As Ella Henderson somehow finds herself no longer in The X Factor, has the time finally come for the reality show, after yet again Rylan found his way into the next round with ease.
This is the trouble with The X Factor. Over the last few years of the competition, the inclusion of comedy acts has simply diluted the show to the point of ridicule and made somewhat of a mockery of the entire format.
Rylan is not the sole example though of a novelty act going far too far. Jedward forced talented singers like Lucie Jones to be knocked out the competition back in 2009. Wagner forced Aiden Grimshaw out of the show the year after and Johnny Robinson progressed to week five of last year’s competition despite processing no singing ability and Frankie Cocozza had to be forcibly removed from the show.
Ella Henderson and James Arthur are both able to be recording artists right now. Both have the talent to really make a good stab at the charts. Rylan won’t be able to become a serious singer, someone whose album you would listen to over and over again and go and see live in concert.
As Gary Barlow said himself, the show has to out the ‘razz- ma-tazz’ on the back burner and get back to its singing competition roots. If they don’t do that, it’ll only just descend further into the bowels of karaoke singers and sequin jackets.
Ella Henderson will be fine though. She’s won enough friends in the industry to get another shot of the big time, is only 16 and is already writing her own songs. In a musical world where that type of musician is highly coveted, Ella won’t find herself on the ground for too long.
That isn’t the point though. The judges made the point time and again in the results show that this should have been the final.
That one of the two genuinely talented and listenable singers on the show found themselves in the bottom two is bad enough, but that both of them were forced to sing for their lives and force the judges’ hands was just appalling.
The judges are not blameless either. They elected to bring through these sub-par acts and molly coddle them through each live show, constantly claiming that it’s an ‘entertainment contest’. No, it’s not, that’s Britain’s Got Talent, where the cheesy magic, dog shows and choirs live.
If The X Factor is going to survive, then it needs to regroup and come back smaller, simper and richer in talent. They need to make this before the audience and the music industry itself turns its back completely on the competition.
FemaleFirst Cameron Smith.