Entertaining

Interest in The X Factor seems to have dropped substantially this year. It’s hard to express why exactly that seems to have happened given that Nicole Scherzinger is arguably a better judge than Kelly Rowland and the overall talent of the roster this year outperforms those of last year’s competition. That’s not to say that there’s anything really wrong with performers from series eight such as Marcus Collins. In fact, Misha B, Amelia Lily and winner’s Little Mix have all produced albums and released singles that have done well in the charts. But along with that small handful of people you had a bunch of people who were interesting and entertaining but lacked the same vocal talent.

Series Nine seems to have gone in a new direction, attempting to throw off the criticism of other shows, such as The Voice, and dissenting viewers that the show is all about the image rather than vocal talent. Spearheading this change is Gary Barlow. Initially, when Gary Barlow was announced as a judge on the X-Factor, I had high hopes that he would a strong judge. However, his judging on the show has actually shown him to be out of sync with a lot of what the public wants.

Consider this: in series eight, Gary Barlow admitted that Frankie Cocozza wasn’t the strongest singer but brought him through to the live shows anyway and touted the young rebel without a cause as the act he felt would connect with the audience. This didn’t prove to be true as he ended up in the bottom two on the second week. Fast forward to the current series and we can see that in fact Gary Barlow’s only remaining act in one that the public voted back in to the competition, not an act that Gary himself decided to bring to the live shows. So, looking at Gary’s performance as a mentor in the competition, he really appears to be out of touch with the audience wants.

Is the man who writes music for the Queen out of touch with the common public?

Across the sea, Simon Cowell, Demi Lovato, Britney Spears and L.A. Reid have begun the live shows for X-Factor USA. Gary often comes across as the being the lead judge in the UK but when the viewer compares his comments to Simon Cowell’s it becomes painfully obvious just out advanced Simon is when it comes to picking what will sell and what will work. Each of Simon’s groups in the US version have selling potential, although personally I’d have taken Sister C over Fifth Harmony/1432/LYLAS. And it’s clear that Simon knows when to let the act take the lead, in the case of Lyric 145 choosing their own song, and when he needs to step in, such as forcing a change in the name of the five piece girl group. In both cases it required innovation. Conversely, Gary has done very little to shape his acts.

The act that was eliminated last week was Kye Sones after the judges went to deadlock and let the public vote decide to keep Rylan Clark instead. Kye later stated in an interview that he didn’t think the comment that Rylan was a better entertainer as Kye himself had performed during his songs too. But that just reveals an underlying misunderstanding in the difference of entertainment and performance and one that Gary should make clear to his acts. Kye came out and sang while accompanied by a colourful or dramatic set or maybe some dancers but there wasn’t actually much that had changed from previous weeks. Rylan, on the other hand, doesn’t just sing and interact with his dancers but there’s energy with the character. He doesn’t walk across the stage, he strides. He doesn’t just sing but shouts out to the audience. And I think he has made an effort to incorporate different styles each week.

That’s not to suggest that I think Rylan Clark deserves to win the competition. Far from it. Given the potential in Ella Henderson, Jahmene Douglas, Union J, District 3 and James Arthur, there’s no way that he can really compete. Not only are most of them capable of entertaining an audience but they’re all very technically acclaimed too. James Arthur, Ella Henderson and District 3 are probably the best in terms of vocal performance with Jahmene and Union J not far behind. So, realistically, Rylan Clark should leave this week or next and given his consistency in the bottom two, it probably won’t take long for it to happen. The only contestant who could leave before him is Christopher Maloney.

Not to be confused with the Special Victims Unit officer.

Christopher Maloney was the wild card that the public voted back into the competition so it’s clear that something about him appealed to the audience. There are a lot of rumours floating about now though. Some say he’s voting for himself while others suggest Simon Cowell wants him off the show. Either way, there appears to be a backlash against his style. His singing ability isn’t awful but it just seems sort of old fashioned and campy. Everyone states that it’s like a cruise singer as if that’s the lowest kind of performer that there is. However, there’s nothing wrong with that style if you can do it well and make money from it. After X-Factor, Chris will likely be a very rich man if he taps into that market. But it’s not the kind of music that makes the charts. It’s not the kind of music that sells these days. As Tulisa said, it’s not the kind of music that breaks boundaries.

Maybe Christopher Maloney wasn’t made to break boundaries. And that’s fine because not every singer can break boundaries. When compared to older contestants in the US version, such as Vino Alan, who has such a powerfully soulful voice with a morose tone that really makes the listener feel what he’s feeling, you begin to understand why Maloney’s voice won’t sell millions. His nearest comparison in the US version is probably Jason Brock, the man who was branded ‘the entertainer’ by L.A. Reid and was the first to be eliminated by the public.

I think that, going forward, this season of the X Factor can only get better. Week by week the impurities rise to the top and are scraped away. Ratings may rise but it may also be too late for this year’s crop to redeem itself. Looking towards series ten, I can only think of one change that must happen. Gary Barlow must go.

Live

X Factor has become something of an annual event these days on par with Christmas and Yom Kippur. A lot of people get involved but probably not with the same fervour of previous years. It just sort of happens and people deal with it. Watching the X Factor certainly won’t do anything for your soul, as Christmas and Yom Kippur might, but at least in past years it has been entertaining. This year, in comparison, has been kind of bland.

Why? Is it the lack of strange performances and crazy older singers that Louis Walsh usually parades out in front of the live audiences? That seemed to be what viewers actually wanted as the show has been criticised in the past for having too many contestants that can’t actually sing and simply dance around the stage. In The Voice one contestant was specifically eliminated because they felt that his performance had less to do with the voice and more to do with the razzle dazzle. So if that has been the case, then it would by hypocritical for viewers to switch off when the show actually tries catering to their demands.

Of course, that’s not to say that none of the contestants are putting on a performance. Louis Walsh is still on the panel. There are a few contestants who definitely fit the category of entertainer rather than singer and that shouldn’t really a problem. When you look at the current state of music you can see that there are a lot of artists who aren’t necessarily the best singers but are entertaining either because of their attitude or the show that they put on while singing. There are other artists, such as Lady Gaga, who do have the natural singing talent and still perform for the crowd in order to elevate themselves to the next plateau of fame.

Scherzinger usurps Barlow from the Head Judge’s seat.

So then, what is the problem with this season of X-Factor? Well, first of all, I would argue that there aren’t enough consistently good singers. Most of them are decent singers and can certainly hold a note but they aren’t incredible. This is still the early stages of the competition so there’s plenty of room for improvement but at this stage of the competition there isn’t really enough talent being shown. Last night, there were three acts that really stood out to me: Ella Henderson, Lucy Spraggan and Jahmene Douglas. Out of thirteen acts that’s a measly three that I would be happy to see win the competition. And, on top of that, Lucy Spraggan isn’t actually that talent in regards to singing. Her real talent comes in song writing and it will be interesting if she can keep writing the same quality of songs as the pressures of the shows increase. But her singing isn’t really outstanding.

Secondly, there isn’t really enough diversity among the contestants. Especially among the groups. District 3 and Union J both feel like cheap One Direction knock offs and the one stand out group, MK1, are not the best singers either. Charlie’s singing of Chipmunk’s Champion was a little off and ruined what was a interesting mash up with Hot Chocolate’s Every 1’s a Winner. Furthermore, in regards to the Overs, they are all standing out for entirely the wrong reasons. Carolynne Poole is being shoehorned into a country category when she doesn’t really sound like a country singer at all and her performance of Nicki Minaj’s Starships was very wooden. The song choice was odd too. Wild card, Christopher Maloney sang Hero by Mariah Carey in a fashion that did nothing new with the song and made him seem very bland also. Kye Sones is forgettable as a person and, although his performance of Michael Jackson’s Man in the Mirror wasn’t terrible, I wouldn’t be surprised if he were the first to go. Melanie Masson was really the stand out of the Overs category this week but still felt like she was suffering similarly to Poole. The judges seem eager to make her out to be an old school rocker when her voice lacks the edge that singing rock songs needs. Yes, she has attitude but attitude does not a rock singer make.

Even if she doesn’t win, she’ll always be remembered for breaking the trend.

Nicole Scherzinger stepped across the pond but made a few odd selections. Jahmene Douglas was a good choice, although the jury is still out on whether the nerves will get to him as the competition progresses, but Rylan Clark and James Arthur weren’t perhaps the best. Particularly after Scherzinger mentions that another contestant is a better singer than her final choice. Rylan Clark is the epitome of an entertainer. For me, his time on the show is numbered. Not because he’s terrible or anything but the entertainers who aren’t also vocally talented don’t tend to win X-Factor. This year could mark a change but I doubt it. James Arthur on the other hand is a fairly decent singer. He’s a bit hit or miss but his biggest challenge will be to stand out against the performances of Clark and the vocal ability of Douglas. Scherzinger has proven herself to be an insightful judge in the live shows but I can’t see her group winning this year.

The only group I can realistically see winning this year is the girls. Ella Henderson stood out in terms of actual singing ability; Lucy Spraggan is intriguing because she seems to be performing solely original tracks and the third girl, Jade Ellis, is talented too. If any of those girls leave in the early stages of the competition, I will be surprised. If Lucy and Ella aren’t in the final four, at least, I will be shocked. And that is perhaps my main problem with this year’s X-Factor. There aren’t enough contestants for me to really root for. I like Lucy Spraggan and there are a couple of talented singers but there just aren’t enough of them that I really connect with to make me care about the show.

All that being said, this is only week one and there have been plenty of years in which the whole show can change based on a very good week for who was an otherwise dull singer or a very talented singer can have an extremely bad week. After all, Janet Devlin was a hot favourite early on last year but didn’t actually make it to the final four. There are plenty of weeks still to come and with them come many opportunities for contestants to rise or fall.