daisy-chain

He's sold himself as a songwriter and therefore different from other X Factor winners, and so the fact that he is releasing a Gary Barlow song is a little tricky to explain without sounding a bit of a hypocrite - so he's obviously been told to say the song has personal meaning blah blah (it's all PR speak). Still it sounds a marriage made in heaven, Gary Barlow is beloved by nearly all and is especially popular with more mature ladies (which will no doubt be Matt's main market) so it's almost certain to be a big success. Whether he can continue to be successful is another matter, his songwriting obviously didn't produce a viable single. He's a bit dull and plodding really, only averagely good looking. He's already admitted he had to swallow his pride to go on X Factor, and so he has to swallow it again and release a song he's not written. Still if it sells loads I'm sure he will think it's worth it.

No he definitely didn't write it did he 'awsuki'. ;) You would know that better than most.

He's very popular in parts of Asia (he's been to China several times, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Thailand), he did well in South Africa and has had hits in Denmark and Sweden, and believe it or not he's hugely popular in North Africa and the Middle East! Look on his Facebook if you don't believe me. Unfortunately he was never promoted in the major music buying markets like the US, and Germany or most of Europe. Where he received even a small bit of promotion he had success, so that must say something.

Simon Cowell seemed to lose interest in Shayne in 2006 when he 'found' Leona and from then on it has been tough going for him. As a label they seem to be only able to concentrate on a few artists at a time and Shayne just got pushed aside. He's suffered from awful single choices as well - how could the label think a Nickelback cover was a good choice? He's got a great look and voice, shame he never really had the material to match.

Really! There's no accounting for taste I suppose. I'm not a fan of the slightly podgy, receeding hair, heading towards thirty look myself. He wears so much make-up on stage. It was quite funny the way they tried to glam him up on X Factor to make him appear more sexy (fake tan and all). I can see him appealing to some middle aged ladies though. He comes acreoss as a bit lazy and self satisfied as well. I mean 28/29? and never had a proper job, living off his mum and dad. His voice is overrated as well, he gave some bad performances on X Factor. But we'll see - as I said if he gets Cowell's 100% support he'll do OK.

Shayne sold over one million albums in the UK alone and his winner's single over one million copies. His popularity decreased because of the three year gap (thanks Syco) between his second and third album and Cowell insisting that his comeback single was a cover of Nikelback. Matt will do well if Cowell wants him to. There is nothing particularly unique or original about him, his songwriting so far consists of very average bland indie lite stuff. He's a good singer but then so were some of the other male winners - Joe and Shayne especially. It certainly will be an advantage if he can write his own songs for his album as that will give him some credibility. If he gets paired with some good songwriters and producers that will help. The fact that he has been signed to both Syco and Columbia will probably help as well. Syco on their own are fairly clueless, especially when it comes to male singers and what suits them. He is a bit dull though.

He sold just over 400k for his album I think, there was much talk of it being 'double platinum' but the sales never amounted to that. I'm not convinced Same Difference sold 180k either - I thought it was closer to 100k. Never rely on wikipedia or certifications as proof of sales or random ill-informed blogs and newspaper articles. Shayne Ward sold 520k for his first album and 460k for his second, his third hasn't gone past 60k probably.

Try and listen in full to a couple of the original songs - Obsession, Human. Crash, Foolish, all are great. It's not the cheesy disposable pop some people might think, just great songs beautifully sung. If however, you liked 'If That's OK With You' the album might not be for you, the only track similar to ITOWY is Someone Like You.

Human would have made a brilliant first single. I can't get my head around why Simon Cowell chose Gotta Be Somebody as the first single. Why a cover? When there are much better original songs on the album, and songs that would have stood a much better chance of radio airplay. It's just stupid.

With a few exceptions I love it. By far his best album. His vocals are outstanding. Obsession, Human, Close To Close, Foolish are all great. What a shame they chose the second worse track as the single! (Nobody Knows is the worst). What a shame - with the right single choices and no covers this would have been brilliant. There's something really refreshing and different about the best tracks.

No not at all. Who is worldwide trending topic? Shayne not Kylie. Let's see where he is when itunes rights itself.

Yeah but he's got to 28 in the itunes chart with virtually no radio airplay. An X Factor audience tonight will help - but promo wise nothing compares to week in week out radio play by the major stations (something Shayne hasn't got).

He's doing OK - but stuck at the moment. How much better would he do though if he released a song that actually got some radio airplay. How on earth can he compete with songs that are heard every hour on Radio One, Capital etc. Roll on the X Factor appearance...

Hope this does at least reasonably well. He's been so badly handled since he won the X Factor. If Syco had concentrated on him a bit more I'm sure he could have done brilliantly over the last few years. Anyway, his X Factor appearance will be all important - would hate him to flop, he deserves more than that.

Yes although I'm really pleased he's got an appearance on X Factor - which he deserves, I think he will still struggle as he's getting no airplay. The fact that it's a cover isn't helping him either. I think the single will struggle to get into the Top Ten and the album even more as 'Gotta Be Somebody' is not the sort of song that will sell the album. I'm sure if Simon Cowell and Syco really wanted Shayne to do well they should have released an original song after three years. I'm not convinced that the best decisions are being made for him - and that's been the way throughout his career. I hope I'm wrong though - I'd LOVE him to do well.