Am I the only person who thinks it is time to do away with the weekly themes? I think they are just constricting and just result in acts being forced to sing songs they would never even have a chance of singing in a conventional recordiong career. Sure you can say that acts need to be versatile and whatever but when are we ever going to see for instance Mariah Carey or Amy Winehouse sing a Micheal Jackson or a Barry Manilow song?

Nope, definately not the only one. I like having the odd themed week, but with weeks themed all the time it doesn't give the acts the freedom to be themselves and truely show what type of artist they want to be.

i would get sooooo bored if they didn't have themes. It forces the acts to try something a bit different. I don't want to hear Laura and Rachel attempt poor Amy Winehouse/Duffy/Adele covers every week, its good they have to try different styles. Hearing what these acts can do with a Michael Jackson song or a song from the 60's is one of my favourite parts of the show.

I don't think they should get rid of them, but widen them. "Abba Week".... Gives almost no freedom!


The number ones theme is OK, but the others wont give much choice

Another vote here. There are loads of songs that I would like to hear the finalists sing, but they won't be able to because they are doing the themes. XF2 was brilliant because there was more freedom and variety. And the judges still forced them to show some variety if they felt that they were becoming too samey. Some of the themes are acceptable like "21st century hits" or "60's music" or "Number Ones" or even "Big Band" week which is usually really good.

Tbh, the prospect of 11 Michael Jackson songs or 10 Mariah Carey songs really doesn't fill me with enthusiasm.

I really can't stand themes. I suppose stuff like Number 1's, movie tunes, big band etc are ok-ish. I wish they would just dump the themes though. I would prefer to see contestants at their best every week than a train crash. Themes dedicated to a single artist are the worst and really unfair.

I don't mind having Disco week... but when it gets narrowed down to one artist it's a bit meh really.

IMO X-Factor was at its best [song wise] when the mentors could just choose the songs like in X-Factor 2.

If an artist has a niche for a certain genre etc then having themed weeks just cripples them and doesn't show them off at their best

I dislike themes also. It just makes the show even more.. cheesy.

Yeah, I see what most are saying. Broad themes are great but it would be nice to see some weeks where acts can choose their own songs so that we can see them singing songs they are passionate about rather than songs half-heartedly picked by a judge as part of a theme that bears no relevance to the potential styles of any future recording careers the acts may have.

It seems such an odd thing to do - I mean in the real world an artist doesn't cover every aspect of music. What is a great week for one contestant is a hideous one for another.

Having said that - if they manage to pull off a fantastic arrangement that totally differs to the original I suppose it can show the strength and musicality of the performer.....

I like the themes. I personally don't want to see someone sing a Damien Rice song week after week for example. The first two series were so random as everyone was just singing whatever songs they wanted from whatever era. It lacked structure for me personally.

I like the themes!
Cuz you get to see like a different side to people.

Like, Nik's favourite performance was Hot Stuff, and i think without the Disco theme(i think it was) Niki wud never have sung that, and we wudnt have seen that side of her, She would just be belting out her AMAZING ballads (Which are abs FANTASTIC and we love them) But its nice to hear a different range aswell.

Same again with All That Jazz (Althou Niki dint like that one!) lol!

One or two themed weeks per series would be fine, for a change, but I don't think having a different theme every week is a good idea.

I wouldn't mind that. They could make more of them when they happen. Even alternate weeks would be OK, I just want some weeks where the contestants can show us what they would do if they won the show.