Firstly, I would like to call myself an ‘X Factor stan’ as our generation would call it today. I used to watch every single episode of X Factor from beginning to finish along with any of the news stories or articles linked to anyone from the show. I watched the show between 2008 and 2016 mainly...but I also remember briefly watching the earlier and more recent series.
Back in 2004 when The X Factor first aired, there were only three categories and not many of the contestants in the first few years of the show actually went on to release any original music...Steve Brookstein’s most famous and known song was probably his winner’s single ‘Against All Odds’. G4 were the runners up and Tabby Callaghan placed third.
In 2005, we saw Shayne Ward win the show and after releasing his winner’s single ‘That’s my goal’. Since then he has released three albums, including a self titled album with singles including ‘No Promises’ and ‘What About Me’. He has won various awards since, and even entered the acting industry by appearing on Coronation Street between the years of 2015-2018. Andy Abraham placed second, with Journey South in third.
Leona Lewis won the show in 2006 with her winners single ‘Bleeding Love’ which went on to be a great success! She has released a total of five albums so far, including ‘One More Sleep’ and ‘Winter Wonderland’ from her 2013 album; ‘Christmas With Love’. She has also collaborated with artists including Justin Timberlake, One Republic, Emeli Sande and more recently Calum Scott (who appeared on Britain’s Got Talent). Ray Quinn came second and Ben Mills placed third.
The X Factor, Series 4 saw Leon Jackson take the title in 2007 with Rhydian Roberts as runner up and Same Difference placing third. Leon won with his single ‘When You Believe’ and has since only released one album called ‘Right Now’ which still remains in the Top 8 X Factor Albums, knocking other winners Little Mix, Sam Bailey and Louisa Johnson’s debut albums out of the Top 10. His best songs from the album include ‘Stargazing’ and ‘Ordinary Days’ which are still songs I have on my Spotify playlist today! Leon has also performed alongside Sandi Thom in her 2008 Homecoming Tour in Scotland, and he also wrote a song for The Voice UK’s artist Vince Kidd later on in 2012.
Alexandra Burke became the winner of The X Factor in 2008 and has since released three studio albums. One album was from 2009, entitled ‘Overcome’, and had tracks including ‘Bad Boys’ featuring Flo Rida and ‘Broken Heels’. In 2011, Alexandra returned back to The X Factor as a guest judge. After her reappearance, other notable songs that she released include ‘Daylight Robbery’ and ‘Heartbreak on Hold’. JLS were the runners up with Eoghan Quigg placing third.
In 2009, it was Joe McElderry from South Shields who came the 6th winner of the show, beating Olly Murs & Stacey Solomon who placed second and third respectively. He released his winners single ‘The Climb’ and went on to produce five studio albums, the first being ‘Wide Awake’ in 2010. One of the songs on the album was produced with George Michael, but my favourite songs from this album were ‘Ambitions’, ‘Real Late Starter’ and ‘Fahrenheit’. He then went on to win ‘Popstar to Operastar’ in 2011 and released an album featuring songs from his favourite films and musicals in 2017 which lead to a national tour which featured Lloyd Daniels from the same X Factor series.
2010 saw Matt Cardle take the win! With Rebecca Ferguson and One Direction place second and third respectively. Since the show, he has released four albums. The first was entitled ‘Letters’ in 2011 with songs including ‘Run For Your Life’ and ‘When We Collide’. In his third studio album called ‘Porcelain’ released in 2013, he collaborated with Melanie Clarke (Mel C) from The Spice Girls on a song called ‘Loving You’ and that’s my favourite song from that album! More recently, he released the album ‘Time To Be Alive’ in 2018 with the lead single ‘Desire’.
In 2011, Leigh-Anne, Jesy, Jade and Perrie were the first group to win The X Factor. Their winning single was called ‘Cannonball’ which always makes me cry when I listen to it, because I have been a fan and a supporter since day 1. They were previously known as ‘Rhythmix’ but changed their name to ‘Little Mix’ as a charity already had the same name. They have released five full studio albums, their second entitled ‘Salute’. Songs on the album including ‘Salute’, ‘Stereo Soldier’ and ‘Good Enough’, and they are three of my personal favourite motivational songs from the album. Little Mix beat both Marcus Collins and Amelia Lily who placed second and third in the competition.
Little Mix performed on tour with Demi Lovato back in 2014 and Ariana Grande later in 2017. They have also collaborated with a variety of artists, including Jason Derulo on ‘Secret Love Song’, Charlie Puth on ‘Oops’ along with a variety of female artists on their fifth studio album called ‘LM5’ which was all about female empowerment and how they’ve all grown from girls into women. The collaborations were included on hits including ‘Woman Like Me’ featuring Nicki Minaj, which was actually written by Jess Glynne, Ed Sheeran and Nicki Minaj! No wonder it’s such an amazing tune! ‘Strip’ featuring Sharaya J and ‘More Than Words’ featuring Kamille were the other female only collabs from the album, and all three of them have very motivational and powerful messages conveyed through their music videos. Jade Thirlwall went on to being a guest judge on the UK hit television show ‘Ru Paul’s Drag Race UK’ in 2019 and has also opened her own cocktail bar in South Shields.
2012 was the year that saw Nicole Scherzinger’s boys; James Arthur and Jahmene Douglas compete in an all boys final as Christopher Maloney, the final over 25, finished in third place. James Arthur was announced the winner, and his winner’s single was called ‘Impossible’. He has since gone on to release three studio albums called ‘James Arthur’, with my favourite songs so far including ‘Impossible’, Recovery’ and ‘Roses’ featuring Emeli Sande. Back from the Edge’ was his second album released in 2016, with ‘Can I be him’ as the stand out song from the album. Most recently, he has released the album ‘You’ in 2019, with singles including ‘Falling like the stars’ and ‘Naked’, two of my favourite James Arthur songs to date!
In 2013, it was Sam Bailey who became the 10th champion of the show after Steve Brookstein, Shayne Ward, Leona Lewis, Leon Jackson, Alexandra Burke, Joe McElderry, Matt Cardle, Little Mix and James Arthur. Her winner’s single was ‘Skyscraper’ originally sung by Demi Lovato, and she beat Nicholas McDonald and Luke Friend who came second and third respectively. She was due to go on multiple tour dates with Beyonce after the won the show, but due to the live X Factor Tour that she had to prepare for, she was only able to perform at one show! She has since released two albums, one called ‘The Power of Love’ in 2014 with the amazing cover of ‘And I am telling you’ featuring Nicole Scherzinger, her mentor throughout the series, and her most recent album called ‘Sing my heart out’ which was released in 2016. In 2019, she has joined Michael Bolton in a concert broadcast on BBC Radio 4, and also joined the ‘42nd Street Musical’ at the Albany Theatre in Coventry!
2014 saw the rise of Ben Haenow, go from lorry driver to X Factor winner! He beat Fleur East and Andrea Faustini who placed second and third. The winner’s single ‘Something I need’ went to number one almost straight-away, becoming the Christmas single of that year. He has since released two albums, one called ‘Ben Haenow’ with his winner’s single featuring Kelly Clarkson along with a variety of other musicians and artists who helped create the album; including Julian Bunetta, Iain James and Kodaline! His second album was called ‘Alive’ and was released back in 2018 with inspirational songs including ‘Getaway’ stating that it’s never too late to achieve your dreams!
Louisa Johnson became the youngest singer and won over the judges along with the general public back in 2015. She beat runners up Reggie ‘N’ Bollie and Che Chesterman who placed third! Her winner’s single ‘Forever Young’ didn’t become the Christmas single for that year and only placed 9th (the lowest of all the X Factor winner singles to date). After releasing her winner’s single, she was signed to Syco and teased some songs that were to be featured on her debut album. She began releasing individual singles with the first being ‘So Good’, the second being ‘Best Behaviour’ and the third being a collaboration with Clean Bandit called ‘Tears’. In 2017, she initially released a third single of her own called ‘Best Behaviour’ along with a variety of other collaborations including ‘Unpredictable’ with X Factor 2009’s star Olly Murs, ‘Weak’ featuring AJR and ‘Bridge over troubled waters’ a collaboration in tribute for the Grenfell Towers fire. Most recently in 2018 and 2019 she has released a variety of other songs including ‘YES’ featuring 2Chainz, ‘Between you and me’ with OneBit, ‘999’ as a feature for Mars Moniz (featuring Wusu and Louisa) and two other amazing collaborations with Sigma and KREAM with the singles ‘Here we go again’ and ‘Ain’t thinkin’ about you’ (also featuring Eden Prince). She is due to release her first studio album in 2020.
The year of 2016 saw Matt Terry (the second Matt, after Matt Cardle) take the winning position! He beat Saara Aalto and 5 After Midnight, the other finalists in this series, and his winner’s single ‘When Christmas comes around’ peaked at number three and unfortunately didn’t become the ‘single of the year’. His first album called ‘Trouble’ features the incredible collaboration he did with Enrique Iglesias, with features from Sean Paul and Matt himself for a song called ‘Subeme La Radio’, along with two of my favourites from the album ‘Re-writing History’ and ‘Sucker for you’. In 2018 he was also credited for providing backing vocals and co-writing a single for Samantha Harvey entitled ‘Please’ for her EP with the same name. Most recently, in 2019 he has transitioned into an acting career, appearing in two musicals; ‘Madagascar the musical’ and ‘How the Grinch stole Christmas the musical’.
Rak-Su won the show in 2017, beating Grace Davies and Kevin Davy-White who were second and third, becoming the second group (after Little Mix back in 2011) to win the show. They released their winner’s single ‘Dimelo’ which featured Naughty Boy and Wyclef Jean, and was the only winner’s single that was written by the winner. Their single peaked at number 2, just behind Ed Sheeran’s ‘Perfect’ at the time. Their self-titled debut called ‘Rak-Su’ was also released in 2018. They performed a lot of their original songs on the show, but they couldn’t chart as they had not been officially released, and they were voted the highest every week (other than week three when Kevin Davy-White beat them by 1% of the overall votes. They have since released ‘Pyro Ting’ with Banx & Ranx (who have also collaborated with the likes of Ella Eyre), and Rak-Su returned to the X Factor UK in 2018 to perform their newest single ‘I want you to freak’. On 5th April 2019, they released a single entitled ‘Yours or mine’ and in July they released ‘Rotate (Clockwise). They have since been dropped from RCA due to ‘the lack of mainstream chart success’. They are set to be headlining their own tour in 2020.
The most recent series of The X Factor saw Dalton Harris, originally from Jamaica win the fifteenth series of the show in 2018, beating Scarlett Lee and Anthony Russell. I only watched bits and pieces from this series so couldn’t tell you who I liked and didn’t like, but I feel like Dalton was a commendable winner. His winner’s single was ‘The Power of Love’ which he sang with James Arthuer, the winner six years earlier! On 14 December 2019, he stated that he would release his newest single ‘Cry’ which would also be performed on ‘The X Factor: The Band’ live final!
So, that’s the X Factor UK wrapped up from 2004 all the way through to 2018! Megan McKenna was also the first celebrity to win ‘X Factor - The Celebrity Edition’ and the results of the X Factor Band proved that 'Real Like You' were the ultimate victors!
Hope you enjoyed reading this post, and I'll see you on the next one!
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