Winning Isn't Everything

The controversy continues. Ofcom are involved. Could we see a rematch? Or a special programme, with Leon's song withdrawn, and all the cash handed over to Rhydian? I doubt it, and, at this stage of proceedings, it doesn't really matter.
They may talk about a million pound contract, but that isn't the same as a million pound cheque. Steve Brookstein lost his contract three months after getting to number one in the album charts, I remember.
Indeed, coming second could actually help Rhydian in the long run. He gets more control over his career, and he gets the sympathy vote. Look at Leona, good singer, good song-writer, but what input did she have in her album?

Of course, there's no Christmas number one to set things rolling, and he isn't the one getting all the adulation. Yet, showbiz is a long ball game, and I'm sure Rhydian will be around in a few years' time yet.

Unlike this lot!

X-clusive: Leon's webchat... the answers!

Thanks to the thousands of you who have left questions for Leon in the past 12 hours or so... he was ABSOLUTELY amazed by the response to his first online webchat!

Our huge thanks go out to Leon - who kindly offered to do this even though he's only had THREE hours kip since winning the show last night.

It still hasn't all sunk in... and now he's being tipped for Christmas number one!

Leon's debut single will be out in the shops on Wednesday, and is already available to download on iTunes and 7 Digital here: http://www.7digital.com/cms/xfactor/xfactor.aspx

Leon will continue his online chat over on his own website www.leonjacksonmusic.com at 5.30pm tonight.

We wish him the best of luck with everything... now CLICK CONTINUE to see if he has answered your question!

Video interview with winner Leon

Leon talks about how it feels to win the X Factor.

                                       

Can't see the video? Play video in external player

King of Leon

David beating Goliath? Sunderland beating Leeds? Brian beating Samanda?
I've seen some shocks in my time, but nothing comes close to this. And yet... Well I've made two spectacularly bad predictions in the last two weeks ( saying Niki would be in the final, and that Rhydler would win. You may have forgotten - I haven't ) but at least I did write last week that:

"I can't see people voting for Rhydian more than once. I can see people voting for Leon over and over".

The difference was only one percent. Surely that was what did it. But on the night, who's to say Leon didn't deserve it? As the contest went on he just got better and better. You could say Rhydian peaked too soon.
Being told how "world class" he was week in and week out didn't actually help him. And there were many weeks when the acclaim wasn't justified. Opera singers aren't really trained to have a personality, as it's all about technique, and some pop songs just aren't meant to be sung the Rhydian way.
When Simon, in the final round of judges' comments, started talking about this maybe being the last we'd see of him the writing was on the wall.
He and the rest of them had been bigging him up because they knew that Rhydian would be an easier act to sell. He has the face and the voice to sell records and in two years' time he'll still be famous. Will Leon? The irony is that Leon's voice can only get better. It's deep and rich which is very unusual for someone so young. In two years' time, with training, it could be something quite special.
As for Same Difference: they were good and professional as ever. But a group has never won the X Factor and they were never going to break that record. A lot of people thought they were "weird". That didn't buy them many votes. But they can sing, and they can dance, and like Rhydian, they have a future in showbiz.
But it's a romantic story. There were times during the contest when Leon was frankly terrible. Last night he gave his best. As this learned gentleman points out, the duet with Kylie was the star turn of the show. He was as good as her. Rhydian was not as good as Katherine Jenkins.

Judged purely on that, Leon deserved his victory.

XFactor winner Leon Online

X-Factor winner Leon Jackson starts his career in the spotlight HERE... with an exclusive webchat with the millions of fans who voted him this year's XFactor winner.

You've got until 2pm today (Sunday) to leave your questions.

READ OUR STORY HERE

Leon will come online at 3pm and read through them; answering as many as he can.

So you can check back later in the evening and see if he has answered your question.

Leon's debut single will be out in the shops on Wednesday, and is already available to download on iTunes.

In the meantime, don't miss our XFactor fanatic and fantastic blogger Pete giving his view on the verdict. Read it here.

Music of the Night?

In last year's final Ray sang with Westlife, and Leona sang with Take That. There's been no official confirmation of the songs this year, but we do now know who will be singing.

Same Difference will be singing with former Neighbours star and I'm a Celebrity contestant Jason Donovan, Leon will be singing with former Neighbours star and pint-sized pop princess Kylie Minogue, and Rhydian will be singing with fellow Welsh opera lady Katherine Jenkins. ( No, she hasn't been in Neighbours yet, and so far as I'm aware, hasn't done any reality tv either, but two out of three ain't bad ).

So who's got the better deal? I don't quite see how the SD/JD effort will work out. There aren't many songs that are designed for three people, but I dare say somebody's thought this one through.

And Kylie and Leon? I know who's got the cuter bottom, anyway.

Not that that's at all relevant. This is a singing contest, after all.

I also know who's the better dancer. Watching Leon dance has been one of the more excruciating pleasures this year. The sheer concentration on his face as he makes it look so difficult is something to behold.

But what about the Rhydmeister? I reckon he's got the plum match-up. Opera singer? Welsh? And Ms Jenkins sings Lloyd-Webber tunes as well. It won't get much better than that for the Rhydler.

So here she is, singing the Music of the Night from The Phantom of the Opera. Will this be the song that wins it for him on Saturday?

But whatever he sings, surely Rhydian has already got one hand on the trophy. Sean and Sarah will come third, leaving the final face-off as Dannii versus Dannii, with Leon coming in a distant second. I know I got it wrong about Niki last week, but I can't be wrong two weeks' running. Can I?

Sing For Your Supper

And so the dinner lady goes home to spend more time with her hairy-chested husband. At least I hope that's what she does and she doesn't do anything terminal like the article suggests.

However, I must say that I didn't see that coming. Well not really. Last year the last two groups came fourth and fifth. I'd assumed the same would happen this year, so I'd more or less written Same Difference off, even though I thought they sang the best last night.

And when Sarah burst into tears at the end I really thought that was the end. I take a stern view of overt sentimentality and really thought they'd blown it. The same went for Leon when he kissed the girl in yellow. I'd barely recovered from last year when

Picture courtesy of ITV

Ben serenaded a girl while doing an Aerosmith work-out.

But what do I know? Simon was pleased as punch. All he wanted was to be able to walk out on stage at the start of the final. Unlike Sharon and now Louis who will both be sitting in the dark while Dannii and Simon come through with their acts.

Still, you've got to hand it to Simon. He knows how to play it. He never tried attacking Rhydian. Instead he went for the other two. Whereas Louis did his predictable turn. Talking up Leon was his mistake, and repeating his critique of SD was crazy. He's been babbling on about how they're lovely kids but they haven't got the X Factor for two months now. It's gettting repetitive.

As for Rhydian? Is he really that good? I liked him a lot from the very start, and he has delivered some knockout performances. But in recent weeks he's gone a bit off. Maybe it's deliberate, and he's being given inappropriate songs just to make sure this isn't a runaway victory. But "Bridge over Troubled Water"? I'd rather listen to Art Garfunkel. The acclaim isn't quite justified.

But it isn't going to be Niki who takes him on. SD will surely sneak in as third, and it will then come down to Danni's duo. I haven't rated Leon at all during this series. But then I didn't rate Ray much last year, either, but he's definitely getting better. Also, I can't see people voting for Rhydian more than once. I can see people voting for Leon over and over.

This isn't over yet, folks. Anyway, here's one last chance to see Niki. Did she really deserve to go? I thought she'd been consistently good all year.

In Praise of Dannii

Hardened cynic that I am, when I saw Dannii crying after Rhydian's performance two weeks ago I kind of assumed she was doing it for the cameras. But now there's this story about her walking off during a commercial break in Saturday's show because of Louis baiting her about her voice. I had wondered why she wasn't there. So maybe she really is just an emotional person.

At any rate, Dannii's easily the best judge on the show. The only one who actually mentions vocal technique. Sure, Simon occasionally says somebody is flat or didn't sing the first half very well, but other than that our judges don't really do criticism with any depth, do they?

One of the many things that irk me about Louis is that he has got nothing to say about Same Difference other than they are very nice people, but they haven't got the X Factor. And one of the things that irk me about Simon is that all he can say about them is that they are "fun".

Gee, that's illuminating. Particularly considering how the ball was on the other foot last year. Last year, it was the MacDonald Brothers who Louis thought were "fun", and who Simon thought had nothing going for them.

Anyway, rant over. Who's going this weekend? I actually don't know. The betting and everyone I know tells me Rhydian has this all wrapped up. Can it be true? After all, everyone was pretty sure about Leona last year. I was, however, shocked that Ray beat Ben into second place, though.

This year, I find my confidence cracking. Niki has always been my second choice, with SD and Leon coming in behind them. But in which order? None of them were ever in the bottom two so I could be completely wrong. But if Ray came second last year, I really don't see why Leon can't do the same this year. Somebody's voting for him.

Where there's Life...

And if that isn't the title of the first album, I don't know what is.
Anyway, you knew it was going to happen, I knew it was going to happen, they knew it was going to happen. Even Simon knew it was going to happen. Why else was he so critical of them after they sang Two Become One? The only reason being that he really wanted to make sure Same Difference survived. Hope had been Bottom Two three times in this show, after all.
Still, at least they went out all guns blazing, everyone got to sing, and for me at least they at last gave a glimpse of potential pop stars. Provided they stay together.
So here they are again, singing for what could be the final time:

It was an odd show, though. At first I thought I'd tuned in on a Freddie Mercury Tribute concert. Three Queen songs? And then I thought maybe I'd flipped channels for a rerun of "Any Dream Will Do".

What was Simon thinking, giving Same Difference a song in which one, Sarah didn't sing lead on, and two, it was full of little kiddies? The pillow fight at the end of the Wham tune was even more embarrassing. I don't think he yet realises how good the singing siblings are. As ever, he's just got to cut the gimmicks. "Young, fun, good-looking, and relevant" they may be. But they can also sing.

The others? Leon gets better and better, though I still can't see him selling any records. It'll be between him and SD next week, I suspect. Niki was good, as usual, and every time I hear her I think she could still take this off Rhydian. That was the best version of "Fields of Gold" I'd heard since the mighty MacDonald Brothers did it. It doesn't help Rhydian's case much that he keeps being given songs and arrangements that drown out his undeniably brilliant vocals.
When Ben sang "Somebody to Love" last year it was accapella, albeit with a choir behind him. This year, Rhydian was just another singer.

Days of Hope

I think we all know that Hope are hanging on by the skin of their teeth. Simon looked astonished that they had polled better than Beverley did on Saturday. They have been in the bottom two a record-breaking THREE times, whereas neither Leon, Same Difference, Niki nor Rhydian have ever been there.
It'll take a miracle for them to get through Saturday. The biggest, most obvious criticism of them is that only one of them can sing: Phoebe. The rest are mannequins who oogh and aah but can barely hold a tune. This isn't quite fair. For a start, they all took their turns on Hanky Panky, but certainly on the last two Saturdays it's basically been the Phoebe show.
This weekend it promises to be different. That formula clearly wasn't working, and so it's time to take a risk. This time, they're taking a shot at a tune by none other than the Spice Girls: Two Become One. It's a high risk strategy, but hey, desperate times call for desperate measures. Will they pull it off? Time will tell. Anyway, here are the originators of Girl Power themselves, doing what they did best. Unfortunately, it's only a video, rather than a live performance, but still, they're always worth a look.

Of course, I could be wrong, and they'll still do it as a solo. If so, I wonder if it can compare with Emma Bunton, when she did it.