I doubt it for any length of time.

There are loads of female singers doing the rounds like her all sounding the same.

Being able to sing is not a ticket to stardom in itself.

1.) She's extremely good looking. Girls will want to look and dress like her, boys will want to date her, and men who should be ashamed about having lewd thoughts about a barely 17 year old will. This is called being marketable.

2.) She's got a reasonable amount of stage presence. so it's more than just voice. She's got a way to go with putting together a stage show, but she's fairly far along. She's also not bad in interviews. Of course the flip side of her being a pretty blond girl seems to be a lot of pre-judgement and scathing critiques of her as "boring" or shallow. There's very little she can do about that, because a lot of that criticism is de rigueur--people feel like they have to slam the pretty white girl so they do and nothing's going to change that. But that's on boards like this, and possibly in tabloids. What the actual public does isn't always the same.

3.) The marketing machine at Syco has been averaging a lot better in recent years. They have a formula now that begins and ends with good songs for the artists. In the early years of the X-F machine (and back in the Idol days, both Pop and even most of American Idol) those shows did a crap job of matching contestants with decent songs. Syco I think has seen the problem with that and that's why 1D, Ollie Murs, Little Mix, etc. have been doing better than the earlier crop of acts from the show. Even Heynow managed to squeak out a hit, despite being a personality vacuum, because the Syco song factory is cranked up.

She might be successful here, but the people who think she's going to be some big star in the US need to come back down to earth. Even Leona Lewis' early success in the US dried up really quickly and she had the likes of Clive Davis singing her praises.

That's because Leona's music wasn't well written. She grew a home audience out of glory notes, but the US was already well padded for that kind of star and didn't need any more like that.

Think of the lessons of the US market. Plenty of British artists hit in big in the US. Contemplate the differences between Ellie Goulding, Emile Sande, Jessie J, Florence Welch, etc. and Leona Lewis. Leona Lewis isn't that creatively interesting. If the US market wanted one like her... they already had plenty.

I have to respectfully disagree with you. I get what you are saying but I honestly, looking at each live finalist objectively (and I've watched this show religiously since 2005), there has never been anyone as on point as Leona. For years, the producers have been trying to claim that the likes of Alexandra, Ella and Tamera are the new Leona when really it is just media hype. Ella was distinctly average on the live shows (when she wasn't hitting those bum notes) and Tamera lacked the professionalism. In all fairness to Alexandra, she's the closest anyone has ever come to replicating Leona because both are professional, consistent and extremely talented and likeable. But while Leona was more Mariah, Alexandra was more Whitney. I believe Leona was technically vocally better than Alexandra but Alexandra had the performance skills, unlike Leona. If the likes of Ella and Tamera were in any way on the same level as Leona, they would've had a #1 single and album in America, been named the next Whitney/Mariah, received Grammy nominations and would've had major US label interest. But, as I said, it is all hype to make the contestants of each new series seem like they're on the same level as the most talented act from the franchise.

Also, as Simon has said many times, without Leona there would've been no One Direction, Little Mix, Ella etc because the show would've been axed if they hadn't found a talent by the end of series 3.

Leona still remains the shows most successful winner. Alexandra only won because of her back story of Louis not picking her for the live shows back in 2005.

No, Alexandra won because she deserved it. She delivered on every single performance and to this day remains the best ever all-rounder to appear on the show.

Leona is the best this show has ever had.

She nearly ended up in the bottom 2 in the early weeks. Alexandra never had the worldwide success Leona has had to this day.

Leona was over hyped too. Never has a women win before, never has a women of colour won. That's what Simon Cowell trotted out. Leona had some worldwide success with her first album and single but it quickly ended. Leona has been one of the most successful acts from the X factor but she has not enjoyed longevity.

They never realised the figures for Leona's year but her first performance in week one wasn't very good (I'll be there) but she got better and better as the weeks went on as did Leona. I think the talent in Leona's year, apart from Leona wasn't that good. Alex had a much tougher year, there was Laura white, JLS and Diana Vickers. All of them could have won. Leona and Alex won because they were the best in their respective years.

I agree. She never had a bad performance.

She was indeed and no doubt a worthy winner.

Well I personally don't think Louisa is as good as Leona but I'm just looking at it objectively because they are not the same kind of vocalists. That's just the way it goes. When a new artist comes out they like to compare them to an existing one. Leona was never really Mariah and Alex was never Whitney. Just as Shayne ward was never Justin timberlake. It's all media hype as you say. Leona did well in the beginning but she never came close to Mariah or Whitney. Just like Alex and co never came close to Leona.

I don't think her voice is distinctive and to me, she has no stage presence. But I can see I'm in the minority and most people enjoy watching her perform. My bet is she'll go the same way as Alexandra Burke - a few hit singles then fading into obscurity.

I think Leona had a catchy debut single and her debut album had good material coupled with all the hype, the best thing since sliced bread it got her an early break in the US. However I think her team took her in the wrong direction after spirit musically. Also I think the US didn't really want another singer like Leona in the long run. As you quite rightly said they have had their own stars who were quite capable of doing the same thing, better with better songs. The big voiced divas were all the rage in the 80's and 90's but by the time Leona came out the musical scene had moved on. Simon seemed to be stuck in a time warp.

Fading into obscurity?! Alexandra plays the lead in The Bodyguard and belts out Whitney's back catalogue every night of the week. Not many people are able to do that.

I know she's made about £6 million and has a job in theatre. She's set up for life providing that she spends her money wisely. Not bad for someone who everyone wrote off from the beginning,

I've never been compelled to rewatch one of her songs. Unlike James Arthur, Ella Henderson, Dami Im, Reigan Derry, Taylor Henderson (yes, OzFactor is usually much better - was flat this year IMO).

I agree with this. Alexandra had the odds stacked against her from the beginning when Diana and Laura were getting late running order slots while Alexandra was shoved on early in the early weeks. 'Listen' (week 8) definitely was the turnaround for her.

Is that you Louis?

She's a forever Flop

Alexandra didn't so much fade into obscurity, but rather, her pop career came to an abrupt halt due to not being played on radio. That's the death knell for any artist, and the same can befall Louisa if her team aren't smart/careful. Alex has done well to make money from her talent (she's doing this night after night: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8euC61XxkvM).

Louisa will do well if they get her good material, use social media well and keep her fans updated and industry bums kissed. But it's worth remembering that it's hard to compare other the other women winners to her potential/future career. When Leona and Alex won, social media was not the force it is now - in fact, they were shut out from the world due to the show's rules at the time. I first saw the Bad Boys video on ITV2 because my mum was ironing at the time. To compare, I first saw the Elephant video online.

Now, social media is everything. To compare, Jahmene has about 590k Twitter followers, Alexandra has about 700k and Leona has about 1.2m. But Jahmene's record sales pale in comparison as does his success. YouTube is bigger etc. As we've seen with Adele and Taylor Swift, utilising social media in the right way can make an artist skyrocket. Syco know this now (and are generally much better than before) and so Louisa stands better chances than her predecessors.

Louisa is very talented but does shout a bit. She should get some training, because her voice could be great.

And a pop star starring in the West End is the equivalent of a Hollywood star appearing on a tv series these days.....it is totally the norm and not seen as a "flop"
Now it would be completely different if Alexandra was starring in the Warrington local panto or something

It's very intensive, I don't know how she vocally does it. Whitney night after night at the standard she sang at is bloody difficult. Also, her acting is good - I was surprised.

It's sad people see theatre as a step down, it's equally - if not harder to get any role in a show than to get any whiff of success in the music industry.

whilst i think louisa was a worthy winner i still think she is a good example of the difference between being able to sing and being able to sing a song