The Alexandra Effect!

Gosh, I'm still spinning from the excitement of last week's X-Factor finals that I've barely had time to blog...Okay, in truth I've been saddled with yet another horrid flu-ish, bug-ish thing that I've barely had enough energy to run a comb through my unruly afro, yet alone blog. Mmmm, so this conversation may seem just slightly redundant considering the event in question happened over a week ago, but bear with me. 

Yeah, she did it! Congratulations to my girl Alexandra Burke for winning the coveted X-Factor title. For those who don't know, the X-Factor is Britain's equivalent to American Idol which finds 10 eager wannabes battling it out week after week for a £1 million pound record contract. Along with Idol, the X Factor is also the brainchild of Simon Cowell, and a certified ratings winner here in the UK. 

So along with fellow contestant, Rachel Hylton, Alexandra was my favourite from the get go. The North Londoner is a mere 20 years old, but has a vocal maturity that belies her young age (think a little Gladys mixed with sprinklings of Mica and Toni Braxton). Throughout the live shows she gave consistently versatile and polished performances and quickly became the bookies favourite. The final showdown saw Alex compete with runners up JLS and Eoaghn. But after a show-stopping duet between the budding chanteuse and her American "idol", Beyonce, could there really be any other winner? Since claiming victory Alex’s debut single Hallelujah has stormed to the top of the UK charts, marking what I hope will be the start of a successful career.  

I'm not going to go into much further detail but will leave you with these random questions/ observations:

- Now that she's won do you think they'll turn her into another bland, ex-reality pop star that makes soppy, middle of the road music such as Lemar and Leona?

- And speaking of Leona, what's with the comparisons? So they're both young, women of colour, who both happen to sing really well. AND?? They sound nothing alike and have totally different personalities. SO STOP!

- Wasn't it refreshing to see pictures of a young black woman splashed across the front pages of the national newspapers, who wasn't a rape victim, thief, or young single mother who murdered her kids?

- That said, it was equally annoying to witness the whole sexualisation of a black woman in the tabloids, especially considering she’s so young. “Cheryl has banned me from having sex” read the headline in the Sun. On closer inspection Alex merely said that Cheryl advised her to abstain from boyfriends for a while.

- If, like me, your life was on hold for those three hours while you watched the finals, didn't you want to shake/slap/pinch Alex and shout 'pull it together girl' after her mini-breakdown following her Beyonce duet? Honestly, when she was announced as the winner I thought we were gonna witness a live cardiac arrest on national TV. It got a little worrying at one stage.  

Ah well, I guess that's all folks until next year. Here are my fav Alex moments...

Silent Night

Candyman



Listen