The Tribune

By LESH

Tribune Features Reporter

acadet@tribunemedia.net

In a two part premiere, the new judges were revealed: American music veteran Britney Spears and Pop Star Demi Lovato. They joined X Factor regulars Simon Cowell and L A Reid.

The new season launched on the same night as The Voice, another popular music competition; however, loyal fans stuck with their old time favourite.

Last season, the Florida based singer Melanie Amaro clinched the X Factor USA title. Since then, she is said to have dropped her first single “ Don’t Fail Me Now.”

The highly anticipated show came back on air with a few changes added to it. It now has a little “reality show” feel to it, with the contestants having more interaction with each other.

According to the X Factor’s website, Simon said: “We tell it this time through the contestants, so the cameras have gone further than we’ve ever shown before. And some of them are absolutely totally vile with each another. They’re competitive. They’re evil. So we’ve done it to be different than all the other shows out there, and, secondly, this is the show I’ve always wanted to make.”

A few memorable highlights of the show includes contestants 21 year old Paige Thomas and Kaci Newton. These two may be around the same age, but they are total opposites. Paige is shown with her three year old daughter Jade, preparing herself for her goose bump performance, as she was selected to be the opening act of the show.

Kaci on the other hand, is portrayed as the “mean girl”, as she continuously spoke negatively to her sister about Paige being too young to even have a child. She made comments saying she can probably sing better than Paige can. But to Kaci’s surprise, Paige stole the show with her performance of Mary J Blige’s “I’m Going Down.”

Britney’s first comment for the night was to Paige, and she simply said: “Flawless.” Demi chimed in and told her she’s a “superstar.” After singing Katy Perry’s “Fireworks”, however, judge Simon Cowell told her she sounded as if she was dying. She received all “no” votes from every judge seated.

As the show went on, some Bahamian X Factor fans took to their Facebook and Twitter pages to leave comments. One fan said:

“I see they are trying something new here with the show and I like it. I always thought this was the best singing show there is and this just gives it more spark. So far, I see a lot of talent but I am team Paige!”

Another fan said:

“I wonder how much money they paid Kaci to play that mean girl role, because that can’t be real. I get the keeping up with the times thing but just keep it real man. I feel like they are trying to keep people interested by creating drama and a show like X Factor doesn’t need that, but oh well.”

Nine contestants were successfully sent through to the next round: Paige Thomas, Reed Deming, Quatrele Smith, Emblem, Jason Brock, Johnny Maxwell, Jillian Jensen, Jennel Garcia and Carly Rose Soneciar.

The X Factor team encouraged viewers to stay tuned as the show continues tonight and tomorrow night, beginning at 8pm.