oh a fan of a 70's sitcom ft robert lindsey eh?...

you are spot on.... of course he wouldnt have even been considered for a record deal if he wasnt on that over hyped karaoke circus. he has not talent, his singing voice is very very bland and as you say, no charisma.

once upon a time male solo singers got their record deals by standing out, by having a decent singing voice, had charisma and talent... tom jones, scott walker, elvis, etc etc all had individuality. these x factor clones all follow the same act and its bloody booorrriiinng.



hi miles and on this we fully concur!

How soon we forget Adam Faith...

I just don't get what this guy has quite frankly.X Factor my ass. He is just an ordinary Joe with a cheesy smile,but that seems more than enough for the teen girls who made up most of his votes.The winning song would be hideous regardless of who won,but he is taking bland to a new level.

From what I saw of this years X Factor,which was about five shows before I gave up on it,Jamie Afro was the only one with any potential to do something the least bit interesting.The rest were a bunch of tuneless muppets and hopefully this guy will disappear without trace,like so many others before him.

No way would this clown be in the charts on his own merit.It is down to the hype of the show,pure and simple.

Hey Mushy, we do indeed. It's been too long. Where you been?

How times have changed. Some artists could spend years gigging up and down the country playing pubs and clubs and slowly building up a reputation by word of mouth. These days thanks to the internet and X-Factor/Pop Idol type shows anyone with (Very) limited talent can put a demo online or go on tv and become 'the next big thing',rising from nowhere to mega stardom in ten minutes flat,and enjoy their fifteen minutes of fame,before plunging back into obscurity just as quickly when the public get tired of them and the next person comes along. Joe's a nice enough kid but I'd say he's got a year or two at most before he disappears again.

...looking for a topic to debate! lol... ive been on every day, but only post when i got summut to say.

I like Joe and he is probably a nice person, but I really don't think he is going to have a long lasting singing career. I can't see his debut album being that groundbreaking at all and it's not like there are likely to be any fast paced tracks on there because he isn't suited to that sort of thing.

I do, however, firmly think he could have a glistening career in the west end but not as a recording artist. As for as things go, I think we have another "Leon Jackson" on our hands.

I wouldn't say he's another Leon. Leon had absolutely no charm, charisma or stage presence, and the kind of music he produced was pretty dated. Even when he returned to perform in the 2008 live shows, he was a quivering wreck and it just beggared belief how he managed to win the previous series (but to be fair series 4 was bloody awful except Rhydian). It's a shame that he's reduced to doing pub gigs now, but he says he's happy with it so I guess that's good for him.

Joe definitely wouldn't have made it without the X Factor unless he had very good connections (like Miley Cyrus being the daughter of Billy Ray Cyrus) or got extremely lucky, because he hardly stands out from your typical stage school singer. In fact he's extremely lucky as it is, considering the huge amount of good singers that get turned down at the producers audition stage in favour of terrible lunatics to make good TV. I'm not denying that he's a good singer, but it takes so much more than that to make it in the industry. The X Factor paints this pretty picture that good music is all about clean, acrobatic vocals when it really isn't enough. If vocals were all that mattered, Bob Dylan would be a nobody.

Anyone can sing... its just that some do it badly.

Joe isnt the worst. But hes not even average. The amount of trash put into the track along with his mechanically altered voice makes the track passable, at best.

Of course, that works both ways. RAGE Against are the best singers either. In fact, they should and rap quite a bit. The difference being, that they are actually talented at PLAYING, and perform live at every gig they play. Why? Because you cant mime drums and guitar.

Muse can.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGWcXh-tKYo

Actually Gareth Gates is now in Les Miserables, playing the part of Marius on the tour of the show.

If Joe hadn't gone into X-Factor I think he would have finished his performing arts course and then gone onto musical theatre or something similar. He would have made a good career but perhaps not as spectacular as he will now.


You left out the Angel of the North!

The thing that no one has mentioned is "has he got something to say?".

This is what separates a cabaret singer from a real artist.

An artistic vision and a burning desire for that to be heard (rather than just to be famous and have their face in the tabloids).

What does Joe bring to the party that is new? What is it he wants to tell us? What is his point of view? What has he got to say about his life?

Absolutely...I was asking this very thing on the other thread over the last few days.

Nothing against Joe as a person, but he is just a bog standard, boyband / boy next door type which has all been seen and done before, a storyline which has been recycled ever since the days of Elvis, Cliff, Donny, Jason and countless others.

When I think about some of the artists I like, (Madonna, Kylie, Abba, BeeGees, Mika, Scissor Sisters, Robbie Williams) I believe that what makes a good all round entertainer is obviously a good/unique voice, good/interesting personality, good sense of humour and they have something that they believe in that they want to convey to their audience. For me, it is the difference between a 3D and a 2D artist. Joe is nothing more than a 2D cartoon character waiting to be brought to life by the fat controller, in his case, Cowell.

Great post

exactly...and charisma is something these reality tv shows contestant clearly lack... well said!


...and you dont have to like an artist to respect their artistic integrity.. ive never been a fan of tom jones for eg, but i would never knock the blokes talent, even as a karaoke singer artists like him CAN take a track and get inside it, interpreting it and making it 'their own'.

id cite dusty springfields definitive version of 'goin back' as a prime example of this.

Just saw a clip of his song on the news this morning. He's a karaoke singer, if that. Utterly bland and instantly forgettable, voted for by legions of ten year old girls who'll have forgotten his name in a year's time.

And they want to use this format for politics?

Actually, I reckon Joe got more of the granny vote, the ten year old girl vote went to Olly.