MMTV: Mediocre Music TV Edition #3: The History of The X Factor (And
What To Expect From Season 2) Part 3
Written by: Wences Acosta
If you want to check out the earlier parts of
Mediocre Music TV, click here to see part one and here to see part 2. And now, the final part of
Mediocre Music TV's look back at The X Factor.
"Season 7: 2010"
Now boys and girls, I want you to turn on local radio station. Now,
besides the usual suspects ALA Rihanna, Chris Brown, and Lil' Wayne, you
will notice that lately there have been a stream of Indie artists
breaking out in the mainstream (Small Rant 2 Coming) and I for one
welcome them. I have listened to Fun. Not just for "We Are Young" but
for other songs like "Some Nights" and "Walking The Dog". I listen to
Karmin not just for "Broken Hearted" but for songs like "Hello" and
"Told You So" (The latter I have on repeat because I have a thing for
fast rap). I listen to Gotye not just for "Somebody That I Used to Know"
(Even though that song is fucking awesome....wait, I won't get penalized
for cursing will I?) I also listen to songs like "Easy Way Out". The
point I am trying to make folks is that Today's Mainstream has a very
small attention span, and if this sounds like a usual rant a music fan
would make then by god its a usual rant a music fan would make. I love
Mainstream Music, I will be the first to admit I listen to everything
from LMFAO to Mumford and Sons, From Ke$ha to The Yeah Yeah Yeah's, From
The Script to Yellowcard. I listen to everything (except Soulja Boy,
FUCK SOULJA BOY) and that is partially the reason why I got this
position, based on the fact that my world is surrounded in music. Music
Games like Guitar Hero and Dance Dance Revolution, Music Movies like
Sweeney Todd and Pink Floyd's The Wall, I even watch fucking Glee for
crying out loud (Haters Gonna Hate). So it surprised me to hear U.K.
artists slowly but surely crossing over to this side of the states. From
Ed Sheeran to The Script, I was loving it....and then....it happened....
One Direction Happened.
Cher Lloyd Happened.
Now, let me start on the lesser of 2 Evils and actually the better of
both acts: Cher Lloyd. Cher finished in 4th Place in Season 7 of the
show, and luckily for her, Judge Simon Cowell (who was also her mentor)
picked her up and signed her on his record label Syco Music. She broke
out early, doing a version of "Turn My Swag On" and afterwards went to
doing Hip Pop Mixes of Songs. One week she would sing Hard Knock Life
(Annie) and then rap it (Jay-Z) while another week she would sing Love
The Way You Lie (Rihanna) and then rap it (Eminem). She always went for
the predictable route, and quite frankly after watching most of her
videos, I hated it. I love her, and when her album Sticks + Stones drops
here in the states I will pick it up, but on the show I could not stand
any of her performances. HOWEVER, once she got signed, she released said
album in the UK and had a major hit over there in the Summer of 2011.
The Song?
Swagger Jagger. Now, I for one love this song and it is actually a lot
more enjoyable then a lot of the "Dance" music that comes on the radio. I
would listen to this rather then have to hear "Where Have You Been?"
from Rihanna or "Sexy and I Know It" from LMFAO (I said I love them, but
even awesomeness has one or 2 bad songs). She released a song called
"With Ur Love" with Mike Posner (One Hit Wonder of "Cooler Then Me"
fame) which is a decent pop song but not exactly my cup of tea....and
then she released "Want U Back" and that was the song that crossed her
over here. I wish her the best of luck and hopes that she doesn't fall
out like a lot of UK Acts (Check Ed Sheeran and The Script out if you
never heard of them). I will not post a video for Want U Back mainly
because there are 3 versions of the song
1) A Video with Astro (X Factor US Season 1 Rapper) which is a plain
video
2) A Video of Just Her (Which is the More Creative Video)
and
3) A Audio version of her with Snoop Dogg....I'm Sorry, Snoop Lion (He
does decently on the verse, but if I wanted to hear the song, I would
look up the other 2)
Sigh...and now for the root of all evil: One Direction.
Now don't get me wrong, I am a proud Boy Band fan: From Backstreet and
N' Sync to LFO and 5ive and even 2gether (I Swear, The Hardest Part of
Breaking Up....). However, this band takes everything that a Boy Band is
supposed to be and takes it in a worse direction.
History Lesson: One Direction was originally 5 Solo Artists around the
Same Age: Harry, Niall, Zayn, Louis and Liam. All 5 of them failed at
Boot Camp BUT in a move that is being well known in The X Factor Verse,
they were brought back and formed in a band known as One Direction. The
X Factor has a habit of doing this especially for acts that they feel
could succeed with others (Examples for those U.S. Viewers are how
InTENsity and Lakoda Rayne were formed for The Judge's Houses). Once One
Direction was formed, they were given to Simon to tutor, and they
basically DOMINATED The Live Shows to the dismay of Louis Walsh (He even
said on air that Simon was showing more favoritism towards them instead
of his other bands). From "Summer of 69" to "Torn" to "Total Eclipse of
The Heart", these boys went through to The Final 3 and failed to win.
However, just like Cher Lloyd, they were picked up by Syco Records, and
well....
That's What Makes You Beautiful came out to the scene. Now, here's my
only issue with them....They are too douchey to be a Boy Band. Now
granted, a Boy Band usually is douchy because you have "The Sexy One"
"The Bad Boy" "The Quiet One" "The Baby Faced One" etc etc...but these 5
are dressed all preppy and they literally seem like 5 Boys who were put
together just to see what happens...I'm almost expecting them to come
out with a song that goes "You've Got IT, You Know You've Got IT, Now
Give It To Me Girl....". That's right folks, I went there. Now don't get
me wrong, this song is actually good and I don't mind listening to
it....but their other songs like "One Thing" are just REALLY not meant
for them. Like I said with Cher, I wish them all the success in the
world, and with Bieber Fever slowing dying out, Tweens need new boys to
have weird fan fiction anime fantasies over (Not that I would know...)
and I wouldn't mind if One Direction filled this void. However, if they
are reading this (which I doubt): Guys, put out memorable music.
Backstreet Boys has As Long As You Love Me, N' Sync has Bye Bye
Bye....Don't be like other acts and have "One and Done" syndrome. Simon
Cowell picked you up, start making music like the stars he saw you to
be.
The rest of the season went by usual format, with the exception of 4
acts for each category (16 in Total), and in the beginning they had it
in which there were 2 eliminations, One for whoever received the lowest
amount of votes, while the other was the loser of The Final Showdown.
However, this would be Simon's last stand with The U.K., As his last
Season of American Idol wrapped up as well in 2010, he unveiled his plan
for The X Factor in the U.S., which means this season with Cher Lloyd
and 1D was his last in the U.K.
Now, come 2011 we are dealing with 2 Shows Here. In the U.K. they
literally dropped everyone except for Walsh and in exchange they got
Kelly Rowland of Destiny's Child fame, Gary Barlow of Take That fame
(another U.K. Exclusive band which is awesome) and Tulisa (who to be
quite honest I have no idea who she is). While in the U.S., We have
Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul, L.A. Reid, and Nicole Scherzinger. The U.K.
Version I can not speak for except for the winners in Little Mix. Before
this season, it was unknown to have a group make it to the Winners
Circle. That is why come these latest seasons, The Groups aren't really
taken seriously (I mean seriously, in the Live Shows here, The first 2
eliminated were from the Groups and the last group was eliminated about
2 shows later). Hopefully with Little Mix's win, Groups might actually
have a chance at seeing Victory.
Now for my take on our side of it. First off, you are reading the
article of a future X Factor Winner (2013 Baby!), but besides that, the
first season did what it did best: It Got Press. From Astro's hissy fit
to almost not compete anymore to Rachel Crow's breakdown during her
elimination from The Final 5, The X Factor has started off strong. The
Los Angeles auditions actually broke all audition records for the most
people to show up. Now, with both U.K. and U.S., they have one format to
rule them both. There will be 16 in total (4 from each judge), however
during the first live show each judge would have to eliminate one
contestant (4 Eliminations in Total) leaving only 3 to compete for each
of them. Now, I personally like this change if it wasn't for the fact
that it was kind of predictable in the first season. Let's take a look
if you don't believe me...
L.A. Reid eliminated Phillip Lomax. He was a man who turned everything
into a Frank Sinatra cover, and he was told to get out of his comfort
zone, well he did, and he got eliminated.
Paula Abdul eliminated The Brewer Boys. 2 Young Country Boys who were
going up against A Black Boy Band, A Country Girl Band, and a 10 Kid/Tween
Ensemble that looked like Glee clusterfucked Kidz Bop and this was the
result.
Nicole eliminated Dexter Haygood. A man who really was just a joke act
from the get go, and if you don't believe me, watch his performance of
"I Kissed a Girl/Womanizer". Just know: You have been warned.
and Simon eliminated Simone Battle (who was SO awkward during her
performances) and Tiah Tolliver (Who was just OK during her
performances)
Wait, I bet you are saying "Wait a Second, I thought each judge had to
eliminate ONE act, how come Simon got rid of 2?". HaHaHa, you naive
person....You see what had happened was during the Judge's House stage,
when the judges cut their finalists from 8 to 4, Simon had eliminated
Melanie Amaro. All would have been well except...ahem....The Judges
talked things over, felt like Simon made a mistake, and told him to
bring her back.
Yes folks, Simon brought Melanie back, and guess what?!? She Won! Now
that is either fucking lucky, fucking rigged, or She is just a really
good singer. Personally, she is a great singer, and I love her Pepsi
commercial....but in a season that had a Child Rapper (Astro), a 13 Year
old who could sing anything she wanted (Rachel Crow), a Guy who would
literally come out and sing his own songs (Chris Rene), and a guy who
blended a perfection of Rock and Soul (Josh Krajcik), she could have
finished in 4th and I would not have complained.
Now, the show ran with no flaws and had very....interesting results.
After the season was done (CHRIS RENE GOT ROBBED!!! le sob...), Season 2
was in full swing with auditions that started in March and ended a few
months ago. With a new season, 3 people were released. The original
"host" who was REALLY awkward in introducing the acts and talking to
them, Paula was released and Nicole was released. Paula was released
simply because her role as Simon's Rival was replaced by L.A., while
Nicole had other priorities, namely being a 4th Judge in the U.K. X
Factor. Mow, there are 2 new judges on the panel.....Demi Lovato and
Britney Spears. Let me start with Demi: She is supposed to be the
"Youthful" judge in this but I can be honest...I don't think I can see
her past Season 2. Granted, she has more staying power then Britney,
however, I don't think they can really use Demi as a judge that much and
she's gonna end up turning into the next Nicole (Which means she's a
judge but nobody is really going to care). I hope she proves me wrong,
but knowing what I know from her Disney work, I just can't see it.
Britney....Oh Britney....I can't believe I'm going to utter these words
but from the way everything is being hyped up, she's going to be the
judge to look out for. Can I See Her Lasting Past Season 2? No, as she
is probably using this as filler until her next album or tour or
whatever, HOWEVER if she actually makes this a main commitment, then
Britney might even steal the show from Simon.
In Conclusion, when The X Factor Season 2 comes on here (A Day Before
Glee, Yay!), I will be watching and I will be keeping an eye on who
should win this thing.
Find out what it is next week when we give you the last part of Wences'
X Factor Breakdown here on Mediocre Music TV.
