MrIndependent

If Ben & Leona and Little Mix & Fleur are performing together on Saturday, I think there should be one more performer that day (there were six last year). I'm assuming they're still working through the duet performances as they've not announced those yet? I've written and erased three replies now in regards to Leona, so I will just state the obvious instead: she's not a 'big star'; she had one big era in 2007-2008 on which her legacy as an artist rests, a mediocre one in the follow couple of years; but all in all she's done nothing of note in the past 7 years and the fact that she is still the most successful winner of the show states one thing: winning The X Factor doesn't mean a thing. They have Little Mix as an example of winners who have went on to have a much more fruitful career -- why do they need Leona? The contestants will look up to her as somebody with outstanding vocals who did win the show, and this is why her doing one of the duet performances would be warranted. In the end, Simon has shoved her on Ben Haenow's performance as a last resort, and I wonder if he's doing it to try and benefit Ben (after all, they got Kelly on the single; perhaps this is a continued trend of trying to market Ben alongside an acclaimed female singer). I think this is cheap and poor of Simon, and my issue therefore lies with him and not Leona. However, Leona's lack of success in recent years alongside her inability to sell anything only shows that she's got no reason to be at the final in 2015, winner or not. This post will annoy Leona's fans here (I assure you that is not my intention), but I'm sure you can all see merit in what I'm saying.

Ben and Leona duetting... For Christ's sake, Simon. I'm not happy that Simon is more interested in flaunting his own acts than getting stars who are truly in demand, and even though I'm excited for their performances I don't like that Ben, Fleur, Little Mix and One Direction, who have all performed already, are getting a slot; I was hoping that Simon would throw the guests-performing-for-a-second-time-this-series thing out the window this time around. The obvious omission is the Biebs, who really should be there over Ben and Leona. As said by others, Years & Years and Taylor Swift could've been given a slot, although I'd say that Y&Y would've been more suited to one of the ordinary results show rather than the final. Anyway, I'm glad that Adele is there.

One Direction's loss in sale has nothing to do with The X Factor and they certainly don't need publicity from the show to spike their popularity; I doubt that many people even remember them being on the show, and many fans on a worldwide basis probably don't know at all. Fleur's album doing 25k this week looks realistic, which isn't bad considering that she's probably seen as a 'singles artist'; Sax did 60k in its opening week with an XF performance. It would've been a safer bet for Syco to put out a second single and then follow that up with the album launch in the first quarter of 2016.

The album's opening, which should be around 25k, isn't bad when you consider that Sax opened with 60k. It's only going to open on a lower position than expected because of sales being huge at the moment. A second single followed by the album's launch in the first quarter of 2016 would've been safer.

As for Rita, she used very, VERY prominent backing tracks earlier on in her career during live performances, which I think is due to her not having the confidence in her own voice rather than her not being a skilful singer. She seems to have improved vocally a lot in her recent performances, and has proved that she can do so live. Shame to see people declaring that she can't sing.

There goes Fleur's top ten in albums! Enya and 1D are neck and neck with her so she'll be #11 tomorrow and then hopefully won't fall too far from there. Kylie will pick up some sales after her Royal Variety Performance appearance but yes, top ten looks out of reach for her, at least this week; I still think it could get there on the 18th or the 25th chart. Adelegend leaving Coldplay for dust as expected.

It's a good thing that Leona's duetting with one of the contestants, and in this regard her place as a guest in the final is deserved. A solo performance would be very exciting for her Buzzjack fans, but let's be truthful: the general public don't give a damn about her recent music. She'd be a total waste of a solo guest performer. They need Adele and Justin Bieber for solo performances and then they've done right. It's possible that Adele could (have) turn(ed) down performing as she's made it clear that she doesn't like doing big promotion. They'd be really silly to not have Justin there as one of the male performers given his prominence in the world right now; they've also had contestants performing Sorry and Love Yourself so it's likely to be in talks. Taylor Swift would be a very well deserved performer too, but I somewhat can't see it happening. If they're doing Christmas songs for the final then yes, Bubbles will probably be there as one of the duet performances with Che, I'd think. I hope to God that they're not having Cheryl duet with Reggie n' Bollie; if they must get somebody, then do the best thing and just shove Fleur in with them.

That's a pretty underwhelming 'hold' for Coldplay in comparison to the gap in between them and Adele on yesterday's update. Either Adele sold more than expected yesterday, or they dropped off considerably. Michael Buble and Kylie Minogue cater to totally different audiences; tell me again why they're being compared?

Thanks for the Kylie data, Mullo! I'm confident that it will hit the top ten in the upcoming weeks, then. She's barely started her promotion.

I will watch it eagerly if Lady C is in it. It's been a long time since I watched this. I might tune in anyway and see what I think of it. I loved BB/CBB when I was a kid and then I got bored of it.

Oh my God, I'm screaming. :lol: :lol: :lol: Pretty confident that Adele will sell more than 350k this week tbqh.

Vicky's reaction to winning was hilariously endearing. :lol: Does anyone know when the individual voting tables are revealed and where they're posted?

I loved all three trials also. I don't think that people are giving Vicky and George enough credit for making theirs look easy as piss.

Brilliant final. I couldn't love the three of them more.

I was laughing when Ant & Dec alluded to how forgettable the last series was... They are right! :lol:

Glad to see Jorgie go. For someone that I liked in the beginning, I really went off her. I do think that she had a gameplan and was just a really weak contestant; bitchy, childish... just turned really crap. Kieron grew on me throughout the camp, particularly in the last few days. Before then, I thought that he was dull and miserable the majority of the time; sometimes I felt like he didn't appreciate being there and would've preferred to have left earlier. He was hot and cold, never consistent. I don't think that there's a say in who'll be the winner; pretty sure that Vicky will get it, followed by Ferne and then George in second and third places respectively, but it could be close between them for second place.

YAAAASSSS PERF FINAL THREE I'M SCREAMING

Such an uneventful semi-final! That trial is usually AMAZING fun to watch but it was so boring tonight.

RnB were safe bets to go tbh... until that performance. 10 Louisa 09 Reggie n' Bollie 08 Che 05 Lauren Louisa is the only one who's truly safe.

Lauren wasn't singing in the right pitch and tone there. Performance two 10 Louisa 08 Che 05 Lauren

Perfomance two 10 Louisa Flawless 08 Che Far better; also far from Amy's version.

Performance one 09(.5?) Louisa 07 Lauren 04 Che 03 Reggie n' Bollie Louisa is winning.

Hoping that Louisa will hit it out the park.

Performance one 07 Lauren 04 Che 03 Reggie n' Bollie Was it really THAT good, judges?

WHY IS OLLY SO EMBARRASSING OMG Performance one 03 Reggie n' Bollie 07 Lauren