The X-Factor

Now that the X-Factor* is over and the dust has settled, I thought I’d write about the show from a viewers perspective.

This year they decided to have “themed” shows, where a special guest would appear on the show, and the contestants would sing songs by the special guest. Now, call me cynical, but every guest they had on the show, without exception, spookily enough had a compilation album released the week they appeared on the show. This to me, is commercialism of the highest order, spoon-feeding this blatant advertising to the public, rather than a genuine interest in the show and the contestants.

One of the worst protagonists was Rod Stewart. The week he was a special guest and the contestants all had to sing Rod Stewart songs was a joke. Rod Stewart has been around for over 35 years, so you would imagine there is a huge back-catalogue of songs to choose from, and you’d be correct. However, most of his “hits” have been cover versions… like “Sailing” and “The First Cut Is The Deepest”. How this hypocrite could stand there and take the plaudits for the tracks performed by the contestants beggars belief. 8 out of the 11 tracks performed on the night were covers when Rod Stewart released them. Even when he performed himself he did a cover. This man is the paragon of unoriginality. If that wasn’t bad enough… he had the nerve to critique the acts by saying they sung sharp. Sharp? He wouldn’t know sharp if it stabbed him in the ass. He has a novelty voice that quickly becomes tiresome and he couldn’t even sing his “own” song in tune, yet he felt the need to establish his pre-eminent authority on singing by criticizing the contestants who are, let’s face it, much better than him.

If that wasn’t bad enough, he called the acts rubbish on a radio show, undoubtedly trying to gain some credibility by slagging off the show, as it’s not “cool” to like it, yet he wants the publicity from being on the show to rejuvenate his flagging career and promote the entirely unoriginal album he’s just released. It’s as if he was jealous of the contestants because they sang “his” songs better than he can, hence why he couldn’t give credit where it was due and just criticized the acts instead of complimenting them. He just proves himself spineless, greedy and out for what he can get for himself, i.e. record sales.

In stark contrast, some of the other special guests… Bjorn Ulvaeus and Barry Manilow for example, were complimentary without being patronising, and were constructive and helpful, and they at least WROTE THEIR OWN DAMN SONGS!!!

In the end though… the right person won the show, and hopefully will go on to greater things.

*The X-Factor for those unfamiliar with it, is a singing talent competition, where viewers vote for their favourite act and the one with the lowest votes goes out of the competition, and the winner gets a £1,000,000 record contract.