the show’s over
Will you be watching X Factor tonight? No, me neither. And as the ratings indicate not many will be doing so. With viewing numbers falling off the proverbial cliff edge, the once head-to-head-with-Strictly-rags-to-riches vehicle now sees itself rounded upon by the likes of Countryfile and Antiques Roadshow. Oh Simon, how the high-waisted have fallen!
However, I have to admit to shedding a secret tear of mourning as X Factor (eventually) passes, as, in its day, the show proved to be an almost hallowed family and household-uniting experience. If you didn’t well-up watching Alexandra Burke’s transformation from unremarkable warbler in a flock-walled middle-management conference suite to blubbing on Beyoncé’s shoulder in the series five final, then you simply don’t possess a beating heart. Dubbed by the media as The Great British Dream Factory, the original show went on to create, or at least contrive, such huge commercial acts as Little Mix and One Direction. And in the process facilitated the draining of granny’s pension pot as she willingly emptied her coffers into ITV’s premium phone lines on Olly Mur’s behalf.
However, the natural successor to Bullseye in celebrating pure and simple ordinariness, is no longer able to offer the fairy tale journey it once promised. Any performer or even half-talented wannabe is already racking-up the ratings and likes on YouTube, TikTok and even Spotify. Normal Joe can, and does, kick-start his own career without waiting for a short white-shirted Svengali to give him the thumbs-up.
By the same token, as family-friendly pop acts have fallen by the way, these types of shows appear no longer able to offer genuine success and stardom: Leona Lewis’s 2006 debut single hit the #1 heights in no less than 35 countries; two years later the aforementioned Alexandra Burke’s ‘Hallelujah’ cover shifted 1.2 million copies; 2016’s Matt Terry failed to break the top fifty, whilst 2017’s winners, Rak-Su, petered-out with Pyro Ting at a lamentable position of only 39; last year’s triumphant star, Dalton Harris, covered The Power of Love to universal ambivalence. No further releases are announced.
