[LMBTO] All Cross Your Arms - X Factor Will Take Malta To Eurovision...

So it seems that my Eurovision viewing pre-Christmas will have travelled on from Armenia two years ago where Artsvik took the crown, via Israel and we all know what happened there, onto Malta.  I have to admit that the X Factor is not a show that I tend to watch in the UK now, it clashing with Strictly Come Dancing in the run-up to the festive season and it also having the hideous 'let's laugh at the rubbish singers...hold on, this one is amazing' stage that I detest.  In fact, the last time I watched a series from beginning to end was when Alexandra Burke won (series 5, 2008) - so why will I start watching again now?  This tweet over a month ago when it was announced that Malta would be using this format to choose their Eurovision singer for Israel sums up my feelings too:

I wouldn't be surprised if there are quite a few fans with the same attitude but the answer is straightforward...


We all do things for this Contest we love that we wouldn't ordinarily do and I don't intend watching series 14 in the UK, despite having Robbie Williams as a new judge.  As far as using this format for selecting a Eurovision singer, this will be the first time that the show has been used in this way and that is the main reason why I will be watching X Factor Malta.  Quite a few alumni of the show worldwide have gone onto sing at the ESC at a later date:


Its direct rival "The Voice" and its predecessor "Pop Idol" have been used to select the act directly to go onto sing in May for its nation - why those have been used and not X Factor is uncertain.  The Voice has always been credited with auditioning  only singers who actually had great vocal technique and skills, rather than the X Factor that has always been pooled from huge numbers of wannabe stars, many of whom can't sing, perform or who have any star quality / x factor whatsoever.  But as Meatloaf once sung:


And out of the thousands that apply each year around the world, that ruby is always found - someone who CAN sing really well, perform live with no hint of fear and often has a decent amount of stage chutzpah.  Okay, maybe not all three of those points hold true for each artist but sometimes an OTT amount of one aspect compensates for the lack of another...
So how will the Maltese version of this show look?  It appears that it will be produced much in the same way as the early shows were in the UK - there have already been producer-led auditions that has whittled the numbers applying down to the 180 or so who will be singing for the four judges in a studio and given the yea or nay to progressing to boot camp.  From those 90 acts, it is assumed that four groups of four will then move onto the live shows, much as it is now all over the world.  But let's go back a step or two - why might (hopefully) this version be an entertaining and perhaps more civilised show that what we now get in the UK?  Why is X Factor Malta likely to be a more interesting and refreshing experience?


The numbers will be less and hopefully the quality is better...
Busy, huh?  At the height of the infamous X Factor queues, this was a familiar scene whenever the show rolled into town.  With a larger population (66 million) comes the need for bigger venues, more processing, a bigger weeding out process and generally dealing with 99% of those attending not making the grade.  As Malta has a population 7% the size of the UK, the intimacy is retained - entrants are more likely to know each other, especially within the performance community on the islands.  Pop-up audition booths were all that was needed for the enthusiastic applicants:
All participants have to be Maltese or have part citizenship, keeping it local for the first series at least.  As it is a new phenomenon to Malta, albeit not entirely new as other versions will have been seen on their tvs, I would hope it is less likely to attract those who view this solely as a way of becoming famous and will, on the whole, intrigue those who can actually sing and perform already to a reasonable level.  Hopefully those who would normally show their lack of ability in the UK version will have already realised what Greg Davies flags up here at 0.12:



180 or so singers will be singing in front of the judges - that relatively small number should provide a standard similar to that of the 'Chair stage' of The Voice, rather than the 'humiliation stages' of X Factor I have watched and loathed...


We will have judges who will be an unknown quantity (as far as judging is concerned)...
For us non-Maltese Eurovision fans, there is obviously one of the four judges that we all recognise - Malta's own Ira Losco, probably the most famous and definitely the most successful singer of the 21st Century from that nation, who provided one of their best ever Eurovision finishes and did not disgrace herself in Stockholm.   The other three?  Not so much - from a brief trawl of reputable internet sites, here is what I found out.

Ray Mercieca - a well established frontman for bands such as The Rifffs, an example of their sound below.  I'm liking the ska influence there and it looks as though Ray is a charismatic guy and someone who commands front of stage and the lead.  He's obviously been in the business a while, probably knows what he is looking for and will have plenty of experience to impart when the boot camp/live show stages are reached - as I grew up through Two-Tone, I like his sound and his moves...



Alexandra Alden - the 'newbie' of the judging panel, with two number ones from her first album and a recent Bachelor of Jazz Music from Rotterdam under her belt.  A singer-songwriter and teacher of music, it will be interesting to see how she fares as a mentor against the other three judges who have a lot more experience than her but might lack the hands-on instructional skills she has...



Ira Losco - we all know this lady back to front!  Runner-up in Tallinn, twelfth in Stockholm, massively successful pop artist, top selling singer in Malta this century, seven studio albums - the most recognisable judge by far and potentially the selling point for foreign viewers, fans of Eurovision and the X Factor format.  It will be interesting to see her judging style, given that she is such a charismatic performer...



Howard Keith Debono - Ira Losco's manager, his promo blurb for the show sounding as though he might be taking the 'Simon Cowell' mantle as least as far as telling it like it is but he is well respected within the Maltese music business and has been a juror at the MESC in the past.  He also seems to have a relationship with Ray too...



The big question will be - who gets Groups?  Over 25s?  Boys?  Girls?  That's always been part of the intrigue about X Factor and I have no idea which of these four will suit which category...


We will hopefully see some 'new' talent, rather than the same 'old' faces...

Having watched MESC for quite a few years in a row now, it has become clear, even to me, that the formula had got a little bit stale.  Despite losing the irrelevant SF stage where only four acts out of twenty were lost before the Final, introducing higher levels of televoting and using a new venue, we still got to see the same faces year after year, singing songs written by similar songwriters, providing entries that were good but not great and that have struggled once they got to Eurovision.  It did seem that if you entered the Maltese NF for enough years in a row, you would eventually get to sing at the ESC by default.  The powers that be have obviously made a big shift away from that by choosing to use X Factor to select the singer for Israel but what about the song?  It is unlikely that we will know much about that before Final night, where it is possible that the song for Eurovision will be "the winner's song", much in the same way as that song is the one in the UK that the winner takes into the market to try to get to be the Christmas Number 1.  Similar big event, just that Malta's will be a few months later - that is assuming that the X Factor formula is stuck to.  It could be that side of things is delayed but I feel that is unlikely, as part of the deal is a record contract with Sony Music Italy and they will be looking for a fairly immediate return on the promotional part of the prize.


It had been mooted that the regular scheme of things will be put on hold for a year - experienced songwriters will not have twenty acts to write songs for now and the likelihood is that only those chosen by the production firm behind X Factor will have the opportunity to write the winner's song.  There have already been some prominent Maltese songwriters predicting doom and gloom already for the X Factor process, months before the winner is announced.  It is also possible that some established singers may not participate, although we won't know for certain until all of the judge's auditions have finished.  The tv show itself is not airing until October but chances are that the media will find out if any regular Eurovision wannabes are singing or not - we already know some names who have put themselves forward publically...

Janice Mangion - just missed out on singing for Malta in 2017 with the Maltese ballad "Kewkba"...



Franklin Calleja - one of the regulars at MESC but who also just missed out last year at San Marino's 1 in 360 project (another that would have done a damn sight better in Lisbon for that nation)...



Miriana Conte - appeared at the last two MESC with a joint 11th placing earlier this year but who has a fun charismatic style about her that might suit the X Factor...



And this lady who, like Franklin, entered the 1 in 360 project in San Marino but is building up a profile in Malta:
I'll be keeping an eye out for Gail Attard and hopefully she'll progress from her judge's audition next week.  As far as  the whole process is concerned, Kurt Calleja (This Is The Night 2012) is quoted as saying:


Surely a year's experiment with this format is worth the risk for Malta?  It's definitely worth it for those singers who struggle to get one of those places at the MESC...


Will the Maltese public get to choose their singer again?
X Factor is a reality tv show where the public vote at each of the live shows and eventually decide the winner.  There has been so many variations on how singers are eliminated and promoted that we will have to wait to see if there are any deadlocks on offer.  What is clear is that the viewing public are always voting for their favourite artist - the song choice can influence how well a singer performs and sings on the night but what they sing is almost always a cover.  The MESC has both artist and song as a factor, although it could be said that in 2016, when Ira Losco was crowned by the Maltese public so easily, that they were only voting for her and not 'Chameleon'.  That is, in effect, what happened anyway as she didn't go to Stockholm with that song (as we all know) - "Walk On Water" was felt to be a better song for Eurovision by her and her team.  X Factor will do much the same thing - the most popular/best singer will win and go to Israel with a song given to them.  Talking of Israel - now they used a reality tv show this year, one where singers sung cover songs and the most popular/best singer won through to go to Eurovision with a song given to them.  Who knows?  It could work for Malta too...


Without Ira's second go in 2016, Malta would have been looking at four years without a Final appearance.  Christabelle was arguably unlucky to have missed out this year but seeing that only Gianluca Bezzina has provided a top ten for this nation in the last thirteen years, linking their Eurovision selection with the X Factor, despite it not having been used before in this way, can't hurt...can it?  We are obviously still a long way from knowing who will be in the televised shows (October) and even further from knowing the winner and their song but at least it will provide a bit of entertainment for us Eurovision fans who normally are twiddling our thumbs until Christmas and FiK in Albania...