It's Cheryl effing Cole

Against most people's expectations, Cheryl Cole's performance on last night's X Factor was pretty damn good. The vocals seemed to be live - unless she'd done Janet Jackson's trick of pre-recording a rough "as live" vocal and miming over the top - but all in all it was a clean, charismatic debut.

It's clear that the song is going to go to number one this week, which is good as Cheryl has the makings of a proper pop superstar, but bad because it vindicates the decision to launch her career with a bunch of dreary r&b knock-offs.

Speaking of knock-offs, did you spot the following "influences" in Cheryl's act?









Any other insights or observations? Let me know.

Update: ITV have stopped letting Youtube users embedding the video, as is their absolute right as the copyright holders. You can still watch by Clicking here.

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