You and I started off with opposing views, but we have a good laugh about it!

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I guess each to his own in the end, and i appreciate why you have your opinion but believe me ive heard far worse than James on the smaller rock circuit!!

Absolutely and we came to appreciate our respective favorites, but never did we put them down, or bash them even when it was obvious it was going to be mine or yours in the elimination stakes

Exactly, because we started off on friendly terms, we built up a good banter which meant that when we lost our favourites, 2 weeks in a row, we were here ina flash to support each other!

There are pros and cons to all of the finalists (although less cons to Stefano) and discussion forums are meant to be fun. Who wants to waste time having aggressive arguments?

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i know!! i couldnt let that one pass though, i just think the name calling to any of them is totally out of order. i dont mind the constructive debates like the debate about James vocal abilities etc thats fine, but i had enough of the name calling with Danyl in 2009 when it was horrible on these forums

Oh dear, its going to be very dull without both of them next week isnt it. Thank god for James to give us a bit of life hopefully!

Aw I don't blame you, James doesn't deserve such unfair criticism. All he's done is appeared on a TV talent show and appealed to millions of viewers - unfortunately for BLB, he isn't one of them. I think you put your points across wlel though

I struggle with receiving constructive criicism about myself, so at times I hold back from dishing it out to others, but the forum is generally a safe space for doing so.

At least on AI forums there aren't so many threads, positive or derogatory, to get through. Danyl was a massive talking point on a busy forum during XF!

It will be very boring withou Paul's unique voice and song choices, and of course his crazy dances. It'll be even more boring without the lovely Stefano's amazing voice, beautiful smile and great spirit!

Neither of them seemed to see winning as a priority though, so that's something. Let's see what happens on and after the tour!

Gotta love James too, this was probably his best performance yet! Glad he hasn't seen the B3 yet!
Let's hope we don't jinx him now.....haha

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I agree with the pushing the popularity to all ages with a couple of stunts they pulled.

This week I'm convinced they were testing his popularity, first on & quite a mediocre performance, blah comments (his worst to date) compared to giving Lauren the last spot and her over the top comments (even though I thought her performance was probably her worst too). He was also followed by possibly his strongest contender in James with quite a performance, even though I'm still not sure if his high notes were quite right.

If the producers see that he topped the vote this week then they will know they have their winner.

I think James comes across as a sweetie most of the time but his voice is just not good enough and his performance skills aren't convincing either.

i actually genuinely find it interesting that James is criticised over here far more than in the states. There seems to be a lot of negativity surrounding him on these boards whereas on the Us equivalent boards i would say with scotty he is the most popular. Are we, as brits, looking for something different to our American counterparts, do we have a better understanding of the genre? or are we just hypercritical and tend to not like the overstated performances?

It reminds me of the criticism Danyl got on x Factor where they took his peformances,confidence, and not 100% perfect vocals and made him out to be arrogant, and a rubbish singer! Are we more conservative over here and more dissaproving of the flamboyance? (if you think of the last few x factor winners and even the majority of finalists, the males are WGWG types, and the females are very mainstream. - obvs with exceptions) This is not a criticism of those who dislike James, just a genuine observation

Obviously we'e in the minority here as James fans.....he's definitely a favourite to win though. Now we're both supporting him let's be glad Brits can't vote lol!

His personality does seenm to play a part in the criticism he receives, which is a shame, as he's so sweet. Perhaps because everyone is schooled togther in America, Americans have a greater understanding of conditions such as Asperger's and Tourette's, and can accept that it may contribute to the way James comes across to the viewers.

UK XF winners do tend to be more conventional, although I've had a few unconventional/underdog favourites too. Danyl got terrible slating over here, some of his performances weren't great, but others were, and there was no denying he was veyr talented. In America, he was very popular, wasn't he?

I think you're onto something here.....not sure it's to do with the rock genre, as you seem to be quite a connoisseur of rock, and you love James! So do I, but I listen to any genre as long as I njoy the music lol!

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haha yeah im very glad that us brits cant vote it would be Haley or Scotty to win and im sure Paul wouldnt have even made Top 12 over here!! Yeah Dan was popular in the states so i guess the over the top, confident performer is more embraced over there. (its funny as the americans actually think the opposite) I guess the only flamboyant success story we have is Rhydian but even he had to tone it down in the latter stages to get through as far as he did and in the end Leon bloody won!! (still bitter!!!!!!1)

ive asked the same question on the US boards, be interesting what, if any, responses i get

It is interesting to see the difference between fans in the UK, US and anywhere else that watch lol

Wonder why the US think the opposite to what seems to be true? They know all the AI results - and presumably some of those from XF too!

I actually reckon Stefano would've appealed more to a British audience, which might have persuaded me to go for a vote for us Brits lol. Paul may not have made the top 13, not sure about Jacob either.

Rhydian was awesome, loved all of his performances but my favourites were the most flamboyant ones! i've got a close friend who's still obsessed with him, he seems like a lovely guy.

Dan was a success story in terms of the show too, haven't heard so much from him since but that's often the way after these shows.

Rowetta from Series 1 was also very eccentric. She was an Over 25 (she'd be about 44 now) and had an amazing voice, and a persoonality very similar to me. She wouldn't have been able to enter AI because of her age, but I wonder how she'd have got on?

The official AI board is very hard to navigate, there's often interesting stuff on there though. Hopefully there'll be some insightful answers to your questions asap!

Really don't want to go to bed as I have no plans for tomorrow, didn't need to make any as I was supposed to be seeing my boyfriend. Grrrrr! I was up later than this with my friend last night! Oh well, it's all in the name of AI......

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Danyl is still gigging (he was at Butlins tonight) but all talk of an album has gone pretty quiet tbh shame as his original stuff is awesome.

I think stefano would have done really well on x Factor, moreso than Scotty IMO. He is cute, he can move, he young and he has a superb voice he would have been top 4/5 at least.

and as for insightful answers lol, ive had none!!! Sometimes i get the impression that the board is quite insular and doesnt want to talk about UK stuff, X factor included

Aw glad Danyl's still on the scene! I love Butlin's, maybe I will see im there one day. Loved seeing Stacey there last time!

Stefano's definitely in the Shayne/Matt vein so could've done well in the competition, and he has the advantage that he's extremely clued up on the direction he wants to take and can also write his own songs. Perhaps if he does his homework he'll realise there's a huge market for him over here - even if it's just me buying millions of copies of his albums lol!

The official forums do seem to welcome fans from the UK and elsewhere, but talk of XF etc, even when in comparison with AI, isn't common. Perhaps it'll increase when XF arrives over there?

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HAHA!!! love the fact you would get him to number one yourself!!! ( i would do the same for Paul!) Im quite at peace that i cant follow Paul around like a little lost sheep haha!! I did that with Danyl and its caused me so much heartache its unreal.

(to keep it on topic before someone tells us off haha) i really really hope that all of the remaining contestants (especially Scotty) actually show some originality, and diversify next week im not sure i am looking forward to some of them if its more of the same

Haha we're as bad as each other, good job we don't have the same fave or else he'd have two stalkers....if he ever came to the UK! Lol

Luckily for me, I haven't got the independence to follow anyone around like a little lost sheep, except possibly my dogs who live with me, lol. Sounds like your Danyl experience has shown you the dangers of getting involved with contestants, but I would say as long as our obsessions are healthy and fun, they're fine!

I think Paul would have a market here too, even if it was more of a niche market than the mainstream kind Stefano would probably slot into. They'll both make a living out of music for life now, as long as that's what they continue to want

Haha who would dare tell us off?

Scoty does need to show more diversity, so do the others. How about, if each contestant was asked to pick the song they felt best fitted them.....and then it was taken away from them, all the songs were put into a hat and randomly allocated to other contestants? Could be interesting.....

One thing's for sure: the stuffy old producers should back off!

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Isn't that a contradiction considering whose fans are being accused of being the ones predominately criticising James?

Why did people like Rhydian and Olly to name just two? Why did so many like Danyl before the press character assassination?

It's very little to do with style or genre and very much to do with how good you are at what you are trying to do.

Agree with the general consensus of this thread, what baffled me is how Scotty managed to sing C + W Ballads in the same dreary voice weeks on end and never got told to change style yet Pia did ballads, all of which had differences from one another and got criticised, I'm not saying that Pia didn't deserve to be asked to change her style but double standards from the judges, much?

I really can't abide country & western but I adore Scotty's voice and he is my run away favourite this year. I do think he is cute, but not in the whoarrr! sense of the word The more he sings non country the more I like it.

Having said that, I think that they are all really good. James doesn't knock me out but I like him and i'm glad someone with his conditions is doing so well, without being a token.

You answered your own question. Scotty is singing in a genre, his genre. Pia was singing a style of song and the one week she vered from it, she was found wanting.