vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Jan 25, 2017 9:53:00 GMT 1
The difference between Elvis/Sinatra et al and the Fix Factor winners is that Elvis/Sinatra et al interpreted their material in a way which was unique. Nobody else could create around a tune in the same way as they did.
Whereas the entire Fix Factor model is that of literally taking random people from the street and giving them material to sing.
And that's literally in the literal sense. With the exception of Leona Lewis, for whom the thing was rigged.
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Post by Earl Purple on Jan 25, 2017 11:06:56 GMT 1
Using TV to promote pop stars and giving them songs has happened for a long time.
The Monkees became famous through a TV show. Before that we had a handful of singers on the Donna Reid show and Walt Disney's Mousketeers that produced singers (like Annette and a few others).
Actors having hit singles was also popular for a while, as the singer was already known. Several singers have decided to have a go at acting too, of course...
The popular 40s and 50s singers were often actors too, including the abovementioned Frank Sinatra, and Elvis Presley was acting in films based around his music. Judy Garland and Bing Crosby too. The former we know better as an actress and the latter as an singer but both did both.
And yes, the Beatles made films too, and David Bowie tried a career in acting, and actually I thought he was quite good in Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence, and ok in Absolute Beginners, a role he got as a deal for writing the theme song.
Where I feel however that it was different with reality TV shows is that it became a "sure-fire" hit which therefore led to less effort when it came to the quality of the music. The epitome of this was Leon Jackson's awful rendition of "When You Believe" which wasn't a good song to start with, getting the Christmas number one with ease in 2007.
Leona Lewis's "Bleeding Love" was, it appears, the first real attempt to provide an X-factor winner with some good music afterwards, and they put some effort in with her.
However, "the thing was rigged" - I think vas means that Ray Quinn was forced to sing "A Moment Like This" as the "winners" song which was obviously totally unsuitable for him. Not that they couldn't have helped Leona in a career afterwards even if she had lost the final. After all, they managed it with JLS. However, Simon himself was mentoring Leona, and obviously wanted her to win.
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vastar iner
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Post by vastar iner on Jan 26, 2017 8:55:46 GMT 1
Well, obviously they rig the individual contests with careful placing of acts and songs; I remember in the original one Darius was snookered by having to sing "Dancing In The Moonlight", which is the worst song ever.
But Leona Lewis was not some ingenue who had wandered in off the street with a shot at fame. She was ex-Italia Conti and ex-Brit School with two demo albums under her belt. Simon Cowell thought she could be the next Whitney (presumably without the drug-addled death) and engineered the entire series around promoting her.
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Post by Earl Purple on Jan 26, 2017 10:34:40 GMT 1
From what I recall of the 2006 series, it was clear that Leona Lewis had a good voice but she sang the same kind of song almost every week aside from one where she did an uptempo rendition of "Lady Marmalade".
A lot of the singers, at least in the later series, were not "off the streets" and had some kind of background. In some ways this was a good thing as they were now finding "real" artists and trying to give them some exposure.
Darius did ok, but we always felt that they wanted / expected Gareth to win the first Pop Idol.
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Post by Smurfie on Jan 26, 2017 19:05:24 GMT 1
but we always felt that they wanted / expected Gareth to win the first Pop Idol. But definitely not his sister who didn't get past audition stage (from memory) as she was too "styled" in Pop Idol 2. I always thought Darius was lined up to win after Rik Waller left, and appeared again - a bit like Amelia-Lily.
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