X FACTOR 2, WHAT DO YOU THINK?

[roxanne]

The 'X Factor' this year has been interesting. My favourite acts so far are:

Alexandra - young Whitney Houston. 16-24

Trevor - The young red headed boy. 16-24

The brothers - Good band. The groups

I'm disappointed with the 25's-over, however, it's still early days.

For any forum members in the USA etc, The 'X Factor' is a talent programme similar to 'American Idol'. Except there are 3 categories, 16-24, 25's over, & the groups.This year the judges' put through an 84- year-old lady! The judges are Sharon Osbourne, Louis Walsh & Simon Cowell.

Round 1

Each of the contestants must audition for the 3 judges. They can either go through to the next round, or go home.

Round 2: The boot Camp

In the second round of the contest the Judges are each assigned a category to mentor. Each judge will then get to assemble a team of people to help turn their wannabes into stars! The contestants will then be put through a boot camp, and after-wards only 5 will remain in each group.

Round 3: Judges' Home Visits (they stay at mentors home)

Next, the remaining contestants will get to live the life of luxury with their mentors, But it won't be all fun and games, as the mentors must whittle their teams down to 4 each........... (last year it was 3).

Round 4: Live shows

The 12 remaining contestants/groups will now get the chance to showdown live on ITV. Week by week more contestants will be voted off the show and we will eventually, find out who Britain thinks has got The X FACTOR!


I THINK NEXT YEAR THE 'X FACTOR' MIGHT BE COMING TO AMERICA .

[laureneleanor]

The TV programme's a great piece of TV to watch on a Saturday night (although Pop Idol was SO much better) but the sad thing for the winner (and runner up) is that, as Steve Brookstein and G4 have proved.....you will not be able to do well from that reality TV format anymore. It simply does not work. If the only way to sell enough records to get to Number One is to 'cash in' on a tsunami, then i think the future of reality TV stars has really gone down the pan (whilst it was good of him to give the money to the charities...i just think that its quite unfortunate and a bit sleazy to use a humanitarian disaster in order to boost publicity). Its sad but true. Girls Aloud and Will Young were lucky compared to some of them.

[drbastard]

There is an extremely tacky looking old fashioned boy band that made it quite far last year and unfortunately for us (but very fortunately for the tan towel industry) they are back.

Didn't V teach them anything? This type of boyband is over.

[cpugh2005]

I have a really bad feeling that Trevor guy is going to win, His voice is quite good but not in the same league as Alexandra who so far should easily walk this series but I guess we won't really know for a few more weeks yet.

Oh and as much as I loathe G4 didn't their album sell a bucket load?

[roxanne]

cpugh2005 said:

Oh and as much as I loathe G4 didn't their album sell a bucket load?

Yes, that's correct. G4 sold over 1 million albums. They are planning to release a second album soon.

[merlin]

How can anyone take this program seriously after Steve's 'career' last time? I have to laugh when they say things like "we're looking for a megastar!" Arse.

[merlin]

Obviously they're trying to ape the awful new Rado 1 chart show where they just play what they deem trendy to students and 30-something Dido fans. Shame on them. 'Crediblity' is ruining music. Even pop fans are too snobby about talent and singing abilities, god knows how some would've coped during the PWL era.

[flufff]

roxanne said:

Yes, that's correct. G4 sold over 1 million albums. They are planning to release a second album soon.

I don't think that's true. It's more like over half a million, but they sold well and could sell well again to the Christmas market.

The way things are in the music industry and the media's treatment of the people that come from the shows, the only people who should seriously consider going on a show like that are the ones who do not want credibility, and who expect to sell to people who don't worry what the media has to say. In other words, Cliff fans, which is why it worked so well for G4. They also tapped into a market that hadn't been catered for by previous reality tv singers, so could play on the novelty factor.

[roxanne]

Quote from Simon Cowell:

"The irony is that Louis won, he sold over a million with G4".

[agrippina]

I liked the old lady who did "Lottie's at it Again", but she didn't get through.
I'm getting a bit tired of the fact that the people they put through all sound exactly the same - non-threatening, "nice", slightly tremulous vocals that will probably succeed in bagging a Christmas number one and then disappearing forever because they're just not interesting enough to have a long-lasting career. At least last year they had Rowetta and Tabby, who weren't exactly my cup of tea, but at least they were a bit different. Do I sound hopelessly geriatric?

[MJH]

roxanne said:

Quote from Simon Cowell:

"The irony is that Louis won, he sold over a million with G4".

Simon Cowell may have been quoted as saying that, but he was exaggerating - he always does. I think G4 sold about 500,000/600,000 give or take a few, which was very much better than Steve Brookstein and his 90 odd thousand. That's why Cowell said Louis (whateverhisnameis) won.

[roxanne]

FORUM MEMBERS NOT IN THE UK

A Spanish contestant (living in Ireland), sang 'over the rainbow' & ' fields of gold'. With hilarious consequences!

Sharon laughed so much she nearly wet herself. Sharon needed her make-up lady, because she was reduce to tears. Louis laughed so much he nearly choked. Simon was laughing too, and blamed Louis for starting the contagious laughter (Even the contestant was laughing!).

Sharon and Louis decided to let the contestant through. (After the contestant had gone), Simon told the Judges, "you need to be reminded of the rules of this competition." Sharon & Louis were still laughing. Simon walked off with a smile on his face saying, "I'm resigning, I can't do this anymore with thoughs two."

Meanwhile outside the audition room, the farcical situation continued. The contestant seem to be explaining to Kate (A presenter), how the audition went, and her excitement at going to bootcamp. "I don't know what you're saying" Kate replied.

[roxanne]

Now Louis has stopped trying to be Simon Cowell. The real MR NASTY has returned.

[thisispop]

It's car crash television.

They are no more looking for a major new talent - "than a fish needs a bicycle". (U2 lyric reference).

If you want a reality pop show you should have been watching RockStar: INXS.

For those who have watched it - Surely Jordis Unga threw it?

[andrea69]

agrippina said:

I liked the old lady who did "Lottie's at it Again", but she didn't get through.

Her names Althea,and is in a duo called the Octave Tinkling Twosome,and appears regularly in our local paper The Solihull News,having played somewhere or another.I'm going to give them a miss.

[Mr. Sponge]

I actually know trevor, he's cool but a bit wet. I can't tell you how far he's got but you will see him in the bootcamp episodes. Alexandra is fantastic!

[roxanne]

christmassponge said:

I actually know Trevor, he's cool but a bit wet. I can't tell you how far he's got but you will see him in the boot camp episodes. Alexandra is fantastic!

Great! I do hope Trevor & Alexandra make it to the live shows. Another band I'm starting to like is 4Tune.

[roxanne]

My favourite contestants from last night's programme are:

Sam - (very tall man)
4thBase - (boy-band) 5 boys.
WhiteStar - ( boy-band in Scotland) 3 boys.

The groups are getting better every week.

[flufff]

I liked the tall one and the boy-band who sang When Doves Cry.

[roxanne]

flufff said:

I liked the tall one and the boy-band who sang When Doves Cry.

Yes, Sam & 4thbase. There were some hilarious acts too. The two boys who sang Savage Garden's 'To The moon and back'. At least one boy sang, while the other did some foolish dance. LOL

Simon: "What do you do exactly"?
boy: "nothing really"
Sharon: "Is that sign language, are you signing?
boy: "no"
Louis interrupts - "What are you doing there?!"
Boy: "It was an interpretive dance".
Sharon "I think it's avant garde".
Louis: Which?!
(Simon in the middle, looking puzzled)
Sharon: "this"
Louis: "bad vocals, and you're an Idiot on the left."
Sharon: " Louis".
Louis: "It was, it's stupid!"
Sharon:"That's a bit strong"
Louis: " It's a talent show, and they have no talent. It was amateur & stupid".
Simon: "It's ridiculous".
Louis: "next"
LOL

Contestant sings: ' I'm just a teenage dirt bag baby'
Simon: "It was like a horror movie".
LOL

[NumanumAnzej]

OK, where the hell do I know that Haifa from who was on it last night? Don't know why this thread is still going and the original one on Off Topic has died on it's arse. I didn't look in this one before now, because I thought it would just be "oh, it's shit innit?"

[flufff]

Haifa was on the first Pop Idol. I couldn't believe they didn't mention it. I was waiting for Simon to say something along the lines of having always liked her, or Kate at the very least saying 'good to see you again'.

Unless I'm truly going mad she was in the same heat as Gareth and Zoe and was something like 0.1% behind Zoe, and considering how far Zoe got, that's not to be sniffed at. I heard she got a deal and released a single, but obviously it was a crap deal and the single didn't do much.

[NumanumAnzej]

God, you're totally right, the memories are flooding back now. I'm sure the single was a cover of something. but god knows what. I get the feeling she could be a British Shakira. Way better than Gareth anyway (ducks impending smites).

[crazyboy]

whatever happened to rosie ribbons eh?

[roxanne]

My favourite contestants' from last night's show are:

Daniel - he sang ' you raise me up.'

The Twin Greek lads - they sang 'Lean on me.'

Ryan - black guy in the purple suit. (Good dancer)

The Robbie lookalike - boy with the broken arm

Nicholas -The 17-year-old Black Guy, in the yellow top.

Inis who sang U2's 'I still haven't found what I'm looking for'.

Haifa - she has a soulful voice.

You're right. Haifa was in pop Idol 1, and tried to get into the Eurovision Song contest last year.

I forgot Angel - the black girl who sang a Motown song.

[roxanne]

crazyboy said:

whatever happened to rosie ribbons eh?

Who is rosie ribbons?

[Floosie]

roxanne said:

The groups are getting better every week.

Indeed - so just what is Simon's problem?

flufff said:

Haifa was on the first Pop Idol. I couldn't believe they didn't mention it. I was waiting for Simon to say something along the lines of having always liked her, or Kate at the very least saying 'good to see you again'.

Yes to all of that - I couldn't understand it. I suppose they see hundreds of people, but Kate will have spent all week with her on the ITV2 stuff, so what's that about? V. odd.

[Floosie]

roxanne said:

crazyboy said:

whatever happened to rosie ribbons eh?

Who is rosie ribbons?

Are you being sarcastic? If not, she came 6th in PI1 - went out after slaughtering her Abba song.

[flufff]

numanumayay said:

God, you're totally right, the memories are flooding back now. I'm sure the single was a cover of something. but god knows what. I get the feeling she could be a British Shakira. Way better than Gareth anyway (ducks impending smites).

Well I far prefer Gareth, as did the nation, but I wouldn't smite you for thinking otherwise. I always thought she had a bit of a Shakira about her, but the timing wasn't right for her. When you think back to the people like her that didn't make the final 10 on PI1, then think about who got to the finals of PI2 it's such a disappointment.

I wonder why Simon is pretending he doesn't remember her, because he must. She got quite a lot of press coverage as well, so they should know they can't get away with it. Maybe they think it's better to let people remember than draw attention to it, because most people assume those that turn up having failed once shouldn't bother.

[roxanne]

floosie said:

roxanne said:

Who is Rosie ribbons?

Are you being sarcastic? If not, she came 6th in PI1 - went out after slaughtering her Abba song.

No I wasn't being sarcastic. Thanks, I remember her now.