Breath of fresh air: Rhydian struts his stuff
If you haven't got on the Rhydian Roberts bandwagon yet then you should know just one thing - resistance is futile. The Welsh baritone is an unstoppable juggernaut who crashes through your Saturday peak viewing, grabs you by the lapels, bellows into your face and demands your undivided attention. The inevitable happened at the weekend with Rhydian going odds-on favourite to win the X Factor as he once more looked head and shoulders above the competition. He started out as a figure of fun, branded "revolting" by Sharon Osbourne and "up his own arse" by Simon Cowell - the viewers were even less kind. Yet he's turned it all around. Bear in mind it took Darius two years to make the journey from hate figure to hero but Rhydian completed the trip in the space of a few weeks. And it's all about the voice.
At first he shocked us with his arrogance but he quickly had us marvelling at his flamboyance - turning up for his Pink cover looking like Max Headroom styled by Liberace. And once he starts singing his voice and presence command the entire arena.
I believe it's very important for the future of the show that he wins. I think he's the last hope for TV talent shows producing an authentically charismatic star with longevity. With last year's Eddie Munster tribute act Ray Quinn just last week being dropped by his record label, 2004 winner Steve Brookstein playing shoeboxes in front of the kind of crowds you could get at a bus stop and the other TV talent show failures, we need someone as talented as Rhydian if the show is to make someone a real star. Perhaps his best qualification for stardom is his total lack of insight into his actions - not for him the obsessive navel-gazing of Robbie Williams. Life's problems just bounce off Rhydian - he will take to fame like a silver-haired duck to water. He already has that happy knack of making good copy even when the stories don't always portray him in a good light (but who among us hasn't hung a dwarf from a coat peg in our time?).
Of course you can have your Leonas with their flawless Toni Braxton stylings but that girl was going to make it in the music industry regardless. A quirky talent and personality such as Rhydian is exactly what the X Factor should be unearthing. Because it's either that or the walking stage fright that is Leon or one of the sundry interchangeable sob stories that will win the day. The world is ready to have Rhydian unleashed upon it. Are you ready to make it happen?
