Should it just be about the voice?

Saturday nights have been taken over recently by the very popular singing show 'The X Factor'.  Most years I try to avoid the show that always seem to go on for weeks on end and over the years it just seems to get worse and worse.  This year seemed a bit different though as they were replacing the Female Boss with the red headed queen.  Yes that's right Mrs O was coming back!

   It has been surprisingly good and I've quite enjoyed having my Saturday nights taken up by the program (except for the ads they have every 15 minutes).  I agreed with most o their decisions until it got to judges houses.

    After seeing some of the acts that were sent through and some that were going home I started to think is it just about the voice and more then that should it just be about the voice?

    One act who was sent home by Louis from the boys group was a slightly overweight boy but he had in my opinion one of the best voices.  Instead of picking him he went for a boy who wasn't a great singer but definitely looked like one.  I'm not saying the X Factor are being fatists but I'm saying that maybe the overall picture does affect our judgement and influences our opinions.  Not just looks but also confidence and characteristics.  Of course being an artist means being polite and having a good attitude but you can't seem to get away with being shy anymore.

   Sharon has the Over 25s this year and at her house I disagreed with her decision to put Shelley Smith through.  Yes Shelley had this bubbly and fun personality but again there were others with better voices.  Her and Sharon also got on very well which made me think should your likeability matter?

    I had been watching a bit of The Voice while it was on and I like the idea of it because it agrees with the fact that it should be based purely on your voice, but for me the show has been a bit of a flop in comparison.  It lacks the interest that The X Factor normally has and maybe singers do need to be more about the voice to be interesting enough for the audience to want to watch.

    When you look at most artists nowadays they have 'the full package' which basically means they are crazy.  Look at Lady Gaga, Jessie J, Katy Perry, Rihanna and Miley Cyrus they all either act a little weird or crazy or do things to make themselves memorable and controversial.  

   After thinking about it maybe as an artist you do need to be more than a voice although I'm not totally sure I agree with being picked on personality.  After all when you hear them on the radio you only hear the voice.  I guess it is a bit like anything though nowadays where you don't actually need to be the good a singer with auto tune you just need to be likeable.

  So is it just about the voice? Definitely not.  Should it be just about the voice? Well I guess that is up to you.