Come the end of November, many companies are thinking about their staff Christmas parties. Over at X Factor, it seems they’re thinking about a staff chart battle.
On November 28th, judges Gary, Kelly and Tulisa will all bring out new albums, as will Xtra Factor‘s Olly Murs and his old 2009 co-star Joe McElderry.
That said, it’s only Olly and Kelly who have their OK-this-is-a-proper-serious-album game-faces on, with their respective LPs In Case You Didn’t Know and Here I Am. For Joe, it’s his festive offering Classic Christmas, for Tulisa it’s the EAGERLY-AWAITED N-Dubz Greatest Hits package, and for Gary it’s a live album covering Take That’s Progress tour.
It’s a wonder Dermot O’Leary and Louis Walsh aren’t teaming up for some kind of festive offering.
I met up with Olly yesterday and asked him about the battle. He said: “For me, we’re not the same artists. Of course we’ll all be battling for Number One, but I think collectively some fans will buy my record and that record at the same time, so you don’t really lose out.
“So regardless of who’s coming out the same week as you, you just hope your fans will go out and buy your record. If they don’t it’s fine, you know, but I think that me and Kelly and the other artists are so different.
“I think back to when I used to buy albums, I remember once it was Craig David and Justin Timberlake, and both released on the same day. I just went out and bought both records cos I thought they’d be good!”
That said, he does reckon his profile has been raised considerably following his new hosting gig alongside Caroline Flack. When I asked him if the pressure was better or worse this time around, he said: “I’d probably say the pressure’s got more, actually. If I wasn’t doing anything, if I was sat around and I wasn’t doing the Xtra Factor and stuff like that then maybe I would be a bit more nervous, but because I’ve been kept in the public eye…
“The Xtra Factor‘s been a real positive because it’s given me a chance for people to see my personality more than they did before, and I’ve sold myself more. I’ve had a massive change in my Facebook followers and my Twitter followers. I think more people are interested in what I’ve got to say now.
“I am feeling the pressure and I do feel like having the second album is always gonna be nerve-wracking for any artist, but I think because I’ve got the TV side of things, I’ve taken some of that pressure off.”
My full interview with Olly – which also covers the brilliant Lady Gaga stage invasion, how rumours of a relationship with Caroline have affected his love life, and what Caroline thought of him and the One Direction boys making her feel as awkward as possible with Harry Styles – will be available on Entertainmentwise at the end of this week. A link will be posted to this page as and when.
