Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION The Anywhere Machine The X Factor

OK, so I'm sure I'm not the only person here from the Uk watching The X Factor, so it's about time we had a thread about it.

For those not in the UK The X Factor is essentially a new version of Pop/American Idol except with a twist. This time around there are three judges, Simon Cowell, Sharon Osbourne and Loius Walsh (if you don't know who Louis Walsh is... well, I wouldn't let it bother you. he's a tit). The first twist is the fact that the auditions were open to anyone over the age of 16 and there were three groups of finalists, solo singers aged 16 to 24, solo singers aged 24 and up (no upper age limit) and groups. When they'd finished the auditions each group was assinged to one of the judges who would be their mentor, and said jusge had to whittle the finalsist down to their final three who went on to the public voting stage (same set up as Idol). The judges/mentors for each group get to decide what their peeps sing and how they're presented and stuff. No restrictions on what they can sing and whether they have backing singers or not (something you didn't get with Idol) and it doesn't look like there are going to be any 'theme' weeks. And the final twist is the public vote for their favourites but the bottom two performers then perform again and the judges get to decide who goes home.

Right, so that's the set up, but now on to the important bit, the finalists. So we have three singers aged under 24, three over 24 and three groups and it has to be said the quality of all nine is way better than anything we've had on Pop Idol here and better than most of the performers on American Idol too (American Idol has *much* better contestants than we've had in Pop Idol, believe me). One from each set has already gone and they were the three weakest, but the six left are all damn god.

My faves though are Tabby (from the under 24s), Rowetta (from the over 24s) and Voices With Soul (from the groups).

Tabby is fabulous. He's this little Irish lad, early twenties I think, who is very neo-goth, Indie Rock type. Very Sharon Osbourne (who is his mentor) but just great on stage. He's got a really good voice but more importantly he's great fun to watch and has just that extra something that makes you go 'wow'.

Same with Rowetta who is mentored by Simon and used to be the backing singer in Happy Mondays. She's insane and very loud and very screwed up but just has a fabulous voice. She did 'Over the Rainbow' this week and blew me away. I reckon she and Tabby will be the finalists.

And then there Voices With Soul who are three big fat black ladies (two sisters and the daughter of one of the sisters) who are just fabulous. For some bizarre reaosn they keep being in the bottom two but have been svaed twice by the judges. They're great though.

I also like G4 who are a classically trained group of four guys but Louis keeps giving them the most godsawful songs to perform so i think they might be screwed.

All in all though it's great. No-one that is really pop at all so you've got a great mix of styles and music types and the six that are left could all possibly win. Is anyone else hooked like me? (Despite the fact that it clashes with Strictly Come Dancing, which is also great).

I was happy to see the Peters and Lee duo voted off this week Bevis - the boy is very talented, could be the next Stevie Wonder, but that girl was dreadful by comparison!

Yeah, I agree completely. She wasn't awful, but she wasn't really any better than just good, which compared to the rest of the finalists simply isn't good enough. Unfortunately I think Cassie might be one of the next to go. She's one of the best singers (despite a very weak performance this week) but she simply doesn't have anything that makes her stand out from the crowd. She's a pretty young girl with a very good voice, whihc unfortunately is true of a lot of singers trying to make it. You need something more than that.

Are you mad?! Cassie is shagging that older bloke! She's paedo bait!

And that Sharon Osbourne spawned kid was in a band with half of Westlife (I refer you to my previous Westlife thread) and so its a fix up between her Louis Walsh!

The rightful winner is Rowetta. She may be a haggard chav but her voice is amazing! And to think I saw her LIVE when I saw "ver Mondays" back in the early 90s. It's a madhouse!

Rowetta!! Rowetta??!!??!! Whop on earth didn't vote for her? How can the semi-final be made up of Tabby (who I love but was destined to lose to Rowetta), G4 who are just... well, wet, and Steve who is the creepiest, smuggest, falsest git in the world. Why on earth was Rowetta even in the bottom two? She was the only one who didn't make a mistake tonight (G4 were *way* out of tune) and just has so much stage presence. Of course, maybe that means she'll be the Lamar of X Factor rather than the Michelle. Heh.

But I'm pissed off now. Humph.

We were shocked!

But then it does make for a more interesting final.

And can you imagine just how OTT she would have been if she had won? Maybe you're right Bevis and she can be the Lemar rather than Michelle (bless her !)

I'm not convinced be any of the surviving acts - Steve is smarmy, did you see him with those five year olds? How bad was that? Tabby is a poor singer with badly chosen unimaginative songs (how many Bon Jovi songs can he sing before we tell Sharon that Bon Jovi are, have always been and will always be awful?) and G4 are just uninspiring to the max!

Still, I can't wait to see what happens next:D

I was disapointed that Rowetta got knocked out too as she was obviously the best singer in the whole contest. The conspiracy theory is that she got booted in favour of Steve because Simon wants Steve to win (he hasnt offered Rowetta a contract) and each judge needed an act in the final show (explaining why novelty act G4 are still in it.)

I went to a showbiz party on Tuesday night!

All the X-Factor lot were there. Rowetta was on her best behaviour (ie not paralytic, unliike me) and I spoke to Voices With Soul and 2 To Go! I basically said that they were robbed coz G4 are a shit novelty act - tand they both more or less agreed!

That was about it, I didn't want to get myself into trouble. But Ahmed off Big Brother put his hand out for bloke out of 2 To Go to shake, but obviously he didn't realise coz he's blind. Arf!

I'm suprised you said Rowetta doesn't have a contract already CK - I'm sure I read that all of the finalists had to sign some sort of contract (probably their souls away) with Simon Cowell before they even reached the part were the public voted.

And why would anyone want Steve to win - look at that slimy smile and those piggy eyes, there's a man who spent too much time in the toilet with magazines you guys hold with one hand, know what I mean? And Al Green is one of my favourite singers, he doesn't need a second rate impersonator with the personality of a Uriah Heep clone - no, I'm not a Steve fan!

Good story about Ahmed - A is for amazing, H is .. oh I can't remember his song anymore. Maybe thats not a bad thing though

There was something in the Sunda papers about how Simon hasn't given Rowetta a contract. Maybe the thing you read was about how they're not allowed to sign with anyone else for a year or summat after the show. They're all off on a tour soon anyway so that'll keep em busy for a while.

Seriously though, I havent done a party like that for ages and I walked through the door and my heart sank. It was all the usual suspects! The Ferraras off EastEnders, people from Big Brother (even bloody Federico from last year) Cheeky Girls, and now you can add all the X-Factor goons to the cast list of reality rejects. Tut! I tire of it! I want proper stars!!!

We just had auditions for the Australian version of the show here in Melbourne last weekend. Channel 10 (the station that tries to be hip & now) is touting it as must-see TV for 2005.

However after this season of Australian Idol, I'm starting to wonder exactly what we've got in store.

I think the deal with contracts is that the contestants aren't allowed to release anything until after the winner has. They can sign with whomever they like though, apart from the fact that they're contracted to do the tour as well. Sharon has already signed Cassie and... uh... the other girl, and Tabby has done some backing vocals for Ozzy on stuff that won't be released until after the show has finished. I wouldn't be surprised if she signs up Rowetta if Simon doesn't as well since she's savvy enough to realise that even if Rowetta doesn't turn into a big chart star she can still have a good album career (which Simon and Louis just don't seem to understand). I also hope that Voices With Soul get a deal since they were clearly the best group as well.

Now I just hope Steve goes this week. I still like Tabby, even if he is a bit same-y every week (personally I think it's because he's having to do covers. I want to see what he can do with original songs) and of G4 and Steve I prefer G4 simply because they don't strike me as being some creepy perv who doesn't understand that just because you can sing doesn't mean you have any kind of soul or stage presence. G4 ae just a bit wet and drippy and, as Andy says, a novelty act.

i guess that means we can expect the show to be butchered and dumbed down for North Americian Markets soon too....hurrah tv execs, another reality show!!!!

There was a bit about this on GMTV - you are getting your own version of X Factor.

I dont know how they're going to dumb it down (its as dumb as it can get already) but they've started auditioning. They're concentrating on "the deep south" for some reason - but I think that's just for the bad "comedy" audition weeks.

It's really crap though. The worst part is that these karaoke muppets think they've got some talent/people like them. I particularly wanted to smack Cassie in the face. 2 To Go - a blind kid and his palin jane sidekick were quite nice people though, if totally out of their depth.