Does the X-Factor give you chart success?

By Jason Wright (Entertainment Expert)

IT IS Britain’s most watched and biggest talent competition.  However a burning issue throughout its time is that will appearing on the show really guarantee you chart success and fame and fortune?

TERMINATION: Joe's music career never really took off

     Last week, two more X-Factor graduates were consigned to the scrapheap.  Firstly last Friday, 2009 winner Joe McElderry’s contract was terminated.  He had struggled to connect a fanbase with his distinct style of music and final straw came when it was revealed that his last single reached just number 69 in the charts, selling a paltry 7,000 copies.  Then on Tuesday, Shayne Ward, who was victorious in 2005 was let go by Simon Cowell.  Despite enjoying initial success in the early stages of his career, he had been out of the public eye for quite some time and inevitably, his comeback bid last year, failed with his new album failing to crack the top 10.

     It now means that four of the six winners of the show (not counting 2010 winner Matt Cardle) have now flopped after enjoying success on the show, ironically, all of them, the four male winners of the competition.  It should be said that now that Matt Cardle must get good luck for his album later in the year, because he’s going to need it!

     Only two winners have been able to crack the formula at being successful, Leona Lewis (2006) and Alexandra Burke (2008).  Both have since also been able to make a fortune internationally as well, proving that if you’ve got the talent, you can make it.  Unlike series 4 champion Leon Jackson who never stood a chance from day one and as for the first-ever winner Steve Brookstein.  WHO IS HE?  Never heard of him, would perhaps be the reaction if you asked somebody on the street nowadays.

SUCCESS: JLS have been the big winners of X-Factor

     As seen in the past, acts don’t need to win the show to make a path of glorified success.  JLS, runners-up to Alexandra in 2008 and truth be told, are in fact the most successful act in the show’s history with four number one singles and two number one albums to their name.  Fellow 2008 contestant Diana Vickers and 2009 runner-up Olly Murs have also enjoyed moderate success.  Other acts come and go quickly like G4 (2004), Chico (2005), Andy Abraham (2005), Rhydian Roberts (2007) and Same Difference (2007) but at least can be proud of achieving a tagline of “15 Minutes of Fame.”  Others will just be in it for the money, such as 2009 twins Jedward, who will be representing Ireland in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest.  They don’t care how bad they are, they just want to make loads of profit.

     These acts can though count themselves lucky that they got their opportunity whilst others haven’t been able to.  Aiden Grimshaw suffered a shock departure in week six last year but still earned a private music deal whilst it’s a different case for popular figures Laura White and Lucie Jones.  Their early exits at the hands of Louis Walsh in 2008 and Simon Cowell in 2009 respectively ruined any chances of almost-certainly successful careers in music for these girls.  2010 nutter Wagner even stands a better chance of getting material out than them sadly.

     In truth, winning or being successful in The X-Factor and being a great music artist are definitely different kettles of fish.  It’s all a question of trying to maintain a style of music and hope that it’s something your supporters will be happy with.  It’s something that both McElderry and Ward didn’t deliver and has unfortunately led to their ultimate demises.

The X-Factor - One year since Jedwardgate

BY JASON WRIGHT

SUNDAY November 8 2009 – it’s just gone 9:00pm and Britain has just perhaps witnessed one of the most shocking events in reality television history.

Irish twins John & Edward Grimes, otherwise known as Jedward, had pulled off a huge shock by surviving the axe from The X-Factor after being in the bottom two.  To say it was a surprise in this situation is a massive understatement considering who had just been eliminated at their expense.

Jedward had the whole nation talking since their first audition for both their unique hairstyles, seemingly lack of singing talent and thus their rather comical personality.  Simon Cowell took an instant disliking to the twins whereas the other judges, especially Louis Walsh for the Irish connection, saw some potential in them to start with.  Cowell famously later described them as “vile, little creatures” at bootcamp and after advancing to judges’ houses, he said to Louis “If I get them, I won’t let them on the plane. I can’t even look at them!” Fortunately, Simon didn’t get the groups but Louis did and so through they went into the live finals.

As the live finals began, the press and viewers had already gotten tired of their antics and wanted them out sooner rather and later.  Performances of Robbie Williams’ ‘Rock DJ’, Britney Spears’ ‘Oops I Did It Again’, Ricky Martin’s ‘She Bangs’ and Queen’s ‘We Will Rock You’ were all put to shame.  Simon Cowell soon took his bitterness to new heights when he declared he would flee the country if they won.

In comparison, Lucie Jones, an 18-year-old student from a small village on the outskirts of Cardiff, had already gained a mass following after a sensational first audition and sailed through into the live finals.  Considered as one of the favourites, huge pressure was on her to deliver and she didn’t disappoint.  The first three weeks didn’t provide classy performances but they were just as strong enough to be at the front end of the field.

But on the fourth week, Rock week, she well and truly arrived in the competition with an amazing rendition of the Guns ‘n’ Roses song ‘Sweet Child of Mine’.  It gave the whole package, the voice, the style and the appearance and it seemed to sway Lucie away from her intention to perform ballads and switch to more of a teen pop persona.

The following week, movie night, Lucie proved again her sudden change in style performing ‘This Is Me’ from the Disney film Camp Rock.  It received rave reviews from the judging panel and installed Lucie as a real favourite to win the entire show.  Meanwhile, Jedward once again gave a stand-out performance for all the wrong reasons with their take on ‘Ghostbusters’.  Yet despite this, not for what would be the first time this weekend, Simon stunned everyone by commenting that it was “sort of good”.

Come the results on the Sunday, everyone expected Lucie to get through on the public vote easily but what happened next was to astound everyone as she ended up in the bottom two.  However with her opponents being Jedward, it would be a setback in her chances of winning but should still ease through. Or so everyone thought?

Lucie performed ‘One Moment in Time’ by Whitney Houston in the sing-off whilst Jedward reprised their week one performance of ‘Rock DJ’.  Comparing both songs together and it was simply no contest as to which was the better.  After both Louis and Dannii Minogue, who was mentoring Lucie, saved their acts and sent the other home, Cheryl Cole chose to send home Jedward, making it 2-1 in their favour of leaving and Simon having the casting vote.  Those who despised Jedward were now surely reaching for the champagne bottles, ready to pull off the corks and celebrate their demise.

Simon’s speech before making his decision though seemed to scratch a few heads. “I’m not surprised that both of you are in this situation tonight. Having said that, I don’t think any of you can win.” he spoke before going completely against everyone’s wishes by voting to save the twins and force deadlock on the panel.

But why did Simon really take it to deadlock?  That may never be fully explained but there are two possible theories. Number one was to prove to the twins that they were never liked by the public and Number two was simply to give Lucie a test of character.  Unfortunately in this case, this leans more to theory number two as she received the least amount of votes and was eliminated.  She was rightfully left upset and in tears and the audience symphonised with her by booing and jeering Jedward off the stage.

It was without doubt dubbed as ‘The Night the X Factor Died!’  Across the next seven days, the papers and press slammed both the show and Simon Cowell for his actions.  Famous faces also gave their opinion of discontent; Lily Allen publicly announced she would never watch the show again.  Sting branded the programme as “hypocritical”.  Even Cowell’s protégé, Leona Lewis described the show was “no longer a music contest”.  Reports also surfaced that both Dannii Minogue and Cheryl Cole did not speak to Simon at all in the week’s build-up to the next show though this was never confirmed as true, but frankly who could blame them?

Why didn’t the media regulator Ofcom investigate into the result?  To be honest, they should have done.  If they received 3,000 complaints about the outcome, a situation like that should be investigated at the very least, even if there really wasn’t anything wrong with the voting that weekend.

Despite promises of there still being a very strong competition and five weeks of singing to come, the majority of the viewing public was now cheated of not having Lucie around.  Following her exit, the viewing figures for the show declined sharply week on week as several people switched to the rival show, Strictly Come Dancing.  Eventually, compared to the 14-15 million peaks that the show was getting in the early stages of the live finals, they reached a new low of 12 million, and worse still, it was on the first night of the final weekend.  Beating Strictly in the ratings by just under one million that night compared to be regularly two million ahead before just proved how much it hurt the show.

For Simon, the backlash continued and a successful Facebook campaign was set-up which got the 1992 hit ‘Killing in the Name’ by Rage against the Machine to the Christmas No.1, previously saved for the X-Factor winner guaranteed.  Although Cowell and the winner of last year’s show Joe McElderrey took it on the chin, this must have hurt Simon deep down, but something he deserved for his incredibly bad judgement on that November evening.

Every person always tends to ask the question of ‘What If?’ at this situation.  What if Lucie had survived from competing in the sing-off that night?  Could she have gone on to win?  With strong competition last year from McElderry, Olly Murs and Stacey Solomon, it is hard to give a definite yes or no.  There is no doubt however that she would have been up there and would have been expected to at least reach the final. Whatever the case, staying in the competition longer would have certainly enhanced her chances of having a successful music career as given her new lease of taste in music during the show; she could be easily compared as the British version of Miley Cyrus.

Back to reality though and despite this debacle, Lucie still has a bright future ahead having signed a modelling contract and currently going through a successful stint at the West End in Les Miserables.  However, she is still after getting a recording contract, though this sadly doesn’t look possible.  If I was working for a music company, even if it wasn’t well known, I would 100% take a chance on her.

As with Jedward, things also look on the up, having earned a No. 2 single at the start of the year and an album, which fortunately didn’t get No.1 in the charts, following shortly afterwards.  They’ve also become big personalities on TV, including a show of their own on ITV2.  Surely, we will see them becoming ITV’s next biggest double act in years to come, hopefully not in my view but that really does seem like happening.

In closing, we will certainly be talking about this for many more years to come.  Although Lucie was the biggest loser that night, she and unfortunately Jedward have both emerged as winners, both with different and bright futures ahead of them.  Unless a similar trait is pulled off by this year’s novelty act, Wagner, who credit to Jedward, I can stand hearing them more than him, this will be forever known as the darkest night in X-Factor history.

The X-Factor 2010 - The Live Shows Begin With A Bang

BY JASON WRIGHT

NOW in its seventh series, the X-Factor promised that this year’s live finals would potentially be the best yet.  Whether it will do so obviously remains to be seen, but on the evidence of the first weekend, it made an explosive start.

There was talk of there being a new set again, mainly to cope with the move to high definition but surprisingly, the present set, having only itself been introduced last year, was re-used with some minor modifications for HD broadcast.  However, the real build-up was centred on “The Big Twist” and when the show went live, host Dermot O’Leary confirmed what everyone had expected.  Four new acts would join the competition as ‘wildcards’ into what would now become the final 16.

Simon Cowell chose to bring back male duo act Diva Fever, Dannii Minogue gave Paije Richardson a reprieve, Louis Walsh opted to throw a lifeline to Wagner, a sports teacher originally from Brazil with a surname that perhaps nobody can announce properly and Cheryl Cole selected Treyc Cohen.  Cole’s choice had been heavily criticised as on the previous week’s judges’ houses stage, she rejected popular Zimbabwe-born singer Gamu Nhengu.  It had been speculated that Nhengu would return as Cole’s wildcard choice, but this was scuppered when reports that her family’s visa to stay in Britain had expired and would not be renewed surfaced.

As with previous opening weeks, the finalists performed songs that got to number one in the UK chart.  Firstly the groups kicked off with F.Y.D. singing ‘Billionaire’ by Travie McCoy.  It wasn’t a good start, it looked way off-key and the vocals weren’t very strong.  Louis Walsh said they should be a dance act instead of a group and I would agree.  Next, Belle Amie didn’t really impress either with their take on ‘Airplanes’.  It sounded very drab and dull, though at least the girls did show good signs of chemistry, having been formed through being turned down as solo acts.

Diva Fever came out with an upbeat version of ‘Sunny’.  They are certainly not strong singers but are certainly very entertaining and would go far in this competition through this.  Finally, One Direction, also formed through boot camp, sang Coldplay’s ‘Viva La Vida’.  It was a solid start but kind of playing it safe, they may need to adopt a better approach from next week if they want to stay in for long.  It’s really no secret that Simon might be the biggest loser on Week One with no real standout performances. He’ll be hoping things will improve.

Now onto the boys, Matt Cardle was the first of them to perform with ‘When Love Takes Over’ by David Guetta.  It was a song that really suited him and he will definitely be one to watch.  Next to go was Paije Richardson with ‘Killing Me Softly with His Song’.  He certainly has got very strong vocals and could well be the dark horse in the contest.

Italian songbird Nicolo Festa came next with Lady GaGa’s ‘Just Dance’.  It was horrible from start to finish, totally murdering a very classic song from these modern times, yet the judges’ gave him praise for it.  Last of all was Aiden Grimshaw with ‘Mad World.’  It was one of the best performances of the night but he has a bad habit of rarely looking straight at the judges’ or the audience, something he has to learn to control with if he wants to go all the way.  Regardless, this category is the one to beat after the first week. Round one without question goes to Dannii.

The overs come next, now raised to 28 years. John Adeleye was first to go with ‘One Sweet Day’.  He made a good fist of it but whether he can impress the public to go long into the competition is yet to tell.  Storm Lee came next with rock tune ‘We Built This City’.  Simon already hates him and I can really tell why.  He is a total nutcase that should be detained under Section One of the Mental Health Act!

The category’s leading lady, Mary Byrne followed.  Having come down with the flu just 72 hours before the live show, her version of ‘It’s A Man’s Man’s Man’s World’ by James Brown showed no obvious effect to her illness.  She totally made the song her own and will be a favourite with the judges and the voting public.  Finally, the wildcard pick Wagner sang ‘She Bangs’ by Ricky Martin. The Brazilian looks insane and sounds like Gordon Brown on helium. Simon rightfully described it as “the most bonkers thing I’ve have ever seen”.  It is clear that Mary is Louis’ only hope of a second win on X-Factor this year.

Attention was much focused on the girls’ category.  Cheryl was out on a mission to become the first judge to win for a third successive year.  Rebecca Ferguson was first out with ‘Teardrops’.  A solid if unspectacular start, but Rebecca can go some distance if given the right material.  Cher Lloyd was next and was the act under the most pressure.  Firstly, being the youngest of the sixteen acts at age 17 and secondly, there have been mass tabloid reports concerning that she would be on the verge of a nervous breakdown.  Despite this, her performance of ‘Just Be Good To Me’ certainly put those concerns to bed and that she can cope under the pressure.  Cher does though have a long way to go and is so far only known for performing R&B songs.  Cheryl will quickly need to introduce her to perform other styles of songs if she intends to win, especially if the winners single will be a slow, emotional ballad again.

As with Cher, Katie Waissel had also got a fair share of criticism by the time of her performance.  Her version of the historic Queen anthem ‘We Are The Champions’ didn’t help as she sounded and looked awful, an act that will be under complete scrutiny from the viewers already.  Treyc Cohen closed the show with U2’s ‘One’ with perhaps the best performance of opening night, a shock for many given that she looked like not being in the line-up.  Like Paije, expect to see Treyc as a surprise favourite in the competition.  It’s a 50-50 start for Cheryl, her choices in songs for the girls could play a crucial role.

Fast forward 24 hours to Sunday night for the results show.  First, there were performances from rapper Usher, which was claimed to be a world exclusive performance, but in the end turned out to be performance of a single from several months ago.  Then in keeping with tradition with the past, reigning X Factor winner Joe McElderry returned to perform his new upbeat single ‘Ambitions’.  I think we need to wait for what happens to single and album in the charts before we can make our decision on how he will fare.  On first impressions, it’s a love or hate song. If you don’t hear often, you’ll be thinking “What on earth is this?” but if you listen to it more often, it will become addictive.

Then, it was onto the all important results.  With 16 acts left in the competition, two acts would leave on opening weekend.  Nicolo was first out after finishing bottom of the public vote. Considering the good comments he received for such a dire performance, he perhaps may have got through, so this in a way was a bit of a surprise. However, the way he reacted was disgraceful, “I feel like c**p” should not be said in front of about 15 million people watching when you should usually feel disappointed but gracious in defeat and he certainly wasn’t.

F.Y.D and Katie were the next two acts that received the lowest votes and went into the first Final Showdown of the series to win the judges’ support.  Like before, both acts performed a song that they had specially picked themselves to perform if they end up in this situation.  The boys sang Rihanna’s ‘Don’t Stop the Music’ whilst Katie opted for ‘Don’t Let Me Down’ by The Beatles.  After both Simon and Cheryl expectantly backed their own acts, Dannii sent home F.Y.D. and Louis had the casting vote.  He resisted the rather strong temptation in his view to send it to deadlock and back to the public vote and voted to eliminate the boys.

Fans of the show were livid with Louis’ decision but they shouldn’t be.  It is rightfully suggested that Katie ended up in the sing-off because of the controversy surrounding her passage into the live finals and her performance on Saturday was a mess.  On Sunday, she sang her survival song as if her life depended on it and so deserved to be given a second chance.  She will have to raise her game though immediately if she plans to stay any longer.

So one week down, nine to go, and it’s still far too early to predict the clear cut favourite in this year’s contest.  I’ll be back at the end of Week three in a fortnight’s time to give a view on the next two shows to come, but for now I’ll leave you with a summary of the latest betting odds after Week 1.

Outright winner of The X Factor 2010 (as of 11 October, supplied by William Hill)

9-2 joint favourites: Aiden Grimshaw and Matt Cardle, 5-1: One Direction, 6-1: Rebecca Ferguson, 8-1: Cher Lloyd, 10-1: Mary Byrne, 20-1: Treyc Cohen, 33-1: Paije Richardson, 40-1: Katie Waissel, 66-1: Belle Amie, John Adeleye and Storm Lee, 100-1: Diva Fever, 150-1 outsider: Wagner

The X Factor continues Saturday at 7:30pm on ITV1 and ITV1 HD.

The X-Factor - Where Are They Now? (Part 2)

THIS BLOG WAS WRITTEN BY MY BROTHER, JASON WRIGHT

BY JASON WRIGHT

The X Factor, widely regarded as Britain’s biggest and best talent TV competition, returns for its seventh series on Saturday.  Since its launch back in 2004, it has become a national phenomenon and is always a Saturday night (and from last year, also a Sunday night) ratings banker for ITV1. Last year’s series attracted a record series average of over 15 million viewers, including a peak of 20 million for the finale.

As the new series draws closer, I will be taking a trip down memory lane to look at how previous contestants have fared since making their appearance on the show.  This second of two blogs looks at the six acts who won over the respect of the voting public the most, and become the winner of the The X Factor.

Steve Brookstein (Series 1 Winner, 2004)

The 36-year old from South London does have the dubious honour of being the first ever winner of show.  His debut single, a cover version of Phil Collins’ ‘Against All Odds’ entered the charts at number 2, beaten to Christmas Number 1 by ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’ by Band Aid 20.  His debut album did go to number one but was then dropped after his second album was planned to be full of cover material instead of new songs, something of which he didn’t agree to.  After this, he was never mentioned again.

Shayne Ward (Series 2 Winner, 2005)

From his first introduction, it was clear music was meant to be in Shayne's life.  He duly became the one to beat in series 2 and won.  The 21-year old from Manchester became the first talent television winner to claim Christmas Number 1 with That’s My Goal, the only original X Factor winning song to date.  Three more top ten singles, including Next to Me (the theme music for E4's Hollyoaks In The City) and a platinum selling album soon followed.   Although he has disappeared off the music radar in recent times, Ward still achieved considerable success.

Leona Lewis (Series 3 Winner, 2006)

Few people who are successful on the show don’t quite have ‘The X Factor’, there is usually something missing.  But in this case, there isn’t.  Leona's debut single, ‘A Moment Like This’, originally sung by the first American Idol winner Kelly Clarkson broke several chart records on its way to the Christmas Number 1.  She was quickly offered a US recording contract and her debut album hit top spot in no fewer than 10 countries, making Leona a household name across the world.  Although other winners can enjoy good fortune, it is going very difficult for this feat to be repeated.

Leon Jackson (Series 4 Winner, 2007)

Much of Britain was left in shock when the young Scot beat red hot favourite Rhydian Roberts in the series 4 final.  Though his take on the Mariah Carey song, When You Believe, seemed dreary and senseless, it was still effectively guaranteed the Christmas Number 1.  However, in terms of success, that as far as it goes.  His second single only charted in the top 40 for three weeks and he was the first winner not to see their debut album take top spot.  Unsurprisingly, he was dropped by Simon Cowell and like Brookstein, he hasn’t been seen in public since.

Alexandra Burke (Series 5 Winner, 2008)

The 20-year old from North London had previously entered in 2005 but failed to get past the judges houses round as despite her talent, her then mentor, Louis Walsh thought she was “too young”.  Fast forward three years and not only did new mentor Cheryl Cole put her through to the live finals; she went on to win, being the only contestant not to have a bad performance throughout.  Hallelujah, her debut single, continued the show's domination of the Christmas chart and would eventually shift over one million copies.  A second number 1 single and a platinum selling album have also come Alexandra's way but she has been a little less successful than the runners-up of the 2008 show, JLS.  Nevertheless, she should still be on the music scene for quite some time to come.

Joe McElderry (Series 6 Winner, 2009)

This Tyneside lad was just a handful of contestants in the running to win series 6 as it was for much of it, a close run competition.  Towards the final run-in though, he took his performances up to a new level that no-one else could compete with and duly emerged as the victor.  The 18-year old may have won the battle to win the show but lost the war to take top spot in the Christmas chart.  A Facebook campaign was online by then, in full swing to get Rage Against The Machine’s ‘Killing (In The Name Of)’ to top the charts.  The campaign was of course targeted at Simon Cowell and his decision to send fellow favourite Lucie Jones home so early in the live shows resulted in a surge of support for the campaign.  RATM, as they were known for short, were successful and both Cowell and McElderry played fair sport by being gracious in defeat.  Since then, work has begun on his debut album, due for release in the Autumn and only just last month, Joe stunned nearly everyone by confessing he was gay.  However instead of deserting him like so many others have seen when confessing their sexuality, he has still of all his friends, family, fans and both Cowell and his series mentor Cheryl Cole on his side, which will no doubt increase his morale.  Now the wait begins to find out whether he’ll succeed like Ward, Lewis and Burke or flop like Brookstein and Jackson.

One thing from these winners proves that even if you win The X Factor, it doesn’t necessarily guarantee you success in the future.

This Year...What Is Happening?

So the stage is set for this year’s show to begin, which promises to be bigger and better than ever. There are a load of changes this year, the most notable being the absence of Dannii Minogue from the auditions and bootcamp due to her pregnancy.  Her space is filled for the early stages by a series of guest judges.  Geri Halliwell, Natalie Imbruglia, Katy Perry, Pixie Lott and Nicole Scherzinger all filled in and Scherzinger, better known as being the high-profile girlfriend of F1 ace Lewis Hamilton also deputised at bootcamp.  We will see how regular judges Simon Cowell and Louis Walsh cope with the loss of Minogue and also of Cheryl Cole for both the final leg of auditions and bootcamp following her “near-fatal” battle with malaria.

Over on ITV2, Holly Willoughby has stepped down as host of spin-off show The Xtra Factor to concentrate completely on co-presenting This Morning and Dancing on Ice with Phillip Schofield.  In a surprise choice, despite strong rumours of either Girls Aloud’s Kimberley Walsh or Caroline Flack taking over, the role has instead gone to ex-Blue Peter presenter Konnie Huq.

Meanwhile, the over 25s category has strangely become the over 28s this year and eight acts from each category go forward to judges’ houses instead of six.  These are changes of what have been confirmed so far; whether any more will be implemented by the time we get the live shows remains to be seen.

It all kicks off at 7:30pm on Saturday 21st August on ITV1 and for the first time ever, it’s available in high definition on ITV1 HD.

ENJOY WATCHING!