This Saturday sees the return of that most popular of musical reality shows, The X Factor. Prepare yourself for weeks of auditions and eliminations, sadness and joy, triumph and rejection. The quest, virtually guaranteed to succeed, for the Christmas No1 spot begins here.
Yet The X Factor is loathed as much as it is loved even though TV critics’ laud it as one of the TV highlights of the year, you can’t argue with viewing figures of over 14 million.
However, much of the criticism is justified. A win on the show does not guarantee a successful career. Just take a look at some of the previous winners.
Steve Brookstein, the 2004 winner, was dropped from Sony BMG after just two years. Since then he has gone on to perform on the Portsmouth -Bilbao ferry route and was recently reported by The News of the World to be gigging at the Maidstone branch of Pizza Express.
The 2007's winner Leon Jackson was also dropped from his label, after just over a year. You get the feeling that the Portsmouth – Bilbao ferry awaits poor Leon.
Leona Lewis, probably the most famous winner, went on to release debut album ‘Spirit’ which became one of the top 30 all time selling albums in the UK despite average reviews from the critical press.
Last year’s winner Alexandra Burke (due to release an album which coincides with this years X-Factor) exposed the musical divisions behind X-Factor.
Her cover version of Hallelujah last year was the Christmas no1, beating the esteemed Jeff Buckley version to no 2, but ask most teenagers about this version and they will just give you a confused look.
Regardless of who wins the trophy, the real winners are the judges and in particular Simon Cowell, now one of the world’s richest celebrities by selling the X-Factor franchise worldwide. Cheryl Cole has also used the show to boost her profile and higher up ITV and Sony BMG are also reaping the benefits.
The question is though what kind of legacy will the X-Factor leave? Primarily it will have left a generation of youngsters with the idea that you can become rich and famous by just turning up and singing.
Secondly it pushes the idea that it is just vocals that matter and not musical instruments. X-Factor does not do itself any favours by eliminating singer/songwriters and bands from the equation. It would receive far less criticism if it opted to focus more on actual music and less on vocals.
The entire series is not aimed at the middle-aged rocker or the Indie Snob who longs to see the next Morrisey or Oasis evolve in front of them from their armchair. This show has always been about family entertainment.
Whilst it may be fashionable to rant and rave at X-Factor and say it's lowering the standards of music as far as I can tell it's just another evolutionary step in popular music and there will always be depressed, introspective, philosophical genius' who will pick up guitars and capture my musical heart.
Now if you'll forgive me I intend to spend Saturday night boosting my own self-confidence by laughing at those who should know better and should have never gone to the audition in the first place.
Posted In Comment, Aug 21 2009.
Words - Stuart