X Factor 2009 - Auditons

 

Well, having arrived at Cardiff stadium before the 8am start time, we heard on the radio that the day was in fact OPEN auditions, which essentially meant that having pre-applied and been selected to attend the audition meant absolutely NOTHING as every Tom, Dick and Davith, could just turn up and auditon. There was no organisation to speak of on arrival, other than being hearded, litterally like sheep, into metal "pens" to join a queue of thousands of people along the river walkway. After standing outside of the stadium in this queue and being cold, bored and rained on, at about 11am, we were treated to a visit by Dermot O'Leary, who is in fact a midget with the personality of a walnut. After a further hour of staged groud scenes being filmed and an attempt to make eveyone look as though they werent completely peed off already, we were marched into the stadium at about 12 noon.

Once inside, it all started again. We were moved from side to side, and then the STAGED crowd scenes were started again inside, where people were told what to shout, how to wave their arms, and when to do it for the best effect of the camera crew.

At this point, I think a few of the more sensible people were becoming a little suspicious of just what was going to be in store for the rest of the day.

At approx 1pm, the auditions FINALLY got under way. Now bear in mind we had been asked to be there by 08.00am at the latest and some FOUR HOURS later, we were actually seeing some signs of life of the whole reason we were there.

Now the auditons were all held in the open arena. Imagine if you will being at a live footbal match and being sat in the stands adjacent to the touchline. The small area of ground that runs between the touchline and the seats is where there were 17 "booths" constructed.

Well one says constructed, they were in fact 4 metal frames covered with black sheet plastic ( a bit like bin liners) and formed into a kind of three sided rectangle. Inside each booth was a "judge" - I'll come back to that in a minute!!!
Over the next SIX hours, we sat, we listened to other auditonees, we saw what was going in and what was coming out. We got numb bums, bored, jelly brained and to sum it up, completely and utterly peed off with the lack of organisation of the whole thing.

Before we even go to do our audition I had told my other half that  I didnt want to be there anymore and just wanted to go home.

Now the judges - - - The X Factor has a multi stage process before you get to see the "Real" judges. Everything you see on TV is completely staged and pre-selected by the production crew.

Stage One (the one we were at) - The judging was being done by the junior production crew. Who you would like to think knew when something was reasonable or not.

Stage Two (the following day) - judging done by the Executive Production crew, presumably just a step thrown in there to make sure the juniors have made the "appropriate choices".

Stage Three (The main judges) - The first time the Televised auditons are carried out and the first time the Simon Cowell, and other judges have seen ANYONE.

Now this may sound like sour grapes, but honestly it's not. Both myself and my friend were sooooooooo ANGRY at not getting through this basic round of auditions, not because we were crap, because if we were, we would have got through!!! - But more because the "judge", and yes we both had the same one, was not the slightest bit interested in what our voices were like, from the second we stepped around the corner.

He was completely arrogant, resisted any eye contact, defensive body language and other than saying "Its a no I'm afraid" could not justify his decision any further.

I at least bit back at him by saying "Oh well, Its your loss mate" and walking away from him. After standing and sitting around for NINE hours, I wasnt about to let that little so and so have the last word now was I.

If anyone is every thinking of entering the competition, I would advise you not too. Its a complete set up from start to finish and really not worthy of a normal person wasting their time on.

Having been sat there for so long, there was a clear pattern of who was being put through to the next round and who wasnt. A system of "golden tickets" was being used. If you got one, you were through to the next round and would go to "Wille W*NKERS Chocolate factory), run by the producers the next day.

So we sat there and sat there and here was the pattern.

Pretty Boy goes in can sing = Will get a golden ticket - Correct !
Pretty Boy goes in CANT sing = Will get a golden ticket - Correct !
Barbie Doll goes in can sing = Will get a golden ticket - Correct !
Barbie Doll goes in CANT sing - Will get a golden ticket - Correct !
Ordinary person goes in, can sing = NO CHANCE - Correct ! Predicable
Oridnary person goes in, cant sing = Will get a golden ticket - Correct !!
Freak goes in can sing = Will get a golden ticket - Correct !
Freak goes in cant sing = Will get a goledn ticket - Correct !

So, as you can see, if you could predict the lottery as easily as you could predict the outcome of the auditions, I would be a very rich man.

So in a nutshell, if you are a pretty boy, and barbie doll, or a complete freak, then you are guanteed to get through the first round. From there, the executive producers, (the guys who want us to vote and provide them with great viewing figures) will then weed the dumb, hung and strange down to the most extreme in each category, before thrusting them in front of the TV cameras for the first televised edition of what one sees.

Cast your mind back to las year, when there was an old guy on there who came on to play the spoons. Now, bear in mind, he will have already been through TWO days of auditions with the Production team and the executive production team before even being considered for the televised auditions!!

As yourself therefore, how the hell did someone who though he was on Britains Got Talent, appear on the X Factor, when he had no vocal part of his audition at all - Answer? = Because the producers thought it would make for good viewing.

The two guys from Wales last year (The rappers?) How did they get through thousands of people to the live auditons, because they were SOoooooo shit, the producers knew that in the coming months, they would be able to get web site hits, U tube, Phone downloads (sponsored by Talk Talk remember) and increase viewing figures. And they did!

Now I am glad that I had the experience of going to X Factor, but what it has done, is taught me that the show is NOT based on talent, it is a freek show that gets the viewing figures and the if you are blessed with BOTH good looks and talent, then there is a chance that you will get somewhere in the competition.

I know Im no oil painting, and I take comfort in the fact that as I didnt get through, I obviously cant be a freek either, so thats a good thing.

Can I just say a big thank you to everyone that supported me in the group and personally, and Im sorry that X Factor production team have a hidden agenda to construct and pre-determine the show from the outset, which unfortunately has wasted everyone's time.

XXX

Suffice it to say that X Factor will not be watched in our house after that!

hi you do msn

i just want to say that i loved ruth and Alexandra! thy were so good and powerfull loved them! but that juet that Alexandra did with beyonce i was like WOW! i went all cold it was just so good  first i wanted ruth to win a then Aexandra just started to grow on me and the song in the final haleujah! what made her win just blow  me a way she is a star and she did have the X factor im so glad that she won all the X factor finals were good but she just made it if you read this ruth and Alaxandra could i  have your email address i wold love to have you as my friends on MSN,AND FACEBOOK!   keep the good work up Alexandra your a star and ruth you will be there one day you have a good voice dont give up.xx

Hi no-name...

   No problem.  I'll be blatantly honest but I'm not exactly the greatest fan in the world of 'reality TV.' It comes across as  a case of program making on the cheap! Nevertheless I must admit the X factor was pretty darned close to 'compulsive viewing.' Yes, Diana didn't need the OTT dance routines that Louis Walsh kept whining about. EVERY BLOOMING WEEK. It was so nice to see JLS doing big dance routines...... Oh I'm sorry... NOT doing them!! Of course the dancing is absolutely Vital to be an ace performer:-  Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Paul Potts,  99% of the last 5 decades. Shoot me if I lay it on a bit thick but I must be losing it in my old age as I don't recall too many of the most famous singers in the world body popping to White Christmas etc!

  Unfortunately up to a point Louis is right. He just didn't word it very well. On stage there HAS to be something visual, otherwise you may as well just buy the record/cd. Pink Floyd were like statues on stage but made up for it with a fantastic light show. There are ways round not being a dancer. It will be interesting to see Diana when she finally gets touring. See you there!

Hi Glyn,

i do not know if you will see this comment now as it is harder to find this page.

loved your reading of the contestants and so true.

The show is called the X FACTOR and only DIANA showed that she had it, allthough she needs to believe in herself more as she was very nervous and it did affect her preformance.

i was never interested in her dancing on the show, as i loved seeing her facial features and eyes during a song as she was able to convey the emotions of the song via them.

DIANA has lovely eyes, and i noticed that that feature of hers was nulified by the makeup artists on her last show by the very heavy black liner under her eyes

others on the show required to do routines to cover up for poor singing and the fact that they had no stage presence.

for DIANA it was just herself mainly, and that is the way that i wanted it to be as she did have stage presence.

thank you GLYN for taking the time to answer my post.

Hi Glyn,

I agree that it would be nice to get away from the X FACTOR record at christmas and on to real christmas records.

And you are correct about NOBBY shouting ( just as well he wasn't in a singing competition ) but his songs were fun which anyone could sing at parties.

The small piece of DIANA'S version of hallelujah was realy good because of her accent and dictation which made her sound french and it sounded very sexy,

 where as BUCKLEYS version sounded very sensual which is probably more in keeping with the song.

I did hear someone else singing it really good (cannot remember his name) but it was not the shriek singer.

ALEXANDRA'S version is just a well sung song but nothing special about it, as she does not convey any feeling in it.

Would i buy diana's version, i think the answer is yes, allthough i do not think her recorded version would have matched her bootcamp version as i believe

that once the sound engineers had got to work on it, it would have lost the special effect of her accent and dictation.

Normaly i do not buy cds/albums anymore, but it does not matter what DIANA brings out, i will buy it as i enjoyed listening to her on the X FACTOR,

 and you could say it is my way of saying thank you to DIANA.

The one thing i did notice about week 8, was that as DIANA walked to the centre after she finnished singing NOT A GIRL NOT YET A WOMAN,

she was happy with her preformance, but all the judges attacked her, LOUIS - you never dance, DANNIE - it was bitty, SIMON - it did not work,

 and even CHERLE's comment - its the best that i have ever heard her sing that song, it all sounded to me like a concerted put down of DIANA.

For me it was well crafted, girly at the start, slightly higher in the middle and womanly at the end, and i watched BRITNEYS version which was the

same level all the way through, all though i did not like the song choice as it did not show of the tone/edge of DIANA'S voice and that type of song was

 not DIANA'S style, allthough it did showed that her voice is sweet on the low notes.

Is it not funny how CHERLE got from week 6, all of ALEXANDRA'S song choices right and DIANA'S wrong or hard.

Week 6 - never never, thank goodness DIANA stood her ground and sung yellow, allthough the judges critisised the choice ?.

Week 7 - patience, a very hard song to sing, music drowned her voice out on the tv but not on the vidio ?.  DIANA sang it very well apart from the couple of hicups.

Week 8 - not a girl, not yet a woman, on the tv sounded a bit rough as if the sound engineers did not do their work, sounds a lot better on the vidio?.

Week 8 - everybody hurts, DIANA sang it quite well considering that she was upset about the comments about her other song, but it was not a great

 choice of song for her voice.

Week 9 - girlfriend, hard song to sing live, impossible to do a good routine to and sing, all though DIANA did well at it, listen to simons comments on it

and you can see at the end he was going to say something but changed his wording ?.

Week 9 - white flag, poor choice of song, sounded rough on tv and better on the vidio again ? plus her face was distorted on the tv ?,and you could not see the feeling

she was puting into the song.

Yes, i do question what went on after week 5, but nothing can be changed now and i do hope that she gets a recording contract.

One of DIANA'S special fearures is that she does manage to convey her feelings through her face/eyes/voice.

She also listened very carefully to what the judges were saying and took it to heart.

Yes, i think there is a lot more to come from DIANA in the future, with the correct songs and managment and a bit more training.

 

No name... I doubt whether anyone has reported Ayeshah's posts. I have reported 3 times about Habib Ullahs post 6 DAYS AGO for containing the F word and it hasn't been removed!

  I must admit, even if Diana was singing Hallelujah in the charts I doubt I'd buy it. Give me a good old feel good Xmas song reminiscent of the 70's anyday, rather than such a boring dirge! Bring back the likes af Slades 'Merry Xmas Everybody.' YES Noddy Holder had a voice like gravel, YES Noddy Holder Shouted, and YES it was still 1000 times better than this years No 1.

Ayeshah,

It just so happens that i viewed all the contestant singing on the vidios many times and was suprised to see that ALEX. was miming.

As for ALEX, i thought that she put on the best stage routines of all the preformers, notice i do not call it dance routines as none of them danced.

As for her singing she was the best of all of them for the high notes, listen being her best song by far as it suited her voice perfectly.

It was her low notes that let her down because her basic voice is more suited to soul music and it tended to sound one level and boring to listen to.

As to the miming, yes i am not happy about that as it was unfair to all the other contestants that it was allowed/ not mentioned by the judges.

For me, RUTH was probably the more complete singer, but let her self down with the shouting in her rock songs.

All the singers had faults, be they covered up by loud music or other means, but no others resorted to miming to he backing singers.

I notice that a lot of your posts are disappearing, is that you deleting them or is someone reporting them, and before you ask, its not me.

 

 

Ayeshah'

yes, you have a lot of hate in you because you continue to slag other singers even though the contest is over.

So your not happy at some one pulling up your favorite for what they did and were allowed to do.

 

 

Ayeshah.

Your getting touchy now, TUT TUT.

you seem to forget that you responded first,  YAWN, ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ, and i assume that you have now looked at the vidios of ALEXANDRA miming and you do not want to admit it.

you are correct the result cannot be changed, but at least people will know what was done.

Apart from that you appear to have a lot of hate in your life.

 

Hi Chocaholic M,

Not as far fetched as you may think.

Ask yourself how did they stop JLS fron singing umberella in the final, which was by far their best preformance of the whole series.

They say that RIHANNA is going to preform umberella with JLS in the final, so as their final song they opt for the song that they sang in the semi's which the judges over praised in the semi's, see the standing ovation.

At the last moment they say that RIHANNA cannot appear due to her having to reherse for her other show, and it is to late for them to change their final song as they have not been rehersing it fully, and they only have time to reherse the song that they will sing with westlife.

In the semi's JLS polled more votes than ALEXANDRA because of their rendition of umberella.

Very neatly worked out for ALEXANDRA to win.

 

Hi Ayeshah,

Have a look at ALEXANDRA SINGING "DON'T STOP THE MUSIC" carefully and at the point when the lower vocals start you can see it quite clearly.

The movement that is going on at the time actualy distracts you from spotting that she is miming at that point.

Do not be in denial for your precious ALEXANDRA.

 

omg omg omg, how hard are they trying to fix the show, we know itz one already but that is beyond stupid!

By the way in regards to halleluya being the winners song and it having been picked with DIANA being the winner in mind.

This is compleatly wrong, as i believe DIANA had said to CHERLE that she wanted to sing it on the week that her choice came up.

As the whole show from the start had been built around ALEXANDRA winning, the producers could not let it happen knowing that DIANA was so good at it, therefor they had ALEXANDRA sing the song in a secret session to find out if she could sing it.

Having done this and seen that ALEXANDRA could do a passable rendition, they then informed everybody that it was going to be the winners song, there by stopping DIANA from using it on week 9.

At last, you people know real talent when it hits you in the nose. Diana,, was my fave to win from audition one, not just the live shows,, her 'warbling' was actually quite nice on some of the songs, it created feeling and passion,, well it for me anyway. Ruth,, well withdrraw my statement,, maybe you dont,, Ruth, \well I was glad when she went,, she got on my nerves, Simon's right,, its a British talent competition AND her shouting completely killed my ears sometimes.

 

Everyone's impressed ((well except me of course)) with Alexandra's and Beyonce's duet, and yes he was really good, oh no, don't get m rong, not Alexandra, for heaven's sake no, Beyonce, she was good. Being famous has gone to Alex's sweet little head, she thinks she's a little Beyonce,, no way, that duet just showed us how LITTLE potential Alex has next to big stars, such as Beyonce! Alexandra performing Silent Night, was almost sad,, in a way. I'd rather listen to a choir sing it, and speaking of that, ALEXANDRA CAN NOT PERFORM LOW NOTES!!

 

Yes you can sort out 'odd' vocals in a live show, but not if it's pure accident, like Glyn sed, but the sound guys are aware of this and know they have to change it,, when a performer hits a 'odd' note by accident and they have no awareness of it,, I'm afraid the star has to suffer.

 

 

Leona Lewis........... hmm what can I say,, I didn't like her version of run,, she has ruined Rihannas Take a Bow and various other songs. I used to be in awe of her, but like Alexandra,, being famous has gone to her head aswell, she now remixes (and ruins) original versions of songs that I was oncce in awe of.

 

It would be nice to be a singer, but there is no way,, I would ever EVER,, let Leona ruin one of them,, my song would be MY SONG, i wouldn't let her touch it!

There's a big hole waiting to be filled for a female rock singer in the music charts and has been for some time. Ruth would be ideal I reckon. She may shout at times but in my opinion that can actually add to the song and create feeling. To make a small point..... Yes you can sort out dodgy vocals live. Listen to Cher's 'Believe' for the electronic sounding vocal. Britney certainly used it on Toxic, as did Alexandra, and Victoria 'posh spice' Beckham used it on a whole track. Blissfully I have forgot the title. It's the one where she says at the end that this song is gonna hurt you! The music is programmed and a midi-file has the vocal track data on. The signal is sent to a vocoder and anything sung into it through the mike hey presto comes out in tune. You don't seriously believe the Flying Pickets reached the high notes on 'Only you' do you? As for Warbling, AYESHEA OPEN YOUR EARS. Listen to Alexandra... EVERY LINE SHE FINISHES WITH A DOZEN NOTES. If that's not warbling what is??? I totally agree Diana has potential to go worldwide. She needs the right songs though and not just Karaoke covers, Heaven forbid. We'll see in a few weeks time when (hopefully) the rest of the x factor finalists contracts are over and they will be allowed to release their own discs. I reckon JLS will do okay but my money is on Diana all the way!

Hi Rowland Turner,

I looked up the vidio of LEONA singing BLEEDING HEART live and was not impressed at all.

YES, on the record she is fantastic, but live not.

Same goes with RUN, all i can say is that in a studio you can sort out problems, but live you cannot.

In LEONA'S style of singing we have no equal in britain, of that there is no question.

DIANA'S does not sing in LEONA'S style, but the potential is greater in my opinion, but she has to reach her full potential to overtake LEONA.

remember also that LEONA was a recording and performing artist before she went on the x factor, where as DIANA only sung in local tallent competitions and in school shows.

I should have said that with further training and the correct songs DIANA could go world wide if handled properly but at this time she is just raw tallent.

 

RUTH, i allways classed as a very good opera style singer, but on the x factor they persuaded her that rock was her forte, but unfortunatly she tended to shout in parts of her songs which i thought was her undoing.

For the couple of weeks before she was eliminated she was receiving more votes that ALEXANDRA so she did have a strong following, but possibly SIMONS comment about it being a british competition did not help.

 

Hey Ayeshah, you would not like to comment on the posts about Alexandra miming to what the backing singers were singing.

Remember to look carefully at the vidios first before you comment, we don't want you to make more of a fool of yourself than you allready have done.

Yes. she can add miming to her very small list of tallent.

 

I agree, Diana was different and more distinctive than Alex who is good but is not in the same league as Leona.  Now my personal choice was Ruth, but reading the comment about some historical rockers, I think it's time we had a stronger male who can stand with the likes of Essex, Stewart etc

The problem with the X Factor is that voters tend to go with the strongest voice. That always makes me wonder why they don't just wire all the contestants up to a machine which could then pick out who is exactly in tune and choose the best? The X factor is just that. It is whoever has that certain something that sets them apart from the rest... NOT SOUNDING JUST LIKE ALL THE REST. Diana had it. Alexandra never will! Dianas voice was too different for Alexandra fans to open their mind (and their ears) to. Her voice wavered a lot and was sometimes a little off key. However, some of the most popular singers over the last few decades could not sing live to save their lives! Alice Cooper was awful, yet packed out concert halls everywhere. No-one could say Ozzy Osbourne ever had a good voice, but he fitted perfectly with what he did and sold records by the millions. Without the likes of Bjork, Kate Bush, David Essex, Steve Harley, Geddy Lee (Rush), and countless more, the music industry would have died years ago. These are singers that you could recognise instantly. Their voices were distinctive and didn't sound like anyone else. Never have and never will. Alexandra is typical of most bandwagon jumpers. Nothing original. Can't play an instrument, can't write and is destined to join the never ending line of Karaoke singers blandly covering songs that have already been done to death by all and sundry. None as good as the originals. I look forward to Diana releasing something hopefully an awful lot better than the mind numbing Hallelujah!

I am glad that DIANA did not win the x factor, as at this time she is still imature.

Do not get me wrong, as i believe that she was the most tallented of the 12 finalists.

Her rendtion of YELLOW was fantastic, the tone just correct and it was better than coldplays version, even though she was still ill, and i think that coldplay's version was great.

I played all of the original singers songs and compared them to DIANA'S versions and she is better in all cases, though still a bit raw.

She is probably the most tallented singer ever to be on the x factor, and that includes LEONA who is a great singer.

The problem with DIANA is that she did not have enough experience behind her and got very nervous preforming, hence the hiccupy vocals at times.

Why has so many people written rubbish about her, its called the fear factor, pick on the hands/bare feet anything at all.

 

Of the three finalists, JLS should have won.

ALEXANDRA is a fake, who mimed to the backing singers voices on many of her songs, pretending that she was singing the low parts when all she could do was sing high notes.

EOGHAN was just a joke, allthough he could be a good childrens entertainer.