My feature on The X Factor from today’s Weekend magazine in the Irish Independent
The X Factor is just like Christmas: it seems to start sooner every year. Kicking off tonight, the show will saturate the weekend TV schedules until mid-December, when the eventual winner will vie for – and more than likely – claim the Christmas No 1 single position.
Now in its seventh year, The X Factor doesn’t appear to be affected by the Law of Diminishing Returns. If anything, the show appears to be getting bigger, no matter how much its critics may snipe about it. Viewing figures for the 2009 run were the highest ever: the final episode, where Joe McElderry was crowned ahead of Olly Murs, attracted 10m votes, and was watched by a staggering 20m people in the UK and Ireland.
The question now though is how much longer the show can sustain itself. Is the format in danger of collapsing in on itself to become an embarrassing self-parody like the pitifully over-extended and superannuated Big Brother? And does the show’s driving force, the sarcastic, eye-rolling Simon Cowell, really even care about it that much anymore? In short, will this year’s contest be the last?
Despite its enormous viewing figures and pop culture-domination, the last series was not without its share of troubles. It was arguably the most controversial season yet, as evidenced by the heady backlash against the show that saw an online campaign galvanise anti-X Factor sentiment to make Rage Against the Machine’s ‘Killing in The Name’ the festive No 1 ahead of McElderry’s winning single, the admittedly anaemic Miley Cyrus cover ‘The Climb’. The campaign was successful, albeit briefly: a week after Christmas, McElderry topped the UK charts.
Then, of course, there were the irrepressible – and since then unstoppable – John and Edward Grimes, the teen twins from Lucan who managed to battle on through weeks of derision, boos and abuse from head-honcho Simon Cowell and the increasingly hostile studio audiences to make it to the seventh week of the live shows.
By that stage of the contest, the tonally-challenged twosome had worn down a lot of their critics thanks to a combination of exuberant (i.e. bonkers) live performances, and couldn’t-care-what-anyone-thinks resilience. Which is all well and good, but their success indicated that the X Factor had (d)evolved into a televised panto, and that genuine vocal talent was no longer a key ingredient in its hitherto winning formula.
All that aside, while people may have laughed at Jedward – and continue to do so – they have been amongst the most mind-bogglingly successful contestants ever to be spat out from the reality TV conveyer belt.
“They’re going to be millionaires by Christmas,” says their boss, and returning X Factor judge, Louis Walsh. “They haven’t had one day off since the last X Factor finished. They’re touring, doing TV, and have been signed up to model. Everything they do, they get paid for. Who would have thought it?”
Some former contestants might be doing well, but few are in any doubt that the real stars of The X Factor are not the teary-eyed, perma-tanned youngsters trying to sing in a Mariah Carey falsetto, but the four people who adjudicate on their performances every week.
For instance, nobody on the X Factor stage can eclipse the star power of judge Cheryl Cole, who last year solidified her unassailable position as national treasure and commercial powerhouse. Meanwhile, Dannii Minogue, while nowhere near as popular as Cole, has her own loyal fan-base that continually views her as the savviest, and even – gulp – the most fashionable member of the panel.
It will have been hard to escape the news that both ladies have been somewhat incapacitated during the audition stages of this year’s series: Dannii has just given birth to her first child, and Cheryl has been laid up with a serious bout of malaria.
For that reason, a rotation of guest judges have filled in for the absent regulars during this year’s audition phases: Geri Halliwell sat in at the Glasgow casting call; Natalie Imbruglia in Birmingham; Pixie Lott in Cardiff; Pussycat Doll Nicole Scherzinger in Manchester; and Katy Perry in Dublin.
“Nicole was amazing,” says Louis. “I thought she was going to be like an American diva, but she was just very cool. The best we’ve ever had. Katy Perry was funny and quirky. Cowell couldn’t handle her because she didn’t care about him.
“Cheryl and Dannii are both going to be back for the live shows when they start on October 9. I haven’t been talking to Cheryl that much, to be honest; just a few texts.”
But what of the big cheese himself, Simon Cowell? He certainly seems to have his mind on other projects at the moment: he quit his lucrative gig on American Idol at the end of the last series, and he’s lined up to collaborate on a business venture with Topshop owner Philip Green.
He also plans to launch The X Factor in the US next year, the filming schedule of which will have big ramifications for the UK series. There’s a very real chance that he won’t be around for series 8 – if there even will be one.
Louis Walsh, however, says that his long-time ‘frenemy’ isn’t going anywhere. “Listen, this is his baby,” he states. “Every year they say it’s going to be the last, but it’s only getting bigger. We’ve had people this year coming from all over the world. It’s crazy. Simon works everyone very hard on it because he always wants each series to be bigger and better. He doesn’t want it to become predictable.”
As for whether he’s intent on winning the series this year, Louis argues that he has ultimately been the ‘winner’ of the last two seasons. “As far as I’m concerned I won last year with Jedward, and the year before that with [boyband] JLS. They’re the two big success stories. I my not have won the battle, but I definitely won the war. JLS are much more successful than Alexandra [Burke]. They’re filling stadiums and selling millions of records.”
What does Louis reckon are the chances for last year’s winner, the recently out-and-proud gay singer Joe McElderry who will, as is the custom, launch a new single and album sometime during the new series’ run? Will he be a future megastar like the show’s most successful alum Leona Lewis? Or will be another Leon Whathisface who won three years ago?
“I think his album is going to surprise people because I know he’s got great producers,” Louis replies. “He’s a great singer, and I think his first album will be huge. I don’t know about his career after that.”
Lastly, Louis reveals that viewers are in for a treat over the next few weeks of auditions. “I think we’ve had the best crowd yet,” Louis says. “There are some great girls, and lots of good characters, especially in the over 28 category.
“There’s an Irish woman called Mary, who is aged 50, and works for Tesco. She’s really good. She’s a big belter like Shirley Bassey.”
Any Jedward-type contestants? He replies with a laugh: “There are French-Iranian twins who are very… interesting.”
*The X Factor starts tonight on TV3 and UTV.
My colleague Medb Ruane makes some interesting parallels between the 1998 movie The Truman Show and our modern predilection to ‘over-share’ online. It makes me think even more about how The Truman Show was ahead of its time in predicting how the media and technology was going to progress in the new century to such an extent that I really do believe that Peter Weir’s movie can legitimately make a claim to be the movie of the decade for the 1990s, if not the Noughties too.
