X-Factor 
/ Dan Fitch / 27 July 2011 / Leave a Comment 
New girl Tulisa will be looking for the new Cher Lloyd - but good.
Dan Fitch looks into his crystal ball to predict the things that we can expect from the new series of The X-Factor.
With three of last year's judges having departed and Simon Cowell now working on the American version of the show, The X-Factor has reached a crossroads.
Is the format strong enough for the show to carry on being the most popular on British TV? Or will the show wither and die without the presence of Cowell?
The only way to really find out is to tune in when it returns to our screens, but until then, here are seven things to expect on the the new series of The X-Factor.
One of the most annoying aspects of the last series of The X-Factor was the sheer amount of people announcing that they were going to sing 'Make you feel my love by Adele'.
These words lead to an awful lot of grumpy old blokes who were reluctantly watching the show at the behest of their wives and children, to mutter at the TV: "It's by Bob Dylan actually".
This year has seen Adele sell a ludicrous amount of albums full of songs that she actually did write, so a lot of people will cover songs from 21. In particular we are likely to hear the words 'I'm singing Someone Like You' an awful lot. Expect to see a montage of hopefuls butchering the song, who ironically sound more like an out-of-tune Dylan than Adele.
For The X-Factor to retain any bite, one of the judges had to step into Simon Cowell's shoes to become the new 'Mr Nasty'. Rather surprisingly, that man seems to be the mild-mannered Gary Barlow, who for many years remained resolutely boring quietly dignified, rather than entering into a war of words with Robbie Williams.
It seems however, that the Take That frontman relishes the task of verbally trampling on the dreams of deluded X-Factor contestants. The Sun recently reported that: "It's like Gary's evil twin turned up to judge. He's making Simon look like Mary Poppins.
"When he told singer Pebbles she looked like a man at her Birmingham audition, you could have heard a pin drop.She was mortified and immediately complained. There have been several complaints over Gary's dressing-downs. One singer said they felt like killing themselves after coming off stage. Gary has been asked to tone it down by contestants."
The X-Factor might have evolved over the years, but Louis Walsh remains reassuringly mental. For many, the highlight of the last series of the show came when Louis told 'Popcorn Paije Richardson that he reminded him of "a little Lenny Henry". We can only speculate as to why Louis will compare the black contestants to this year - Floella Benjamin? Kriss Akabusi? Al Jolson?
Without Simon Cowell around to keep him in line, we expect Louis to go even further off the rails and wouldn't be surprised to see Walsh try to challenge Gary Barlow for the position of the new X-Factor bad guy. It might seem out of character, but it wouldn't be the first time that Louis has experimented with a transfer to the dark side.
It might not be stipulated in her contract, but we're sure that Kelly Rowland is sufficiently self-aware to know that there's one person who she will be expected to call in a couple of favours from her best known former colleague during the course of the series.
Let's face it, when it comes to the judges houses stage, the people chosen in Kelly's category are going to be disappointed if 'the other one' from Destiny's Child makes an appearance. At the very least Rowland has to get Beyonce in the studio for the final duets, where she would be pretty much guaranteed to blow away Mark Owen and Dappy.
If you haven't paid much interest in the hit parade since the days of Bruno Brookes officiating over the Sunday afternoon countdown, then you may have missed the fact the the current charts are dominated RnB and hip hop acts.
The last series of the X-Factor saw Cher Lloyd having a number of raps crowbarred clumsily into her performances. With Lloyd's mentor Cheryl Cole having been replaced by someone with genuine urban credentials in the form of Tulisa Contostavios, we can expect a lot more swagga on the show that needs to be relevant.
With judging panel lacking the glamour of previous years, it seems likely that more emphasis will be put on the actual competing acts. In recent series, The X-Factor has had a curious obsession with putting as many extra dancers onto the stage as possible and it promises to reach ludicrous proportions this year.
Just because Lady Gaga and Rihanna can't set foot on a stage without being surrounded by more extras than were used in Ben Hur, Simon Cowell seems to think that the X-Factor contestants need similar gimmicks. Meanwhile, the majority of professional singers manage to do their job perfectly well, with no one else on stage but the rather necessary people who can actually play musical instruments.
Series eight of The X-Factor will be on the air in August and the show's devoted audience will no doubt be extremely interested to see how the three new judges fare. Perhaps a more intriguing question though, is how well the American version of The X-Factor will work.
Cowell and company will begin their Stateside assault in September and it will be shown in the UK on ITV 2. It's likely that a lot more people will follow the US version than previously watched American Idol. Will the fans be able to maintain their enthusiasm for both shows?
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