The X Factor and being cool

A deep dive

You’re probably getting a sense of where my interests lie.

There’s been a lot to say about The X Factor, both good and bad. I stuck with it until the end, even though I believed its best days were firmly behind it. What isn’t spoken about as much (within think pieces like this) is the creative side when it comes to the musicality. Of course, it would be disingenuous to say that X Factor pioneered the idea of “making a song your own” but it couldn’t be more synonymous with it.

For all their focus on finding a “pop star”, there was always a variety within the line-up of finalists. In the first series (2004) you had Tabby Callaghan who was a rocker, and then you had G4 who were a “popera” (pop and opera) quartet. Back then though, it wasn’t quite the celebratory show it eventually became, but 2000s telly is notorious for not having aged well for numerous reasons.

Themes and their effectiveness

The third series (2006) was when themes were introduced, though there was still an aim to embrace a contestant’s individuality. Within the final 12, you had Ben Mills (the rocker), Ray Quinn (the kid who loved swing) and of course, Leona Lewis (who had the big diva vocals). People probably thought “how are they going to do ABBA week?” and naturally that involved playing around with the musical arrangements. Whether a swing version of Waterloo or a soft rock version of SOS actually works is open to debate (Simon really wasn’t keen on the latter). Louis even described Leona Lewis’ version of Chiquitita as “like Mariah Carey singing ABBA” as though it was a negative.

Themes varied from artist-specific themes to “number ones” to “Big Band week”. In later years we had “Express Yourself” which is effectively code for “do what’s true to you”, though when the act has the song picked for them (and it’s one they’ve never heard before), you begin to question how true to the theme they’re being. One example of this is Louisa Johnson (who eventually won series 12).

Whether specific themes (and being versatile) are even instrumental to an artist’s development is another matter, because it was obvious that not everyone was comfortable with every theme. They didn’t do Big Band week in the seventh series (2010) because they thought it’d screw over some of the acts. They never made a point of having a live band on a regular (unlike The Voice UK), though the live tour did have one until 2012.

Changes to the audition stages and the pre-live stages

While from the third series onwards, acts could play instruments on the live shows, it wasn’t until the ninth series (2012) that acts were able to do so in the pre-recorded stages, as well as being able to audition whilst having a management deal.

In the third series, the boyband Avenue (featuring Max George who went on to have huge success as part of The Wanted) were disqualified from the competition because of this. The irony is, X Factor’s sister show (Britain’s Got Talent) had allowed live instruments since the beginning. Both shows were open to original compositions (It’s Chico Time, anyone?) but they weren’t commonplace until later down the line.

Bringing out the individuality in contestants

The fourth series (2007) was won by Leon Jackson, who had only really been properly singing for 11 months at that point, beating Rhydian Roberts, a classically-trained baritone and more esteemed performer to the point Simon described him as “world class”. While it can’t be definitively said that the X Factor audience prefers those who are less polished (Leona Lewis’ win disproves that, for one), by its very nature as a show that features a public vote, personality and likeability is just as important as the talent level. Not to mention regional voting; if you are the only Geordie contestant in a line up of 12 and likeable, your hometown won’t hold back on their support.

During the fifth series (2008), Diana Vickers (who had an indie rock thing about her and was lauded for being different to the other acts they’d seen that year) was leading the way in the voting amongst the girls, consistently placing ahead of the eventual winner in Alexandra Burke (who was criticised by Simon early on for lack of individuality). This remained the case until the quarter-finals, excluding the week Diana didn’t perform due to illness. Alexandra was clearly a strong all-round performer, plus she had the “comeback kid” angle (having auditioned three years prior but failing to make the live shows) but it took a while for her to really pop with the audience.

That’s no bad thing though - it’s better than peaking early - but it’s interesting that the traditional X Factor audience seemed to favour someone who, although clearly mainstream (what with Duffy achieving the biggest selling album of that year), was almost the antithesis to the female singers that were coming through the show back then; it was pretty much all about the big belters.

It does appear that whenever an act was pushed down the road of trying to be a “relevant pop artist”, they ended up losing support from the voting audience rather than gaining it. An example of this is Lucie Jones from the sixth series (2009). The ballads were her wheelhouse, and she placed third in the voting that week despite Simon’s criticism. When she pivoted towards songs that represented a conscious effort to adopt an identity as an artist (with this Avril Lavigne-esque performance), she placed third from bottom and was voted out the following week, despite Simon’s praise.

The seventh series (2010) was when they leaned into the individuality even more. With 16 acts in the live shows for the first time, you kind of had to. You had a singer/rapper in Cher Lloyd, a veteran singer in Mary Byrne, a boyband in One Direction, a musician in Matt Cardle, a soul singer in Rebecca Ferguson and an indie singer in Aiden Grimshaw amongst others. By this point, the show seemed to embrace those who came to the show with a clear idea of who they want to be and where they want to go. This was the first year that viewers were able to download live performances, although they were not eligible to chart.

Whether any cases of “making the song your own” were totally original can be argued, but contestants seemed encouraged to try something different with song choices. We had Matt Cardle doing Leona Lewis’ version of “First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” by Roberta Flack at bootcamp, and seemingly the only male in the bootcamp stage that year who picked that song. He also did Travis’ version of “Baby One More Time” by Britney Spears in the live shows.

He had an anti-X Factor image which likely played a part in him winning, in addition to having the whole “people’s champion” thing going for him. They gave each of the finalists their own winners single for the first time since series 1, which was long overdue as the song poised to be the potential winner’s debut single should be picked accordingly, as opposed to being lumbered with a completely unsuitable song. For reasons unknown however, they reversed that the following year.

The shift in identity

The ninth series (2012) was when things changed quite notably, almost certainly driven by The Voice UK’s arrival earlier that year. Unfortunately for The X Factor, it came around at the right time after a troubled series that acted as a jumping off point for long-time fans. The Voice pitched itself as a slightly more young & hip show that was more commercially-minded, plus they allowed tracks performed by contestants on the show to be eligible for the charts.

It appears that The X Factor reacted to this. Not just allowing acts to use instruments before the live shows, but also encouraging original compositions. What resulted was less predictable song choices and mash-ups - something Gary Barlow became quite sick of after a few weeks - but it became a catch-22.

Conflicting audiences and voting patterns

The viewing audience, the record-buying audience and the voting audience are all different, though there are overlaps. Not everyone tuning into The X Factor week-after-week was a big consumer of music. Christopher Maloney topping the vote seven weeks in a row despite him being one of the older contestants was testament to that (rightly or wrongly, consuming music from new artists is generally considered to be a young person’s game).

Meanwhile you had James Arthur ending up in the sing-off after doing a stripped back version of “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You”. Evidently, James had not built up enough of a rapport with the voting audience, and this only kicked into gear the week after (when he topped the vote for the first time). You also had MK1, a hip-hop duo who would theoretically fit with was going on in the charts at the time with Rizzle Kicks riding high in the UK, but they only made it to week 3 of the live shows.

James Arthur was not only the first winner ever to be in the sing-off, but his winner's single is both the biggest-selling of the lot (with 2.4 million sales in the UK) and the only one to make waves outside of the UK, reaching number one in the Czech Republic, Greece, Ireland, Luxembourg, Scotland and Slovakia. It took a while but eventually he was able to connect with the wider public in a way that elevated him to the point he’s still one of the few X Factor alumni that have sustained longevity.

Authenticity is the most valuable currency for a musician and raw talent on its own can go a long way, though you also want to be able to back that up, something he managed to do quite easily.

The limits of creativity

Doing original songs, mash-ups and flipping a song on its head is clearly a great thing for the credibility of The X Factor (for those that care) but I’m not sure the audience wanting a bit of Saturday night entertainment feels as strongly. There’s also a difference between there being a single rap act amongst 16 in the live shows (Cher Lloyd in 2010) and there being multiple acts that are very commercial/underground that don’t resonate with the television audience.

This isn’t exclusive to The X Factor though; when it comes to music specials on television, their popularity is also hit-and-miss. Adele brought in a large audience for her 2021 special (6.4 million viewers) but Dua Lipa didn’t with her special last December (1.7 million), so the overlap wasn’t found there.

Experimenting and then retreating

The tenth series (2013) played on nostalgia as part of celebrating the anniversary, which included bringing back Sharon Osbourne and the room auditions. While they continued to celebrate individuality, it was a much safer approach to proceedings. It worked out, in the sense that it was the smallest slide in viewership of any of the post-2010 series (only losing 200,000 compared with the 2.4 million that the previous year lost).

It appears that whenever The X Factor aimed to be more musically creative, they dialled it back the following year because the viewing audience didn’t get it, or weren’t ready. The core audience were used to hearing songs they were familiar with, in the way that they know them, rather than songs they’ve never heard before.

The fourteenth series (2017) featured more contestants performing original compositions than ever before, and it was clearly the aim for that year. From Rak-Su to Grace Davies to Aidan Martin, they were celebrated for it. Amusingly, the song Aidan sang there (“Punchline”) was performed by Benson Boone for his American Idol audition in 2021. I wonder whatever happened to him…

Another sign of the limited overlap of the different crowds is that in 2017, The X Factor’s average viewership for the series fell quite sharply (from 7.6 million in 2016 to 6.3 million), in one of the sharpest falls since the 2010 peak, yet Grace Davies & Rak-Su were the final two contestants. It was the first time a winner’s single was written by a contestant and a very different vibe to the usual (a ballad with a key change), but also very welcome.

What happens the following year? The song choices most synonymous with talent show auditions feature again in the auditions with the likes of “Who’s Lovin’ You”, “It’s a Man’s World” and “A Change is Gonna Come”, though we still got some original compositions. Oh, and the winner’s single is a ballad, though I feel it’s one of their better ones.

I don’t envy the powers that be

There were 19 million viewers watching at The X Factor’s very height and you understandably want to hold on to as many as possible. Unfortunately, the higher you go, the further you fall, and amidst trying to hold onto the audience you fall into the trap of hitting the panic button. As a result, you alienate the viewers who have been there since the beginning and you don’t attract anyone new.

To be fair, whenever The X Factor has aimed to be a bit more experimental, it has been of more use to those who come through the show in terms of forming some kind of identity. It’s easier to do that when you’re performing your own stuff or actively trying to make a song your own than if you’re not taking any risks.

It’s a tough balance to strike, but I do believe it’s possible. Who knows if The X Factor will ever return, but if they need a creative consultant…