 2011 certainly got a happy and fairytale ending.

My favourite music in 2011

2011 has been another sensational year in music and this is my top ten selection of the best hits of 2011!  Apologises if your favourite is not here, these are my personal favourite choices.  Enjoy listening!

1. Try With Me - Nicole Scherzinger

2. Goodbye Kiss - Kasabian

3. Moves Like Jagger - Maroon 5 (ft Christina Aguilera)

4. Price Tag - Jessie J (ft B.o.B)

5. AKA....What A Life - Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds

6. Don't Hold Your Breath - Nicole Scherzinger

7. What Makes You Beautiful - One Direction

8. World In Union - Hayley Westenra

9. Who's Laughing Now - Jessie J

10. Paradise - Coldplay

The X-Factor 2011 - It really is love and heartbreak

By Jason Wright (Entertainment Expert)

THIS weekend, the public could respond to the barbaric decisions by the producers to have four acts leave the competition last week.  The second week of live shows on the X-Factor was when the ‘real’ competition began, with the theme songs associated with love or heartbreak.

GROUPS

COLOURFUL: Rhytmix flourished under pressure to perform

NU VIBE kicked off the show on Saturday.  After a downbeat start last week, they were looking to improve with U2’s ‘With or without you.’  It was a lot better than last week but questions were being raised by the judges over the chemistry between the band members.  It would prove to be their ultimate downfall.  Whereas Nu Vibe were struggling, girl group Rhythmix flourished.  They set the bar last week and took it further with Nelly Furtado’s ‘I’m like a Bird.’  After seven years, are they the group to at last break the girlband jinx?  That performance was then backed up by The Risk, with a polished and well tuned version of Bruno Mars’ ‘Just The Way You Are.’  On the early evidence of this year, they could be the next big boyband group.

OVER 25s

FIRST of the Over acts was the act that stood out in this category last week, Sami Brookes.  To give credit, Whitney Houston’s ‘I Will Always Love you,’ is a hard songs to conquer but she did just that.  For once, Gary Barlow was out of line by comparing her performance to a “cruise singer.”  What performance was he watching?  Fast becoming the joke act is helium-pitched Johnny Robinson.  The theory is backed up by putting Kylie Minogue’s ‘Can’t Get You Out Of My Head’ to shame, and that was just being dressed in near-drag.  I sense the equation of: Johnny Robinson + Louis Walsh = THE NEXT WAGNER!  It seemed Kitty Brucknell took tips from Johnny too with her rendition of Bjork’s ‘It’s Oh So Quiet,’ putting a sort of ‘Alice in Wonderland’ twist on it.  The one big difference is of course, Kitty can sing in tune and Johnny can’t!

BOYS

WEAK: A late song change left Frankie in a very vulnerable position

ONE act that has surprised a lot of people already is Craig Colton.  His rendition of Beyoncé’s ‘Best Thing I never had’ wasn’t as strong as last week but still sealed the fact that he is actually a genuine contender.  It was tough week for ladies man Frankie Cocozza, as his song was changed less than 24 hours before the show and it proved to be a genuine mistake.  He slouched his way through a weak version of Coldplay’s ‘The Scientist.’  Louis Walsh rightly said that he lost his “swagger” before Kelly Rowland jumped to Frankie’s defence, by banning Louis from using that word!  Certainly an American way of telling him to shut the hell up!  To complete what was an indifferent night for the Boys was Marcus Collins who did the best he could with Rihanna’s ‘Russian Roulette’ but it was always a song completely out of his vocal range.  Overall, Gary Barlow will look back at this week as disappointing.  However, he made more errors in his selections than his acts did in their performances.

GIRLS

AGAIN, the category kicked off with the leading contender, Janet Devlin.  The Northern Irish teen was coming into the show on a back of a difficult week following the tragic death of her grandfather.  She overcome this, but putting her own unique style of the classic Elvis Presley song ‘ICan’t Help Falling in Love with You.’ It was moving and stunning to listen to and her grandfather would be so proud of it.  Another one hoping to, and did, impress well again was Misha B.  Charles & Eddie song ‘Would I Lie To You?’ is certainly a song suited to her but she well and truly took to another level with, like Janet, putting her own twist on the song.  Finally, Sophie Habibis could have counted herself lucky to have been saved in the big twist.  However, her performance of The Calling’s ‘Wherever You Will Go’ was a big highlight of the evening and may have surprisingly suggested that Kelly actually did make the right decision to save her from going home last week.  Amelia who?

The Result

MISSING: The connection factor was the downfall for Nu Vibe

THE public was finally back in power this week, and ITV used the show to try to reintroduce text voting to its shows, after it was suspended following the infamous phone-in scandal in 2007.  In the end, the two weakest performances of Saturday night proved to be the two acts participating in the ‘Final Showdown.’  For Nu Vibe or Frankie, one was about to be thrown out of the competition by the judges.  It was a tight sing-off which saw both acts giving it their all.  Nu Vibe eventually got eliminated, with only getting the backing of their mentor, Tulisa.  Their performances in the live shows were a major disappointment for an act that had promised so much potential.

     Away from the singing, it was to be a devastating weekend for the show as it lost its three year unbeaten record in the TV ratings. Beaten hands down by rival show Strictly Come Dancing on Saturday, the figures only surged when the overlap with Strictly at the start of the show concluded.   It’s the first time since the fourth week of the live finals back in 2008 that X-Factor has been defeated by Strictly.

     It seems this shock slump in ratings has been down to four factors;

1. The new judging panel is unsettled in the live environment but that’s bound to happen, they’ve only started so I’m sure they would have got used to it by the series end.
2. The quality of acts is poor.  OK, I admit, it’s not as great as 2008 or 2009 but it’s already beating last year’s bunch hands down.
3. A mass boycott with viewers still angry at last week’s elimination procedure; truth hurts but that’s kind of expected.
4. It’s simple, the public misses Simon Cowell but unfortunately there’s nothing anyone can do about it, it was his decision after all to quit in favour of taking part in the US counterpart.

     Regardless, we can still expect fierce competition and rivalry in the eight more weeks to come.  There will be no blog next week, taking a break in line with the school/college half-term so the next blog in a fortnight’s time which will wrap up both weeks three and four of the finals.

The X-Factor 2011 - An explosive start to the live shows

By Jason Wright (Entertainment Expert)

FROM the thousands and thousands acts that had aimed to become ‘The Next Big Thing,’ just 16 acts now remained in the running, ready and raring to kick off this year’s X-Factor live finals.

     With new judges, new attitude and a new opening title sequence (long overdue but I’m not too keen on the remixed theme), everything was in place for the perfect beginning.  However week one would be dominated by a ‘Big Twist’ and this time, it would be the first ever quadruple elimination, but not decided by the public.  Instead the judges would have complete control over the future of their acts.

     First, in their one and only effort to convince their mentoring judge, all 16 acts performed a song either by a popular British or American artist. Here’s how they fared…

GIRLS

Opening the live finals is a very daunting prospect as people expect the standard to be set high early on.  This year it fell to youngster Amelia Lily from Middlesbrough.  As part of the questionable makeovers given to the contestants in this run, her familiar blonde locks were switched to a shocking pink, but that didn’t stop her giving an confident rendition of the Michael Jackson classic ‘Billie Jean.’  Despite a few dodgy notes in the chorus, it was a good start, considering this is a very challenging song to perform.  Next up was Sophie Habibis with a piano version of Katy Perry’s ‘Teenage Dream.’  Slow-paced it may have been, but surprisingly, it came off very well as it showed the entire vocal range she has.

BREATHTAKING: Janet made herself the early frontrunner

     Then it was the turn of Misha B (she’s confusingly dropped her surname for the finals) with another surprise package of the evening.  Her version of Adele’s ‘Rolling In The Deep’ was spot on and became more special with an added rap element, perhaps showing off what could be her specialist genre.  Finally, the favourite for the entire competition, Janet Devlin sang Coldplay’s ‘Fix You.’  Unlike the other girls, there were no gimmicks, no dead giveaways, just her singing beautifully. More focus will now surely be placed on her in the coming weeks.

OVER 25s

THANKS to Nicole Scherzinger’s clever thinking, the Over category was raised last year, but with Nicole parked on the US show, it was dropped back 25 for this series.  First in line was Johnny Robinson, with a performance of Cher’s ‘Believe’ that definitely would make anyone cringe.  You may remember on the first week last year, I compared Wagner to Gordon Brown on helium.  On this occasion, Johnny sounds like Nick Clegg on helium!  Following on from him was Jonjo Kerr.  He seemed very nervous and his version of ‘You Really Got Me Going’ by The Kinks exposed it in every department.  He looked pained throughout and sounded more like a failed pub singer.

DIVIDED: Kitty will be either loved or hated by members of the public

    In all honesty, Sami Brookes should be back at her day job, but the exit of Goldie had granted her a lifeline.  She didn’t disappoint either, with her version of Yomada’s ‘You’re Free’ and Gary Barlow vowed to resign if Louis Walsh didn’t save her afterwards.  Lastly, Kitty Brucknell, the true pantomime villain of the line-up came out with Queen’s ‘Who Wants to Live Forever?’  There is no question that she can sing but whether she can last well into the competition is very questionable.

GROUPS

TULISA was put in charge of creating a groups winner for the eighth time in asking.  For this, she (along with her fellow judges) had formed three groups from failed soloists.  First of these “manufactured” groups was Rhythmix.  Dogged by criticism all week, they proved everyone wrong in their performance of Nicki Minaj’s ‘Super Bass’ and were labelled as the best girl group in the show’s history.  The only group to have come in from the auditions proper were Essex duo 2 Shoes, and they certainly brought some glamour into the show by their take of Girls Aloud’s hit ‘Something Kinda Ooooh.’  Gary however wasn’t impressed, comparing it to a “karaoke night in Romford,” certainly the comment of the night.

     The two created boyband groups came next.  First up was Nu Vibe and they were the disappointment of the night.  Their version of Chris Brown’s ‘Beautiful People’ lacked passion and forced judges Tulisa and Kelly Rowland to clash over the arrangement of the performance.  That however was then completely forgotten by the appearance of the new look version of The Risk.  A spot on version of Plan B’s ‘She Said’ was in tune and executed brilliantly.  As far as I’m concerned, they are the leading group in this category.

BOYS

MUCH anticipation was placed on this category as it’s won the show three times in the last four years.  First in was heartthrob Frankie Cocozza.  Though his performance of ‘The A Team’ by Ed Sheeran wasn’t the best by his standards, it at least proved he had strong talent and not just the looks.  That couldn’t be said about James Michael.  The Beatles’ ‘Ticket To Ride’ was completely murdered by his weak vocals and in summary, it wanted to make you fall asleep!

NAILED: Craig proved he is Gary's secret weapon

     The favourite in this category, Marcus Collins, certainly didn’t disappoint with Maroon 5’s ‘Moves like Jagger.’  He must have felt the luckiest guy around, having several women parading but it didn’t distract him one bit.  The final boy, Craig Colton, was labelled by Barlow as his ‘secret weapon.’  Christina Perri’s ‘Jar of Hearts’ is a difficult song to conquer, but Craig nailed it and wiped away pre-show criticism that he wasn’t up to the challenge.

     All in all, it was a night of surprises and expectant performances.  The judges had 24 hours to decide which of their acts they had to axe in the twist.  All the acts could do now was sleep and wait.

The Result

THE public must have felt completely powerless on Sunday as they had to wait with baited breath to see whether the judges would save their favourites.  It wasn’t going to be easy at all.

     Louis was the first judge to choose on Sunday.  He expectantly saved Sami and then, despite the criticism from the people, put Kitty through.  His decision to save Johnny seemed to really shock his act, but it was the right decision.  Jonjo screwed up his performance the previous evening and deserved his exit.

     Next was the Boys and again no shocks were in order with Gary opting to keep Marcus, Craig and Frankie and send home James.  His exit again wasn’t unexpected as he had underperformed massively in his song.  Then it was the turn of the Groups and Rhythmix, The Risk and Nu Vibe were saved to sing another week.  2 Shoes were sent packing, in some ways, a bit surprising considering Tulisa’s strong affection for them.  Indeed, she struggled to compose herself together to eliminate them.

CONSOLED: Amelia struggles to deal with Kelly's decision to axe her

     The hardest decision though had to come to Kelly and her Girls.  One of them had to go despite all four delivering great performances.  Firstly, both Janet and Misha B were deservedly put through, leaving Amelia and Sophie in the running for the final place.  It was made clear already that Kelly had adored Sophie from the beginning but the feeling was Amelia would be given the nod.  Ultimately, Kelly went for Sophie, axing one of the favourites from the competition.  She burst into tears, with the audience looking on.  Whatever you thought of her, you just had to feel terribly sorry for the Teeside lass.

    The X-Factor always has a secret sub-motto, expect the unexpected!  I don’t think anyone expected one of the pre-contest favourites to fall at the first hurdle.  I felt Amelia deserved to stay in the competition, but there are those who also thought Kelly got the decision spot on.  However, Amelia was the victim of a stupid twist from the producers.  Even Dermot O’Leary has had his say on the twist.  I didn’t like it, I don’t think many did and with one million viewers not bothering with Sunday night’s viewers show, it looked like some of the audience voted with their TV sets.  I hope this attempted format of mixing up the show is put into the ditch and doesn’t return.  No act has gone out on week one and has gone onto enjoy a successful career, so unfortunately, I don’t think Amelia will make the grade, which is a real shame.

     Kelly will have to deal with criticism from the Amelia obsessed fans, but it is the producers of the show who should probably accept that this was a bad move, rather than calling for the head of a new judge.  The public vote begins this weekend; wonder if our heads will be turned by the daft performances or the special singers.  However, X-Factor 2011 promises what is says on the tin; plenty of drama and controversy ahead.