Hope people don't mind this. Not that anyone asked for it, but thought I'd give Damo his own thread and go through the songs I chose for Pop Factor Season 3 and would have chosen if by some miracle he had kept getting through.

He was my 3rd choice artist, after Jessie Ware and an artist I may try again for Pop Factor Season 4, but I put him as my 3rd choice artist because I knew I could do him justice and hopefully introduce an artist that people may have not heard of before.

The Audition Stage - 9 Crimes

So my thought process around choosing my 3 acts for Pop Factor 3 went as follows:

• Didn't want to stick to The Groups after sending Walk The Moon & The Chicks in previous seasons

• Thought I'd go for an act that I love, but one that people might not guess as me - Jessie Ware

• If I failed to get Jessie, I'd go for a second choice that could do well (may be revealed in a future season)

• On the off-chance that I couldn't have my 1st or 2nd choice, I went for a male artist that I know well and could do justice. I did not expect to be given my 3rd choice...!

'9 Crimes' however was a deliberate choice in case I did end up with the Irish troubadour. Go with one of his hits, but not one of the main two that people would know (Cannonball or The Blower's Daughter). I would have considered 'Unplayed Piano' but the vocal version of that song is not available on Spotify.....

I also saw '9 Crimes' as a good choice as it would test the waters and see if there was any chance that Damien could survive multiple rounds. I expected it would finish near the bottom, so was pleasantly surprised to see it score some high rankings from quite a few people.

The song itself is a thing of beauty. Yes, it is true that Lisa Hannigan should be credited on the song. She starts it FFS and sets the tone that Damien then builds on. Some people may think the song sounds boring, but the lyrics and the equally powerful video elevate the song. There's a reason this was a hit for him.

Damien has been quite vocal about the way in which his record label rushed the difficult second album (although I would say it has some incredible tracks on it - some of which will appear later). '9 Crimes' being the lead song from the album allowed it to be a success and out-peak his debut 'O'. It wouldn't get anywhere near sales wise mind you, but kept Damien on people's radar (as the label had wanted).

Arena Audition - Woman Like A Man

Buoyed by a solid performance in the first round, where I had comfortably qualified, I thought I'd take a risk with round 2 and see if one of the rockier sounding Damien Rice songs would resonate - particularly with the alt crowd. It would also save some of Damien's bigger hits for future rounds.

When I saw the initial list of songs for this category I did however have an immediate panic. I couldn't see how anyone would put 'Woman Like A Man' high up, so I prepared to be at risk of elimination. And somehow I just about survived.

'Woman Like A Man' was a single for Damien Rice, but one that was never released in the UK. Apparently it appeared as a hidden track on his debut album 'O' (although not on the version I have). I first heard it when it was released on 'The B-Sides' - an amazing set of songs in its own right. I was immediately enamoured with this song and used to scream the chorus loudly in my room - which in itself was odd because I was heavily into cheesy pop and had only recently discovered Damien Rice.

Boot Camp Part One - Amie

When I saw that the category for this round was 'Shoulda Been A Single', I was only ever going to send 'Amie'.

After just about surviving the arena auditions, I thought this choice would also get votes from the people who showed '9 Crimes' some love. And that was true for the most part - it definitely got some high rankings from some of the more alt-leaning crowd. But there were also a lot of last positions/low rankings.

I get it. A ballad is a ballad, and if you're a cheesy pop lover (and I am partial to a slice of cheese), I can imagine you skipped over this song and wrote it off as boring. But for me, this is story-telling at its best. The thing that hooked me onto Damien Rice was his ability to provide emotion through his lyrics and the ability to paint a vivid picture.

Amie, come sit on my wall
And read me the story of 'O'

Those lines never fail to hit me hard. I have no idea how many times I've sung this song to myself, screamed it on a long drive, or focused in hard on the lyrics in a darkened room. To me it is one of the best album tracks ever recorded.

Loving these write ups Herbie, keep them coming. ❤️

(I'm enjoying the write ups more than I did the songs. 🤭)

18 minutes ago, Spiceboy said:

Loving these write ups Herbie, keep them coming. ❤️

(I'm enjoying the write ups more than I did the songs. 🤭)

Ha - the shade. At least when I get to the ‘would have been’ choices you’ll have to listen

3 minutes ago, Herbs said:

Ha - the shade. At least when I get to the ‘would have been’ choices you’ll have to listen

Shade with love though 🤭🥰. Sure thing… I can turn my hearing aids off. Kidding haha I’ll give them a listen. 🎧

Amie - what a lovely song, I think I ranked it top.

Boot Camp Part Two - Cannonball

Here's the deal. When I was told I had my 3rd choice artist, I expected to last one, maybe two rounds. Damien was going to get NO fans from the pure pop voters....and I'd maybe get some votes from the alt-fans.

So having reached this stage, I just decided to play my trump cards and see how far I could get.

Sadly I knew this meant that I'd be unlikely to send anything from Damien's third studio album 'My Favourite Faded Fantasy' - a superb album in my eyes, with 8 tracks that reminded the world why Damien Rice was a force of story-telling beauty.

And so we get to 'Cannonball'. Back in the day I rarely bought albums on the basis of one or two tracks (unless it was an act I adored like Steps!). For some reason I made an exception for 'O'. I'd heard 'Cannonball' on the radio and I was becoming part of the audience it was gaining. It seems mad to me that years later it would take a random performance of the song on X Factor (from a contestant who didn't actually progress that far) for it to give Damien his one and only top 10 UK single. We all know that this contributed to the track being chosen for Little Mix's winning single in the same year (a version I actually really like)

I always forget this song has a video, a very basic one at that....that was definitely unique for its time, when big budget videos were all the rage. When this song was first released, the combination of carefully curated lyrics and a killer chorus made it my favourite Damien Rice song. A few others have overtaken this since, but it will always be the reason I got into Damien Rice.

It also gave me the below review from the Pop Factor host himself, which made me chuckle for a looooooooong time. Triggered much?!! I will take tin can, drunk man singing over soulless pop any day of the week!

Anyways, the plan worked and enough people showed Cannonball some love and got me through to the next round.

Edited Thursday at 14:431 day by Herbs

Cannot deny Rice brought it that week! ❤️