Emma's Imagination has something special.

I missed Sunday’s X Factor, as I was engrossed in the final of Must Be The Music. All three judges, Jamie Cullum, Dizzie Rascal and Sharleen Spiteri performed live along with the 5 superb acts who made it to the grand final in front of 10,000 at Wembley. I predicted Emma’s Imagination and Missing Andy who both made the final 3 along with The Pictures. I would not have been surprised if any of the acts had won, but I was pleased to see Emma eventually winning the first ever series. She currently has 3 songs in the top 40, £100,000 in the bank and isn’t even signed yet. A fantastic achievement and opportunity for her to go forward on her own terms.

Ok, so back to the other show. One thing I can say about this week’s X Factor is that they have definitely got rid of the auto-tune! I think if X Factor was on BBC there would be complaints about wasting taxpayer’s money watching talentless buffoons. It just isn’t funny anymore - is it? Just like a bucket of cold water thrown over you. Funny in an uncomfortable kind of way and then very soon you start feeling, well, cold. I am so glad next week is boot camp.

I won't go on about accusations of X Factor ageism, but not one good singer over 30 went through this weekend so it looks like only Storm Lee and Mary Byrne are there to give us ‘oldies’ hope. Yip-dee-doo!

The first decent singer to be shown was Karl Brown. Young and good-looking, he had a really nice voice. It wasn’t amazing but it will be interesting to see what he can really do in boot camp.

Charlene Dawson, 17, has real potential. She’s not ready now but I just know she could go on to do something if she wanted. She reminded me so much of Katie Jackson, who we had signed to Columbia Records, New York in 2000. Charlene was technically not as strong but a very impressive young talent.

Harry Styles, a 16 year old student, sang “Isn’t She Lovely” in tune. That’s all I can say about it. The judges however heard something else. I read somewhere that he is now part of Simon’s new boy band, which makes sense.

A whole 5 minutes were spent on male duo, Diva Fever. They were not that bad but X Factor perpetuate the stereotypical TV gay male. Cue Village People -YMCA. It was like watching Mr Humphries pouring pints at The Queen Vic. Louis smiling like he had just grabbed the last Rolo and Simon being very manly about it all. Their first song was ok, but Simon let them have another attempt to impress. Cue The Pet Shop Boys - Go West. Diva Fever represented the fun factor, but in reality they were nice guys not boot camp, just camp. However, Louis loved them and they went through. You work it out.

I felt a bit sorry for the next act. Richard Thomas, 28, was a working pub and club singer who obviously had some old cheesy habits. Unlike, Diva Fever and the teenage hooker Simon had let through the day before, he wasn’t given another chance to impress. His voice was better than both acts and he sang the classic ‘Higher and Higher’ (a song I had recorded on my number one album!). He sang uncomfortably but consistently out of time and with the auto-tune fiasco, I wouldn't be surprised if it was down to post-production editing to make him seem worse. All the judges said ‘No’ then dragged out his disappointment by playing 'How Can You Mend A Broken Heart' (another song I had recorded on my number one album!). Funny, a pub singer, two songs from my album, was Simon having a subtle dig at me? Nah, surely not.

Richard wasn’t going to win it but as a working singer he deserved respect. It is his career and he has to go back to working in pubs and clubs. The experience of boot camp would have given him a chance to improve upon his act and go back to his day job revitalized. Instead, the humiliated him.

To compound his apparent ineptitude, Richard was then followed by Marlon McKenzie, 27, singing “Ain’t No Sunshine”. The judges were very complimentary of him but to be honest he started off a bit pitchy and the change of melody didn’t work for me. He did a couple of nice trills at the end but the performance was not as great as they were making out. I’d like to see more. A very cool and good-looking guy who entered twice before but failed to impress the bods before the judges. This is the first time he has reached the judges and now he is a favourite. Funny ol’ game.

What should happen but won’t:

Karl Brown and Marlon McKenzie should get together with two other guys to make an awesome new boy band to rival JLS.

My Easy Prediction:

Boot camp is going to make the token older bloke with the Mohican look like a proper Charlie and the few older singers will struggle with the dance routines, especially the new SuBo, Mary Byrne.

News: Joe McElderry’s new single is sadly a karaoke cover while series two winner Shayne Ward and last year’s runner-up Olly Murs are both releasing original music in November. It’s going to be a very interesting few months for those three boys signed to Simon Cowell’s label.