At the time of writing there sits - at number one in the charts and at number one in our hearts - Leona Lewis, winner of last year's X Factor and set to be a very big international star over the coming year. And while there's normally no shortage of detractors decrying those whose fleeting fame was decided by phone ballot, no one seems to mind Leona.
Despite coming from the critically frowned upon reality TV show format, people who'd cross the road to spit in Journey South's chiselled faces are wishing her well. Because, to quote the received wisdom, "she's got real talent."
Even over at the Spice Girls fan forum, they're happy to concede that she deserves to be higher in the charts than their returning heroines, again because "she's got talent." The public have decided and they have decided this is her moment.
Louis Walsh - © Doug Peters/EMPICS Entertainment/PA Photos
And it's shows like X Factor, its predecessor Pop Idol and the not-on-anymore Fame Academy that have defined this very notion of talent so that almost all music we listen to, subconsciously or not, now passes through our own internal judging panel. There's a little Louis Walsh in all of us.
This is a terrible state of affairs since it is essentially leading to the death of pop in all but name. Where once the class loner/show off/freak could take their aspirations and turn them into big shiny musical dreams, uninhibited by classical concepts of ability and therefore free to dazzle, challenge and shock.
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