An Unproductive January (but this post has a million mini-reviews to make up for it)

The amount of articles written in December compared to this month is kind of appalling.  But I have not abandoned my blog.  I came down with the flu!  I was helpless!  It began all innocent enough but then it just turned into something really, very evil.  Just evil.  The incarnation of evil.  I am now almost fully recovered, though my ears are still blocked.

I still have my Christmas presents to go through and review – I got enough of them.  I also have had a good month for finding new music.  I am also wasting money on piano lessons – something I will never be good at.  Being a beginner at 23 is something of a handicap, but it could be worse, I could be starting at 50.  Actually, apart from writing hardly anything on this blog, it’s been a good month (media wise). 

X-Factor Voting Figures

The voting figures have been released from series five of X-Factor.  I’m gobsmacked that Eoghan Quigg was leading throughout most of the series.  What is WRONG with you people?!  Alexandra Burke had a late surge, and was third from bottom in week seven.  I guess these figures truly show how fickle the public are.  And how much they fall for a sob story.  Scott Bruton second in the first week?  That wasn’t a sympathy vote for having a terrible song, was it?!  Come on, people.  Next year, please sort it out.  Take note of the singing, not the personal things going on, not what the red tops say, just the bloody singing.

TOTAL VOTES CAST OVER ENTIRE SERIES : 16,469,064

Show 1
Eoghan Quigg 21.19%
Scott Bruton 19.48%
Laura White 16.99%
Diana Vickers 7.35%
Daniel Evans 7.21%
Alexandra Burke 7.20%
JLS 5.03%
Rachel Hylton 4.77%
Austin Drage 3.63%
Ruth Lorenzo 3.47%
Girlband 2.17%
Bad Lashes 1.51% (Deadlock)

Show 2
Eoghan Quigg 26.77%
Diana Vickers 16.24%
JLS 9.21%
Laura White 8.99%
Austin Drage 8.98%
Daniel Evans 8.23%
Alexandra Burke 7.15%
Rachel Hylton 5.01%
Scott Bruton 4.17%
Ruth Lorenzo 2.95%
Girlband 2.30% (Deadlock)

Show 3
Eoghan Quigg 20.73%
Diana Vickers 15.13%
Rachel Hylton 12.21%

X-Factor Finalists That Got Record Deals

Oh, I don’t know.  I do not feel like thinking today.  Had another long boring day at work (don’t we all) and I have a massive home made shepherds pie in my belly that has made me sluggish.  So.  I basically feel like giving my verdict on every X-Factor finalist that got a record deal.  I am starting this without knowing how many artists this actually entails and will probably end up writing this article for over two hours like I always do.  But here it goes, in reverse date order.

SERIES 5

ALEXANDRA BURKE *****
She definitely has one of the strongest voices that the show has produced, and the deserving winner of 2008, but she does not have much originality.  There are already so many artists like her.  But she does have what it takes.  She has shown that she can take the pressure, shown that she can take set backs, shown that she can dance and shown that she dance.  Obviously.  Best of luck to her, but she will not be as big as Leona Lewis.

DIANA VICKERS  *****
Yes, I know she hasn’t officially got a deal, but let’s not be dense.  She’ll get one.  Vickers was my favourite of series five.  She has not the strongest voice, nor does she sing in a such a way that will maintain what she does have for long.  She was, however, quite original; for an X-Factor contestant, anyway.  I adored her version of U2‘s ‘With Or Without You’.  I was only sorry that the red tops picked on her, and that people were getting hung up on her hand movements.

The British Public Disappoints as Diana Vickers Walks

I guess I have only myself to blame.  When I tune into a television programme that is mostly watched by the tabloid reading population I should have expected that the media dictates who stays and who goes out in the reality television series The X-Factor. 

Diana Vickers, though without the greatest voice in the world, had a little spark that set her apart from the usual pop mould.  Even Leona Lewis, without a doubt the best contestant of any of the talent shows across the globe, has that same mould as other singers – fortunately for her she has the vocal range and the professionalism to be a true success.  But Diana had a sweet time during the first four weeks, everyone’s favourite to win, until something completely human happens – she fell ill.  All of the sudden, the whole show’s fixed, she’s dating wothisname, it’s annoying that she doesn’t wear shoes, her hand thing is irritating, she doesn’t dance (since when do people listen to Louis Walsh?) and, news flash, Lily Allen doesn’t like her!  She’s then not expected to win at all, and is voted out.  It happens, and normally I would just accept it, but as I look at the other finalists, I wonder what on earth the British public were thinking.