The X Factor has had many “iconic moments” in its time, such as when during one of her MANY sing-offs Katie Waissel forgot the words to ‘Don’t Give Up On Me’ and ended up going “You know what, sod it…” before sitting on the floor – and still making it through to the next week. But my all-time favourite has got to be this:
Rachel Adedeji’s problem was that nobody really knew what to do with her. For each of the four weeks she was on the show she was rebranded and repackaged in a desperate attempt to make Simon Cowell’s definition of a popstar work. By the time she was voted off one dreads to think what her scalp looked like from all the different ill-fitting weaves forced on her. The biggest shame was that there wasn’t actually much wrong with her in first place. In typical ex-contestant form one expected to hear sod all from her ever again. Until last week…
She’s back. With not just a single, but a four track EP. And Club Lights is that best kind of debut – pleasantly solid. The title track and ‘Follow the DJ’, the video for which has been lurking around since last year are both cheerful club-bangers which manage to be as lyrically shallow as your average Ke$ha track but with a touch of individual oomph. The two other tracks are more promising in terms of depth; ‘On My Own’ is short but sweet and the mysterious ‘Young Hearts’ contains a glimmering hint that Miss Adedeji may have been listening to the likes of Benga and other decent bits of dance. Waiting since 2008 to release anything might not have done her chances of (any) commercial success much good, but it’s a welcome addition to the ex-X Factor contestant portfolio. Now, if you don’t mind, I have to hunt down Tesco Mary for her opinion on workfare…
Put the Needle on It 