MK1 & Melanie Of Interest

Sep 10, 2012 by Rob

So, 3 more X Factor audition shows since the first post of this series, & things are starting to take shape in terms of the most likely final 12.
The last 2 weekends has offered up a lot of underwhelming episode filler, at least to our eyes, and ears. Last week, we were most impressed by Melanie Masson. She struck us as having a strong and versatile voice that should potentially cope admirably with the different theme weeks.
There was a muted response to her among other show observers – who are keen to paint her as the next Mary Byrne who of course featured in series 7 & was unsubtly dumped in week 9.
A key difference between the 2 is that Mary never had the look of a recording artist, whereas Melanie potentially does. We’re keeping a close eye on this year’s Overs, given Gary has the reins & this category is possibly due so we wouldn’t be ruling Melanie out as she clearly has some potential if they decide to get behind an older contestant this year.
We would have flagged up the 25-1 e/w Melanie but that has now gone, & the likelihood is, if Melanie has made it through, she will be available at much bigger prices so it is probably best to hold fire as of now anyway.
Other than Melanie, the only other big interest came this weekend & the long-awaited unveiling of some potential groups. GMD3 struck us as horribly out of tune, but that matters little when you have an XF panel telling the sheep at home how brilliant they sounded. They looked to us like a very poor man’s One Direction which suggests to us they will not be winning as surely the Syco stable wouldn’t want these young chancers treading on Harry & co’s toes.
We were far more intrigued by MK1 & what was clearly a massively scripted audition. Oh, look, how strange, the one on the left is completely out of tune & doesn’t look remotely at home on the stage compared to the other 2. Amazing. Every time he features, it is followed by dawning looks of horror among assorted audience members along with the music industry titans on the judging panel. Wonder if this will be picked up on…?
This looked a classic Syco trick. We would wager a quiet word took place earlier & what we had here was the teeing up of a narrative. And they’ve already got Tulisa on side after raving about N-Dubz.
The lead girl, Charlie, we thought sounded great & combined very effectively with Simeon. And the beauty of this duo is they could find their own little niche without impacting on Little Mix or One Direction. Of course, what they need is TPTB to get behind them & maybe, as we’ve already speculated, they simply will not want a group this year. But if they do, we see great potential here.
And having trawled through the forums and done our own super sleuthing, there are strong rumours that MK1 have made the lives. So we certainly wouldn’t put you off the 40-1 e/w MK1 with SportingBet but it may well be, as with Melanie Masson, if they make it through you will have the chance to partake of even bigger prices, certainly on Betfair’s win market, which could make them a lucrative early trade. And just as we were about to post this, & re-checking Oddschecker, MK1 have been cut to 28-1 with SportingBet, which isn’t nearly as appealing, but clearly some others were in agreement about the 40-1 – it certainly wasn’t our money that shifted the price.
Assessing the latest rumours, we do not think Amy Mottram makes the lives. And we would understand why not. She came across as a mini-me incarnation of Adele, with requisite rotund frame. Very ordinary.
It is looking most likely the 3 girls progressing to the lives will be Lucy Spraggan, Ella Henderson, and the yet to be seen Jade Ellis (the yet to be seen Leanne Robinson is also in the mix, according to the rumour mill).
In the Boys category, the strongest rumours are for Rylan Clark, James Arthur and the yet to be seen Starboy Nathan making it through, with Jahmene Douglas possibly missing out.
Among the groups, it’s MK1 and GMD3 heading to the lives, possibly along with a bootcamp created group. And among the Overs, it’s looking like Melanie Masson, Kye Sones and the yet to be seen re-auditioning Carolynne Poole who make it through, with Christopher Maloney also possibly missing out.
Of course, this is by no means concrete info, but we reckon we’re getting very close to the dirty dozen.
Who else sees potential in MK1 and Melanie? Anyone, no one…? Drop us a line with your views.
Rob Furber