“X Factor” Competes with “American Idol”

As I’ve been watching both “American Idol” and ‘X Factor” singing competitions, the differences between the two shows have me leaning towards “American Idol” rather than “X Factor” and here’s why. While I’ve been watching “American Idol” for years, “X Factor” in the US is new on the scene. And since I haven’t watched the British version, the show is new to me.

First of all, the age of the contestants in “X Factor” allow for what seems like too young or too old contestants to vie for what is mainly a young person’s venue.

I know this may seem prejudiced, and the Susan Boyle example certainly shows what an older, unknown contestant can do, but in general, the set up for “American Idol” seems more likely to draw an audience rather than a 12-year old African American rapper like Astro who was voted off and in my opinion was just too young and inexperienced for the show.

Last week the 14-year-old Drew was also voted off. Although she had an interesting ethereal quality, she seemed too one-dimensional to garner the wide audience needed to win the competition.

On the X-Facor, Simon Cowell mentors the girl singers and L.A.Reid mentors the boys with Paula Abdul mentoring the groups and older contestants mentored by Nicole Scherzinger. The differences in types of singers represent another problem, with individual singers vs groups being a kind of apples and oranges contest. This is where I think “American Idol” has an edge with the emphasis on individual efforts.

Also, the singers on Idol choose their own material, and their choices help decide their fates as well as their talent. On “X Factor” the mentors choose material whether in my opinion it is suitable or not.

A Yahoo! Article by Kyra Lennon states:

“Cowell's belief that "The X Factor" is better than "“American Idol”," seems to be based on the fact that it has his personality stamped on it. While the judges will see an obvious change in the way things work, the viewers will only see what they've always seen.”-that is the final product.

This is where Simon Cowell and I part company. It seems to me the choices the singers make for song titles can be as important as their execution of those songs. And the long-running (now going into its 11^th season) “American Idol”, as opposed to the “X Factor”’s one season in the US and only since 2004 in Britain, well, the success of Idol seems clear.

I just think “American Idol” is more tried and true, but who knows, “X Factor” may still develop into more of a crowd pleaser. Just bring on some more Susan Boyles!