Well, another year, another X Factor is finally upon us, and after tonight's dramatic Judges' Houses stage of the competition, the final line-up for this series is now confirmed. Naturally, we're sure you're all clamouring to hear what we think of the final 12, so here we go.
THE BOYS (Mentor: Dannii Minogue)
We'll let you all in on a little secret.
Dannii Minogue is actually our favourite X Factor judge, purely for her ability to counteract Cheryl's inevitable ridiculousness with some common sense (
last year's unfortunate "outing" incident was very much the exception which proved the rule for us). We therefore had high hopes when we found that Ms. Minogue was in charge of the promising, but fairly homogonous boys' group. We were hoping that she would extract from the sam-iness of the group a diverse line-up which gave her three different acts to work with.
Oh how we were disappointed.
Aiden Grimshaw was her first pick and, despite interesting vocals, seems to develop a clear case of narcolepsy whenever he sings. Sure he'll pick up the teenage girl vote and "mums will love him" but he was a prime case of someone who could have done a lot better by coming back in a few years once he'd acquired some more experience. How he was picked over the sublime
Paije Richardson remains a mystery. Paige's performance was absolutely brilliant, and, for us, was the first time that we really got what he was all about. I hope he comes back next year and gets that spot on the live shows.
Next up was a little bit brighter, as the diva-esque
Nicolo Festa brought the unbridled arrogance on his version of Paloma Faith's brilliant
New York. Whilst Nicola's confidence is undoubtedly going to turn him into this year's Rhydian, there's just something very appealing about his unashamed self-belief and I think he's going to create some fantastic TV on the live shows.
Finally,
Matt Cardle deservedly earned his place in the final, although at times his rendition of
If I Were A Boy bordered on the downright bizarre. Nonetheless, he's got a brilliant vocal talent, and crucially, the glimpse we got at the end indicated that Dannii and the team have unleashed the stylists on him so that he's now miraculously hot rather than someone who might be selling weed on street corners.
On paper, it's a very strong line-up, but the three are a bit too similar for our liking. Paije in particular could have really helped broaden this group's appeal and, whilst the three of them all bring enough to the table to be strong competitors in the competition, I have a horrible feeling that Dannii's playing it safe could really come back to bite her.
Overall choice: 6/10
One to watch: Matt Cardle and/or Nicolo Festa
THE OVER 28s (Mentor: Louis Walsh)
Let's be honest, Louis drew the shortest straw imaginable here. First of all, he could have saved that by putting through the amazing
Wagner (seriously, we absolutely loved him. His almost complete lack of a viable singing voice was very much by-the-boy once his neckwear was brought into the equation). Personally, we're really not fussed about
Mary "have I mentiond I work in Tesco" Byrne, particularly since we can't really see how working in Tesco is in anyway a suitable sob story, and I thought her rendition of
Fix You was awful enough even without her forgetting the words. On a plus point, I loved that they've decided to turn her into a Dawn French lookalike. Amazing.
Similarly
Storm "His name's not Storm" Lee is about as dull as ditchwater and has only been put through to piss off Simon. Which is fine, but for our money he really doesn't have "it" and I expect him to be booted off fairly early on.
There is a glimmer of hope for Louis, however, in the form of
John Adeleye. We picked him out early on as a possible contender after his beautiful rendition of
Ain't No Sunshine in the auditions. He's the only one who brings the attractiveness to this category and his song choice of
Billionaire was absolutely inspired. A stunning voice and I think if he survives past the first few weeks he could be a real contender.
Mary is probably the one who is going to get the furthest in this competition, but until she starts bringing something impressive to the table which we just haven't seen yet. We really have our fingers crossed for John in the meantime, though.
Overall choice: 5/10 (mainly for Wagner's absence)
One to watch: John Adeleye
THE GROUPS (Mentor: Simon Cowell)
We take back what we said about Louis. Simon's got the biggest challenge on his hands this series with the uninspiring groups. We were surprised
Husstle didn't make it through as they seemed genuinely able to bring something a bit different to the table. So in the end we're stuck with
F.Y. "don't call us JLS" D. who in the early stages of their audition brought some shocking vocals to the table but managed to find some harmony somewhere along the way and made an attempt at movement. Joining them are the two manufactured groups
Belle Amie (who summoned up an interesting take of George Michael's
Faith even if the vocals felt very weak at times) and
One Direction (who we really can't summon up any interest for whatsoever, even if the two leads have pleasant enough voices). Putting the two groups thrown together at bootcamp doesn't give an awful lot of optimism for any self-made groups who come along to audition next year, really, does it?
Overall choice: 3/10
Ones to watch: Belle Amie
THE GIRLS (Mentor: Cheryl Cole)
CONTROVERSY ALERT! We'll get right down to it: the omission of
Gamu in Cheryl's final line-up was absolutely perplexing given how much of a dead cert she seemed in the auditions. And, after a brilliant performance at Cheryl's house, she must have thought she was secure of that live final place. Especially when
Katie and
Cher, who sis get through, couldn't even complete their songs. Nonetheless, Katie and Cher have been the talking points of this competition from the very start: Cher is frankly a licence for Simon Cowell to print money and Katie is just the right mix of talented/batshit crazy to go far. On that basis, we're not disappointed that they've gone through but for
both of them to get the nod after so vividly fucking it up is a downright shame.
Cheryl's first choice, however, was on much safer ground with
Rebecca Ferguson who delivered a sublime version of
Fireflies which Cheryl herself could learn a lot from. I'm not particularly sold on Rebecca's voice but I couldn't fault that performance. What we would say, though, is that it wouldn't have hurt her at all to be told to come back in a couple of years time after she's conquered her nerves. Yes, Katie and Cher have royally screwed up on the nerves front but, when they bring the confidence, they tend to hit the button. Rebecca delivers good performances but looks constantly terrified and that vulnerability will either make people fall in love with her or send them to sleep.
Cheryl's category is filled with controversy, and I think that Katie and Cher now face a real uphill battle where they didn't earlier to regain some of their credibility. I really hope they manage it because we have very high hopes for both of them to go all the way to the final.
Overall choice: 4/10
One to watch: Katie Waissel
So, a very controversial year, really, with none of the judges, for our money, getting things completely right (with Cheryl and Dannii in particular really dropping themselves in it). But, what's done is done, and let's set aside rumours of wildcard categories for now. If these twelve remain the only contestants in the live shows, which one of them do we think is going to win? Our heart holds out high hopes for Katie Waissel, Cher Lloyd and John Adeleye in particular. That said, I have a feeling this will be a "dark horse" year... To that end, The Pop Web's pick for the X Factor 2010 is...
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