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Is musical success only accessible by entering talent shows such as the

X-Factor?
Introduction
Musical success has started to appear as if it is the easiest things to gain just as long
as you have some sort of musical talent and an audition on one of the UKs biggest
talent television shows. Every year these shows produce a new limited edition of
sweaty palmed celebrities with most of them securing an album in the top 10 UK
charts at some point in their career. I say limited edition because unless you have
something that makes you stand out then the high point of your musical career tends
to go almost as quickly as it came about.
Back history of The X Factor
The X-Factor UK came onto our television screens back in 2004 when producer and
head judge Simon Cowell decided the time had come to replace Pop Idol. In 2009
The Guardian reported that the show was set to bring in 20 million of advertising
revenue from the final episode of the series. (The Guardian, 2009). However The
Mirror reported in December 2015, shortly after the 12 th series finale that ratings had
dropped a whopping 2 million from the previous year lowering them to 5.7 million
(The Mirror, 2015). Over on BBC1, the shows rival, Strictly Come Dancing pulled in a
massive 9.4 million, almost 4 million more than The X-Factor.
Stars that have gone through the show and come out like clones
The issue, in my opinion with The X Factor is that it produces bands and artistes with
no individuality, dont get me wrong some of my favourite bands have come from the
show. Take One Direction and Union J for example, two bands that auditioned for the
show but thats not the only thing that they had in common. One Direction auditioned
in 2010 as five individuals, they were then put together to form a band before coming
third in the season finale. Que 2012, a boy band whom were also formed on the
show making Union J then came fourth in the semi-finale, Both of these bands were
made up of a strong amount of eye candy for the teen age girls screaming at them
each week. Mail Online even went as far as calling them the new One Direction after
hordes of teenage girls descend on shopping centre resulting with them having to
cancel an event (MailOnline, 2012). Both bands came out with a very similar sound
yet One Direction, with the help of Simon Cowells label Syco, were named one of
the worlds biggest boy bands after being featured in the 2015 edition of the
Guinness Book of World Records (Billboard, 2014). Union J on the other hand, to
date they only have two albums of which neither made the top 5 in the UK album
charts. So here you have two very similar boy bands as you can see with one
succeeding a lot more than the other. Now is that to say that if Union J had entered
the show prior to the One Direction lads they would have gained global success?
And is it fair to say that One Directions success is down to being on the X-Factor?
Sure they were put together and then discovered on the show but the X-Factor is
only shown to a UK audience so technically their fame and success is down to social
media and their fan base, no?

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The Janet Devlin Drama

Let me introduce to you, Janet Devlin. In 2011 a nervous 16 year old Irish girl with
orange hair took to the X-Factor stage in Liverpool singing Elton Johns Your Song
as she anxiously looks around the room. The audience and judges both responded
with a standing ovation, clearly causing Janet to become modestly overwhelmed,
Kelly Rowland commented first on Janets voice with Oh My Goodness, I am
completely in a trance by your voice it is so beautiful (Youtube, 2011). Janet finished
the show in fifth place but rather than being disappointed I feel that it is fair to say
she never looked back, even though entering the competition meant that she
received a number of record deal offers. Throughout the show it was obvious that
Janet felt out of place with head judge of the series Gary Barlow even accusing her
of becoming predictable and saying What I sing and what music I like is not the X
Factor. (The X Factor) is material with someone that can top the charts, its popular
music. (The Telegraph, 2011). A bit harsh if you ask me Gary but thank you for
basically proving my point that you have to be a certain way and sound a certain way
if you wish to make any sort of success through the show. The show changed
everything about her including her appearance; what she sung and how she
performed was just a part of it with one of the only positive changes being the fact
that it gave her more confidence because she had to be. When Janet left the show
an article came out about how she had gone onto the show to network with the right
people rather than with the desire to win speaking to Express (2014) Janet said
People go on the show for the wrong reasons. Whether you are 16 or 66, chasing
15 minutes of fame is the wrong reasons. Comparing the pressure to be what
everyone wanted you to be on the show to bullying, Janet suffered under the
pressure causing her to forget the lyrics during one performance and almost fainted
a number of times. After the show she discarded the entire first album that had been
recorded because she didnt like the way that her sound had changed and instead
recorded a whole other album in 6 weeks with a folk-pop Jack Johnson inspired
sound.
But Janet isnt the only person to insult the show to a point that there is an entire
page on Wikipedia dedicated to Controversy and criticism of The X Factor, former
member and legend from the band The Police, according to the BBC (2009) Sting
has described the show as being televised karaoke. And Diana Vickers, another
former X-Factor contestant has also expressed how she was glad that she did not
win the show as she felt she would have lost the freedom to write her own music.
Commenting with how the originality is stripped away from those who do make it
and how being signed to Simon Cowells label would also mean she did not get to be
her own artiste.
Examples of stars that have been successful from the show
Some stars have successful entered the show and made a successful career out of it
such as One Direction, a boyband whom are now millionaires and known all around
the world thanks to their good looks and charm. Little Mix, a girl band whom were the
first band to actually win the show back in 2011 (Youtube, 2011), they now tour the
world promoting many positive messages to teen girls. During their time on the show,
band member Jesy Nelson received a lot of hate because of her size and has
continued to promote a positive message regarding body image. Another example is
Jedward, a duo that auditioned on the show in 2008 (you may know them as John

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and Edward) more known for their levels of annoyingness as Simon Cowell
described them as not very good and incredibly annoying at their audition. Now in
terms of whether they have any talent is something that could be considered rather
controversial however their debut album charted at number 17 on the UK charts and
their second single charted at number 6 on the UK indie charts. In 2013, soon after
the release of their third album they were worth just under 5 million pounds. My point
being that the spikey haired, over energetic duo may be no where to be seen in any
of the music charts (other than perhaps the Irish chart every now and then). But they
are still considered successful as a result of the X-factor because it brought so much
attention to them that they then went on to represent Ireland in Eurovision twice; and
they landed their own television series on CBBC which due to the popularity ran for
two series. In terms of music success, they have also toured around Europe several
times, they may have left the eye of the major public but they can still be found at the
odd Christmas light switch on performance around the UK and Ireland promoting a
positive message of not letting one person (Simon Cowell and all the others that sent
abuse and hate their way) knock your confidence because you can still be
successful as long as you believe in yourself. On that note, the twins have also been
involved with a number of Irish anti bullying campaigns.
A time line of the X-Factor winners, where are they now?
As you may have noticed, none of these X-Factor contestants have actually won the
show, well other than Little Mix. So what has happened to the supposedly successful
winners of the show from the past 12 years? I havent heard of half of them since
they won so I thought I would turn to our one trusted sourceGoogle. Lets start at
the beginning, going all of the way back to 2004 of whom the winner was Steve
Brookstein. Steve auditioned during the first season when Sharon Osborne was a
judge and the audition round was confined to a small room without a backing track.
Steve showed potential with his audition but of course the Irish judge Louis Walsh
summarised what was going to be the making of people from the show for the next
12 years with his comment I liked the voice Im just not that sure about the whole
package making Steve feel even more uncomfortable and the need to justify who he
is. Steve actually got 1 yes from the one whom is feared, Simon Cowell; they gave
him a second first round audition where he still received a number of negative
comments but was put through to the next round. Fast forward to 2016, after
spending a year under the record label Syco and then another year almost ten years
later working with Pledge Music. He has produced three albums with only his debut
making number 1 in the charts but if you are missing the has-been then you can also
find him over on Phoenix FM as a radio presenter. Series two winner Shayne Ward is
more of a household name however dont start doubting your feelings about the XFactor machine because he actually plays one of the scripted characters on
Coronation Street. Shayne turned up in a short sleeve jumper and 90s style baggy
jeans and was put through based on Simons comment of how he didnt look stage
school and that he looked real. Fame bound Leona Lewis won in 2006 followed by
Leon Jackson of which both have been signed to their fair share of labels. Leon
Jackson has (ironically) moved on and written a song for one of The Voice
contestants with Kidd. Towards the end of last year (2015) an article came out on
Mail Online about how the show ruined 2008 winner Alexandra Burkes confidence
as it led to a ton of abuse on social media sites about her appearance. You can now
find Alexandra performing in the latest Broadway and West End hit show Sister Act.
Joe McElderry (2009) and Matt Cardle (2010) are both still on the scene of the music
3

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industrywell musical as they both have leading roles in stage shows. Joe plays
Joseph in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat and Matt is about to
start playing the lead role in Memphis the musical. James Arhur is hot in the world of
R&B and Soul as he has just signed a record deal for his second album. Sam Bailey,
winner of the 2013 series was dropped by Simon Cowells soon after the show
hinting in a tweet at the end of 2015 that it was because of her age (harsh). The
most recent winners however, Ben Haenow and Louisa Johnson are still (kind of)
current in the music industry. Ben is currently touring the UK and Louisa, after failing
to make the top 10 with her debut single has been working on producing her own
new music in round two of trying to reach number one.
One thing has popped up during my dig into the black hole that is the history of The
X Factor is that so many of the winners have had feuds with Simon Cowell, Steve
Brookstein, Leona Lewis and Sam Bailey to name a few. So is it the show being this
manipulating machine or is it Simon Cowell himself?
Conclusion
Simon Cowell doesnt have much to worry about for now, even if ratings are dropping
as like Janet has said, people are desperate to use the show for their 15 minutes of
fame. Even if you are considering entering the show, its been made very clear by the
previous winners and losers that you dont need to win to make it big. Sometimes
coming 3rd or 4th place can actually help you because it means you arent signed
straight on to Simon Cowells money making label.
Reflective Commentary
I decided to choose Is the only way to gain musical success only accessible by
entering talent shows such as the X-Factor? because I feel that it is something that
needs to be addressed more now that it has reached its 12 th series. As I mentioned
in my piece, the ratings have dropped yet stars still seem to be getting made from
the money making show. I feel that I should have maybe looked at a different side of
the argument but because it was a think piece and something that you would find in
a magazine then I felt a one-sided opinion was appropriate. The nature of the topic is
one that has come up many times throughout the media so I was spoilt for choice
when conducting my research. I felt that it was a good idea to start quite literally at
the very start of series 1 in order to prove my point that there had been comments
and references throughout the entire time of the show. I decided to give it a chatty
tone yet with information being presented in a more formal manner. In terms of its
appearance I went for something that could be featured in perhaps a more modest
magazine but still with a bit of edge.

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