The problem I have with the X Factor style of singing is that it elevates ornamentation above interpretation.
Songs like Somewhere Over The Rainbow and Hallelujah contain more than enough natural emotion in their words and melodies, but still the television competitors go for the overhead kick instead of the straight shot at goal.
And so I'm instantly wary of Matt Cardle's second album, having spotted First Time Ever I Saw Your Face at the end of the track listing. Cardle covered Ewan MacColl's classic in the rounds leading up to his X Factor victory in 2010, and he almost pulls it off with this re-recorded version: there's a tender anguish to his delivery of the song's first two verses before he commits the usual crimes of mistaking increased volume, hiccupping vocals and a flurry of unnecessary notes for genuine feeling.
Elsewhere, he makes maximum use of his falsetto on Water, the most distinctive and musically interesting track, but slips somewhere between soft rock and reality show pop for the rest, stepping straight into Alanis Morissette's shoes with For Every Heartbreak and Anyone Else.
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