That's great news! I don't understand the different labels. What's the difference between RCA, Epic and Syco? Is it down to the genre?

Really hope it's good news for Luke too. The article seems to be saying that he's tied into another X factor related deal.

Yeah I could see that working really well. I've always said I'd like to hear Nicky singing Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here, I think the yearning in that song would work really well with his voice. But I could also see Luke doing that so something like that could be really good. Having said that, Luke did a couple of songs (mainly in sing offs) I'd rather hear Nicky do - Somewhere Only We Know and Run both spring to mind (as brilliantly as Luke did Run - I won't fault him on that).

They do genuinely seem to adore each other, so the only thing I could see maybe spoiling that is if one of them went on to do really well while the other faded - I imagine that could weird-up even the strongest of bonds.



Oh I don't mind Gorillaz at all. Best band ever is stretching it a little though. That would be Pink Floyd, or Talk Talk, or New Order, or, erm, Prince (& The Revolution).



I don't think I've ever said anything particularly bad about Luke! Well, apart from likening to Eoghan Quigg in a wig early on. Ok, yeah, that's quite bad. Mostly I think I just expressed frustration with his inconsistency (and slight puzzlement at how he seemed to become so lauded on here). *cough* DON'T HATE ME.

I think the different labels are, nowadays, essentially just different teams under the huge umbrella of Sony. There will be some genre-appropriateness going on there, Epic nowadays tend to do the urban stuff, so RC for them is a logical fit (especially as they're essentially going to marketed as JLS Mk2 who were also on Epic)

I don't know much about RCA nowadays, but I would suspect as Epic are basically the Urban imprint, RCA would generally cover poppier and possibly rockier stuff too, which would make sense for Nick.

Regarding Luke, if RC are being signed, there's no way Luke won't be. It could well be that as he won that teenstar comp (or whatever it was called) that he'd already been in discussions pre-XF, so it may be that if he had something already provisionally in place with a non-Sony company (EMI/Parlophone perhaps? or a smaller indie label) he just needs to wait until the XF contract, i.e. after the tour, to formally sign.

Anyway, I'll remain wary until anything is officially announced but, good God, I hope it's true!

Heat going with it too:

http://www.heatworld.com/Celeb-News/...-record-deals/

Bah. I know someone who used to work at Heat. If he still did I could have tapped him for info.

RCA probably the best one for Nicholas i think they have a good track record in the past if their interested it good signs

Excellent news then if this really is true. My only concern is if RCA take Nicholas down the Jahmene route of "here are the 12 songs that will be on your album" - all cover versions with very little in the way of originality. Still think Nicholas needs original songs to help establish himself as a pop star with actual longevity. The potential is all there, it's just down to how they market him as an act.

Yeah, though to be fair they do seem to be now working on original material with Jahmene, so it may not be the death knell it once was. Getting original material together takes longer obviously and I suppose they'd probably want to move quickly to keep him in the public consciousness. He's stated himself he'd rather get an album out sooner rather than later, whether that's wise…. hmm, probably not. I honestly think the Olly Murrs route would be preferable - get a single out after the tour… maybe another a couple of months later, keep him ticking over while work goes on around getting a good album together.

RCA is a curious choice otherwise though, in that I think it's more closely associated with American acts. That sort of makes sense with Jahmene with his roots being in gospel, but how it works with Nick I'm not sure :/

If they're clever they will market him as a British Justin Bieber or Bruno Mars to appeal to his younger fans, and there seems to be plenty of them. An album of covers for Mother's Day or a Leon Jackson/Buble style direction won't do him any favours.

Just checked and RCA have Leona Lewis and Rebecca Ferguson. Also Tom Odell and Mark Ronson. But yes mostly American acts.

I don't think they'll go in the buble direction. They would just need to look at the amount of teenage fans he's gathering to know where his market is.

One Direction played Campus Glasgow after the finals in 2010. Nicky was due to do the same this year but the venue had to be changed to a bigger one because of demand. The organisers commented that the screams for Nicky were much louder . And I don't think this is just a Scottish thing. People came from far and wide to see him and on twitter there are constant 'pleeeeeezz come to....''

Can't stand Justin Bieber so I hope they don't. He has a lot more character in his voice so I still think they need to start from there rather than try and make him into something he's not. Beautiful, beautiful voice but he's not really a dancer, is he?

Given that his mother was quoted to have said that they were considering their options and what was best for Nicky in the long term, hopefully they're being savvy about it and not going for the quick cash in.

I have high hopes that he is a little more savvy about what kind of stuff he feels he should be doing than XF would have led us to believe, and that his discomfort at song choice was as much about being channelled down what he felt was the wrong path as perhaps deliberate hindering of his chances of winning.

Regardless of sales it's ultimately more important for him to be doing stuff he is happy with because if his material is ill-fitting and it fails commercially, then he's more or less lost his biggest chance as reinvention is hugely problematic if you're not Bowie. If he's doing stuff he's into and it fails, at least he's remained true to himself and he's still in a position to develop and move forward with it, even if on a smaller scale.

Totally agree about the whole "Baby Buble" thing, that's such a massive no from the start. Typical of Louis, a 64 year old man, to think that's what teenage girls want to hear!!! lol Nicholas was just unfortunate in how he was styled to look like an old man trapped inside a young boys body. In fact, his styling for all the group performances was much more "Nicky" than his main performances.

OT; I've come across this video on YouTube which is from the live final filmed on this girls mobile. An interesting insight into the amount of work and effort that went on whilst the viewing public were watching the VT's.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XdAzblrEVs

Cheers for that. Was interesting to watch. Odd though that she was clearly a Luke fan yet the only performance she had all of was Nicholas's Candy. Maybe she just decided to cut out Luke's out of tune verses

Oh and Sam's awkward pole-slide TWICE

Thanks for posting that. An interesting insight into what goes on while we're watching 'the show'. I actually enjoyed the 'candy' performance from that viewpoint

Me too! It felt much more fun from the pov of being in the crowd. Also he sounded clearer than he did on the tv!

But then maybe my enjoyment at the time was hindered by the 'Oh God they're making him sing Candy to sabotage him' that was pulsing through my furious brain

Exactly! I think the red mist had descended on me, especially when I saw that they had stuck him in a pink air balloon!

Oh the pink air balloon was the least of my worries. As soon as I realised he was on first AGAIN (even though I KNEW he would be, I still couldn't get over how blatant they were being) I was grimacing.

Interestingly one of my housemates who didn't care for Nick said he enjoyed it, so maybe it appealed more to those who aren't normally appreciative of Nick.

If they were going to go for something just because it was uptempo there's so many other things they could have chosen that would have suited him better. Grrr.

Nicholas is playin at G-A-Y 11th January, hopefully they take to him and he gets a gd reception

I'd go if I could get anyone to go with me and show my support but alas the one person I could possibly persuade is away up North then

There's an interview with Nicky from his Garage just gone up online

https://soundcloud.com/daveydavidson...medium=twitter

Nice interview. He comes across as really down to earth and as has been said before, almost entirely without any nerves. I agree with the DJ - he is going to be massive!

Re GAY, I think he'll go down a storm!

Thats one of the main reasons why I like Nicky he's really down to earth. R.E G.A.Y I agree with you he will get a good reception there.

I hope so. My worry would be that the crowd at G-A-Y tend to like their cheesy pop or their female divas (or your sexualised, buff Sam Callahans!) - Nick doesn't really fit into any of those categories so I imagine choosing the right songs to sing for that crowd would be important. Hopefully someone will be able to advise him on what would go down well.

Candy?