By Richard Bailey
X Factor - An unknown or indefinable element, often used in the entertainment industry to
separate successful entertainers from less successful entertainers.
It was about three weeks ago that it happened; I was browsing the channels one Saturday night, flicking up and down through them when I was distracted for a moment. When I focused back on the television I was watching a black woman called Rachael talking about her life. A single mother at 13, serious drug addiction, three children in care and a stint in jail were all features of a troubled life that she was sharing with the camera, clearly trying to hold back the tears. For another five minutes the story went on, slowly in the background the music started building as she talked about turning her life around. Then as the music reaches its crescendo it fades to her singing on a laminate floor, with Simon Cowell, Danni Minogue, Louis Walsh and Cheryl Cole sitting behind a desk; it was X Factor.
Now I know television has to evolve to continue to seem new and fresh, but what happened to a talent show being just that, a 'talent' show. Instead this show seemed to be more about whose back story could play best on the heartstrings of the viewing public. Nonetheless I gave it the benefit of the doubt, maybe it was a one off, so I decided to watch another episode to try to restore my faith in the modern television programme.
Unfortunately this was not to be the case, the next show began promisingly, with the usual mix of no hopers and half decent cruise ship singers. Then came the VT I was dreading, ‘Our next contestant is 38 year old Daniel, father of three from East London’. Now Daniel looks like your average father of three from East London, which is all that really needed to be said; let him sing, if he’s good let him through if not chuck him. But no, the VT continues ‘Daniel lost his wife tragically, six days after giving birth to his first child’. Why?
Well he was actually a pretty good singer, pretty good, not mind blowing, but ok. There was something that I couldn’t put my finger on though, my head was saying ‘yeah he’s good’ but something else was saying ‘that was great’. The whole build up, supported by the tears and emotion on Danni and Cheryl’s faces some how made the performance seem special. This brings me to the question, what is the ‘X Factor’? Is it an exceptional singing voice? Or is it something else, have we now gotten to the stage where being a great singer is no longer enough. Do you now have to have the heart tingling back story, supported by real emotions behind each song to totally involve the audience and ultimately become successful?
Then it occurred to me, who watches X Factor? The same people who watch Eastenders, Big Brother and any number of the other evening programmes on nowadays. These people don’t care about the music, they watch to be entertained. Like any good film, they want to be involved and these prying looks into real people’s lives satisfy that urge. The winner is no longer important, a bonus if they succeed but the success or failure after the show is of little concern to the producers. They have turned what may have started off as a simple talent show into a Big Brother style look at these people’s lives as they go through the ups and downs on the way to a mirage they call fame.
Now I know television has to evolve to continue to seem new and fresh, but what happened to a talent show being just that, a 'talent' show. Instead this show seemed to be more about whose back story could play best on the heartstrings of the viewing public. Nonetheless I gave it the benefit of the doubt, maybe it was a one off, so I decided to watch another episode to try to restore my faith in the modern television programme.
Unfortunately this was not to be the case, the next show began promisingly, with the usual mix of no hopers and half decent cruise ship singers. Then came the VT I was dreading, ‘Our next contestant is 38 year old Daniel, father of three from East London’. Now Daniel looks like your average father of three from East London, which is all that really needed to be said; let him sing, if he’s good let him through if not chuck him. But no, the VT continues ‘Daniel lost his wife tragically, six days after giving birth to his first child’. Why?
Well he was actually a pretty good singer, pretty good, not mind blowing, but ok. There was something that I couldn’t put my finger on though, my head was saying ‘yeah he’s good’ but something else was saying ‘that was great’. The whole build up, supported by the tears and emotion on Danni and Cheryl’s faces some how made the performance seem special. This brings me to the question, what is the ‘X Factor’? Is it an exceptional singing voice? Or is it something else, have we now gotten to the stage where being a great singer is no longer enough. Do you now have to have the heart tingling back story, supported by real emotions behind each song to totally involve the audience and ultimately become successful?
Then it occurred to me, who watches X Factor? The same people who watch Eastenders, Big Brother and any number of the other evening programmes on nowadays. These people don’t care about the music, they watch to be entertained. Like any good film, they want to be involved and these prying looks into real people’s lives satisfy that urge. The winner is no longer important, a bonus if they succeed but the success or failure after the show is of little concern to the producers. They have turned what may have started off as a simple talent show into a Big Brother style look at these people’s lives as they go through the ups and downs on the way to a mirage they call fame.
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