19 December 2013
Previous winners and finalists will continue to top our charts: Little Mix; James Arthur; Ella Henderson; One Direction together and solo. ‘Skyscraper’ by Sam Bailey, though, is the last X Factor winner’s single to go to number one in Ireland. It’s also the end of an annual tradition; ‘Skyscraper’ was Ireland’s eighth X Factor Christmas number one in a row – and still at this point a show that was only being screened on UTV/ITV, not on any ROI-based channel; TV3/Virgin Media only started carrying The X Factor the following year. The show continued for another five years, surprisingly: Sam Bailey is the last winner I could recall, and I don’t think I’m doing a disservice to later laureates like Louisa Johnson, Matt Terry or Dalton Harris to say that’s the first time you’ve seen those three names in perhaps forever.
Was there any kind of discernible X Factor pop style to those winners’ singles or, if I were to get all notiony, an aesthetic? Not really, unless you think its West-lite grown-up boyband ballads complete with requisite key change were some sort of carefully-evaluated artistic choice rather than Simon simply needing some sort of proven chart-topping sound as fodder for a TV finale and its tie-in CD merchandise. Instead, the greatest impact of The X Factor winner’s singles was in unwittingly provoking 2009’s hysterical rage against the machine, when “authentic” rock fans suddenly discovered they cared deeply about the Christmas number one, or how those humungous winner’s single sales balanced out the 2006 collapse of the traditional UK chart pop ecosystem, with venerable Smash Hits and Top Of The Pops both folding and Orson’s ‘No Tomorrow’ reaching number one by selling only 17,000 copies.
Perhaps because the male winners were mostly tremulous, mild-mannered Westlife-adjacent boy-next-door types like Leon Jackson and Joe McElderry, the female winners’ singles tended to be better. Sam Bailey doesn’t have the extravagant vocal talent of Leona Lewis or the pop appeal of Alexandra Burke, but she has a strong, pleasant voice. ‘Skyscraper’ certainly fills the brief of personal-journey inspirational lyrics with triumphant chorus, but it’s a solid song. And we’re mercifully spared that dreaded Westlife/winner’s single cliche of the climactic key change. As I’ve said here before, getting het up about this or any other X Factor winner’s single says more about you than about an X Factor winner’s single.
So, what’s happened since The X Factor? De facto successor The Voice hasn’t had the same impact; no winner has topped the UK or Irish charts, though 2012 finalist Becky Hill has had a UK number one and four top ten hits in Ireland. The UK would fill its Christmas-chart-battle gap with the particularly English brand of slightly chippy performative jollity of LadBaby, which thankfully didn’t travel well across the Irish Sea. (Since ‘Skyscraper’ Ireland has only had one specifically seasonal or targeted Christmas number one.) Maybe The X Factor was just a product of its moment; maybe one day it’ll return. Perhaps we’ve moved past throwing unknown teenagers into the unforgiving British tabloid spotlight. In any case, its legacy includes creating a bit of excitement, pissing off rock fans, and giving us Harry Styles, Leona Lewis, Little Mix – and Jedward.
