Yes, it's crap but then you can only blame the producers for putting a load of average singers through to the live shows. Their talent scouts need to do a much better job for the 2015 series because this year is piss poor.
2008 will always be the best year for X Factor. There were so many decent acts that year, and even a couple of the lesser good acts were still ok. The only act I really didn't like that series was Eggnog Quigg (or whatever he was called) because he was crap.
I think they have a lot of good singers, but the judges are making the wrong song choices for them, and too many last minute changes, but part of that is that the contestants don't agree with the song choices for them. I think the judges need to make better choices and give the contestants more input, then it will show who really is good.
A thread like this crops up every year. People only tend to remember the most recent series. I don't think the singers themselves are any worse than any other year, in fact, this lot are far better than 2013.
The problem is the song choices, which I think is universally agreed have been appalling. But that's mostly down to the judges, who for the most part should be ashamed of themselves.
Andrea, Ben, Lauren and Paul are outstanding singers but none of them have been consistently given the right songs. Those 4 alone could have made this seem like a stronger year. Add in Fleur, Jay, Only the Young (who Louis has ruined) and Lola (who has a great voice but wasn't even selected for the final 3!) and the talent is there.
Stereo Kicks doesn't work and never will, but how on earth can their lead singer not make the final 3 ahead of Jake?! That category would have been far stronger with him in there.
Overall, some poor decisions from judges are what make this year seem bad but in truth, it is above average and could have been pretty decent.
2012 was a Good year in terms of talent and personality.
Ella,James,Jahmene,Lucy,Union J and Rylan Were All great and it was the last time I got excités for X Factor.
With the possible exception of Ella I thought all of those were dreadful (although I like Rylan as a person)
I think in terms of actual talent this year isn't too bad but I don't feel anyone actually has the "X factor" and there's no-one I really look forward to seeing. The last 2 contestants I actually looked forward to seeing were Rhydian (2007) and Ruth Lorenzo (2008)
I think they have a lot of good singers, but the judges are making the wrong song choices for them, and too many last minute changes, but part of that is that the contestants don't agree with the song choices for them. I think the judges need to make better choices and give the contestants more input, then it will show who really is good.
I agree. I think there are several who have the potential this year but the themes and the song choices are dreadful. Cowell etc need to give the GBP more credit and take a few more risks with song choices rather than the same old Mariah/Whitney/Celine and dated karaoke classics year in, year old. Maybe they could actually have a few songs that have been released since 1999 and are not ballads - radical I know!
I think its hilarious that the arrogance of Cowell and Cole, thinking their return would save the show. The ratings are plummeting. Their egos will always come before choosing decent acts...and songs......for the final.
This year has potential has to be really good. Its literally the horrible song choices that has ruined it so far. Only live show performance i watch on youtube is Andrea's Earth song.
Well if it was'nt for Fleur, i would have given up on the show weeks ago as the standard of the remianing contestants is not as good as previous years.
A good year, way better than last year. To me Lauren is the real talent who has been discovered this year and makes the whole thing worth it. The job of the show is to discover singing talent and they've found someone special with her.
To make it better, they should:
1. Have fewer advert breaks. The show lasts 2 hours yet the youtube clips (which contain all the singing) total 25 minutes. They could cram it into an hour and only have one advert break in the middle.
2. Cut the categories to 3 and have one nice female judge (like Nicole). Cheryl and Mel have been mean and spiteful in the lives and it's really off-putting.
But overall a strong series. With Lauren, Andrea, and maybe Paul the show is still discovering new talent.
A good year, way better than last year. To me Lauren is the real talent who has been discovered this year and makes the whole thing worth it. The job of the show is to discover singing talent and they've found someone special with her.
T
I must take issue with you there - have you actually listened to that horrendous version of Let It Go properly? Flat, off key and just terrible. Overhyped to the max.
The X Factor was at its peak when the panel was Simon, Cheryl, Dannii & Louis. Dannii was by far the best judge; she was so supportive of her acts, gave a decent critique to every act & brought a touch of class to the show. Those days are gone, they're not going to get back to those glory days no matter how hard they try.
It's funny, I don't personally think the success of those years has anything to do with the judging panel (other than it stayed consistent for 3 years).
I really like Dannii, but even I think she's sometimes overrated
That panel was nothing special in my opinion. I think the show was steadily growing anyway and Leona Lewis winning and having some really successful singles was the start of the show becoming must-see television imo. Alexandra's duet with Beyoncé, JLS doing extremely well after the show... this all added to the hype making the live shows an event. The show was also attracting big stars who wanted to perform (Britney, Rihanna, Gaga, Beyoncé...). I don't personally think it had anything to do with the panel (although I think Simon is the only judge who shouldn't be replaced but even he's not that good with his comments these days).
Nowhere near! Seasons 4 and 10 were awful this is one of the best ones up there with 5 and 7 for me
Completely disagree!! Those series both had outstanding artists amongst the finalists. This series does not! It's now really cringey.
Every year has had contestants who were strong vocally even if they weren't to a particular taste. This year even the judges are struggling to find something to praise. I've never seen so much derision on social media as I have this year. Even this forum is quiet. It's car crash basically, and the judges are losing credibility scraping together praise for what a huge majority of the public are unimpressed by.
The problem is, I don't look at any contestant and think, "wow this person could be a star. They could sell across the world." The talent this year is pretty average. In this day and age, it really does take more than a voice to get you somewhere in music, especially coming from a reality singing show. The only contestant I can think of that has any chance of crafting some form of a music career is Fleur. She might not have the best voice, but she still can sell a song. Also the fact she can rap and dance is an added bonus. She could be similar to someone like Alesha Dixon.
I feel like x-factor has got to that point of people only watching it to put the night in. For me personally, I think the last time I was properly excited for X-factor was Matt Cardle's year
A good year, way better than last year. To me Lauren is the real talent who has been discovered this year and makes the whole thing worth it. The job of the show is to discover singing talent and they've found someone special with her.
To make it better, they should:
1. Have fewer advert breaks. The show lasts 2 hours yet the youtube clips (which contain all the singing) total 25 minutes. They could cram it into an hour and only have one advert break in the middle.
2. Cut the categories to 3 and have one nice female judge (like Nicole). Cheryl and Mel have been mean and spiteful in the lives and it's really off-putting.
But overall a strong series. With Lauren, Andrea, and maybe Paul the show is still discovering new talent.
I agree with all of this. In actual fact we record it and start watching it about 40 minutes in so we can wind on all the adverts. We always end up catching up with it at about the end of the programme.
I think it might be. The early seasons were so long ago, so I am discounting 1+2. 3 had Leona, whose performances I still watch. I remember 4 onwards much more. 4 was OK, but was a bit of a letdown after the high of Leona. 5 was a GREAT year. I remember all the girls being fantastic. 6 was good - better than 4, not as good as 5. It was always going to be hard to be the series that follows THAT duet of Alexandra and Beyonce, but 6 had some great singers. 7, for me, was the best. There were A LOT of actual contenders, and I remember not being that bothered by who won out of the final 4 as they all seemed worthy. There was loads of memorable songs throughout all these seasons. 8 was, in retrospect, a great year too. At the start there was a whole host of potential winner, and the girls were very strong. I remember the auditions actually being fun as well - I think that was the last year I actually enjoyed them. And we got a bit of a diamond in Little Mix, with memorable performances. ET and Don't Let Go are still fantastic. And I still think Misha B's Rolling in the Deep in Week 1 was one of the best things from the show. 9 was OK. I did get bored TBH, and it was a big NO NO when they bumped off Jade Ellis. Last year was AWFUL for me. It was just terrible to watch. I couldn;t care about the finale because there was no one I thought was any real good. They kept praising Sam Bailey, and I didn't get it. The only one that has potential was Tamera Foster, but she was mentored COMPLETELY wrong and it was frustrating. This year I still have a bit of hope for. There are some good singers, but the judges need to stop with constant praise of Laurena dn Andrea - I don't GET them. I don't see it. They have good voices, but they are a bit ... meh ATM. Fleur is the best one, and really the only entertaining one to me.
Worst year ever. The judges are constantly bickering, having arguments, getting pee'd off every time a judge dares to say any criticism of their act, Mel B is the best judge out of a bad bunch but even then she gets OTT. The judges have no chemistry whats so ever, it just feels like we've just time warped back to series 7, Simon thought with Louis and Cheryl back it would go back to it's golden era but it doesn't work without Dannii and I highly doubt she'll be coming back.
The talent is abysmal, the best are Lauren, OTY, Ben and Fleur. There are two many soul/ballad singers like Paul, Andrea and Lola etc, they just won't do well in the charts after XF. At least in previous series you always had someone who stood out.
Too many bleeding ballads, there are no upbeat songs anymore, even 80s week was mostly ballads. The theme weeks are getting repetitive, there are only so many times you can hear the 80s/movie classics.
I used to be a massive fan - used to look forward to it so much & get really excited about who may win. This hasn't happened since the Alexandra Burke year, I stuck with it with McElderry but after that, just dipped in & out & last couple of years, I watch the odd sing off to see if I was wrong not to watch it any more. I'm not.
From a personal point of view, I can't believe anyone who sat through 2012 and 2013 can say that this year is worse than those hideous disasters.
yeah this year's pretty good in comparison to those years as pretty much once I saw the acts in JH I knew I didn't really like any of the acts so didn't bother watching afterwards the only act I liked was Carolynne and she was taken out in week 1 so didn't feel there was much point after that in that year either. This year I've found 4 to my liking although that's now down to 3 but I'm pretty sure at least 1 of them is likely to go the distance based on what I've seen and read which would make me very happy indeed should it happen.
Comments
2008 will always be the best year for X Factor. There were so many decent acts that year, and even a couple of the lesser good acts were still ok. The only act I really didn't like that series was Eggnog Quigg (or whatever he was called) because he was crap.
The problem is the song choices, which I think is universally agreed have been appalling. But that's mostly down to the judges, who for the most part should be ashamed of themselves.
Andrea, Ben, Lauren and Paul are outstanding singers but none of them have been consistently given the right songs. Those 4 alone could have made this seem like a stronger year. Add in Fleur, Jay, Only the Young (who Louis has ruined) and Lola (who has a great voice but wasn't even selected for the final 3!) and the talent is there.
Stereo Kicks doesn't work and never will, but how on earth can their lead singer not make the final 3 ahead of Jake?! That category would have been far stronger with him in there.
Overall, some poor decisions from judges are what make this year seem bad but in truth, it is above average and could have been pretty decent.
With the possible exception of Ella I thought all of those were dreadful (although I like Rylan as a person)
I think in terms of actual talent this year isn't too bad but I don't feel anyone actually has the "X factor" and there's no-one I really look forward to seeing. The last 2 contestants I actually looked forward to seeing were Rhydian (2007) and Ruth Lorenzo (2008)
I agree. I think there are several who have the potential this year but the themes and the song choices are dreadful. Cowell etc need to give the GBP more credit and take a few more risks with song choices rather than the same old Mariah/Whitney/Celine and dated karaoke classics year in, year old. Maybe they could actually have a few songs that have been released since 1999 and are not ballads - radical I know!
I miss Series 5.
To make it better, they should:
1. Have fewer advert breaks. The show lasts 2 hours yet the youtube clips (which contain all the singing) total 25 minutes. They could cram it into an hour and only have one advert break in the middle.
2. Cut the categories to 3 and have one nice female judge (like Nicole). Cheryl and Mel have been mean and spiteful in the lives and it's really off-putting.
But overall a strong series. With Lauren, Andrea, and maybe Paul the show is still discovering new talent.
I must take issue with you there - have you actually listened to that horrendous version of Let It Go properly? Flat, off key and just terrible. Overhyped to the max.
It's funny, I don't personally think the success of those years has anything to do with the judging panel (other than it stayed consistent for 3 years).
I really like Dannii, but even I think she's sometimes overrated
That panel was nothing special in my opinion. I think the show was steadily growing anyway and Leona Lewis winning and having some really successful singles was the start of the show becoming must-see television imo. Alexandra's duet with Beyoncé, JLS doing extremely well after the show... this all added to the hype making the live shows an event. The show was also attracting big stars who wanted to perform (Britney, Rihanna, Gaga, Beyoncé...). I don't personally think it had anything to do with the panel (although I think Simon is the only judge who shouldn't be replaced but even he's not that good with his comments these days).
Completely disagree!! Those series both had outstanding artists amongst the finalists. This series does not! It's now really cringey.
Every year has had contestants who were strong vocally even if they weren't to a particular taste. This year even the judges are struggling to find something to praise. I've never seen so much derision on social media as I have this year. Even this forum is quiet. It's car crash basically, and the judges are losing credibility scraping together praise for what a huge majority of the public are unimpressed by.
I feel like x-factor has got to that point of people only watching it to put the night in. For me personally, I think the last time I was properly excited for X-factor was Matt Cardle's year
I agree with all of this. In actual fact we record it and start watching it about 40 minutes in so we can wind on all the adverts. We always end up catching up with it at about the end of the programme.
The talent is abysmal, the best are Lauren, OTY, Ben and Fleur. There are two many soul/ballad singers like Paul, Andrea and Lola etc, they just won't do well in the charts after XF. At least in previous series you always had someone who stood out.
Too many bleeding ballads, there are no upbeat songs anymore, even 80s week was mostly ballads. The theme weeks are getting repetitive, there are only so many times you can hear the 80s/movie classics.
yeah this year's pretty good in comparison to those years as pretty much once I saw the acts in JH I knew I didn't really like any of the acts so didn't bother watching afterwards the only act I liked was Carolynne and she was taken out in week 1 so didn't feel there was much point after that in that year either. This year I've found 4 to my liking although that's now down to 3 but I'm pretty sure at least 1 of them is likely to go the distance based on what I've seen and read which would make me very happy indeed should it happen.