The X Factor’s Season 3 ratings may be gasping for air (and its previous winners nowhere to be seen or heard), but a few finalists from the struggling franchise are continuing to make post-show noise.
Emblem3, the young pop, ska and hip-hop fusion trio from Huntington Beach who placed fourth on the show’s second season last year, announced they are prepping their first headlining tour on Friday.
Their #BandLife Tour will kick off on February 10 in Dallas. The 24-date trek will wrap on March 15 when the boys return to LA and play Club Nokia.
A favourite of the judges and pegged as an early front-runner, the group was mentored by show creator and judge Simon Cowell.
After getting cut from the show, the trio quickly scored a deal with Columbia Records and Cowell’s Syco Music. Their debut, Nothing to Lose, debuted at No. 7 when it was released in July and had the highest first-week sales of any other act from the US version of the series.
Viewers of that season will recall Emblem3 being edged by another group, Fifth Harmony.
The teenage quintet entered the competition as solo singers and were placed together by the judges during boot camp. They quickly went from underdogs to fierce competitors after a cover of Ellie Goulding’s glittery hit Anything Could Happen proved to be a game changer.
Though they placed third — country crooner Tate Stevens won, but his album came and went earlier this year — they’ve also proven that taking the X Factor crown isn’t always the best way to fame.
Fifth Harmony, like Emblem3, was mentored by Cowell and secured a post-show deal to his Syco Music and Epic Records. Without many girl groups on the market they instantly filled the void for teen girls looking for a female answer to One Direction (which was put together by Cowell).
Their EP Better Together debuted at No. 6 in October and the group will open for X Factor judge Demi Lovato on an arena tour next year, alongside Little Mix and Cher Lloyd of British X Factor fame.
So what’s the takeaway? If X Factor returns, and despite its dismal ratings it probably will, it pays to be on Team Cowell. But only if you’re a group — sorry Melanie Amaro.
X Factor USA airs in the UAE on OSN First HD every Thursday and Friday at 9.30pm.
