‘The X Factor’ UK preview: Fil Henley tries to be a rock star

Tonight at 8:00 p.m. local time, “The X Factor” UK is going to be back with all-new episodes, and will be doing so from what is a brand-new stage of its game this season: The audition rooms. We’ve already handed down what we think is our major criticism of these rounds, and that is that we’d prefer it to be without a backing track, just to really get a sense of these people’s artistry and how they sound without any crutches helping them stay strong.

Looking at the judges’ reaction to this audition below, we imagine that Fil Henley is not the best singer in the land. Nicole Scherzinger keeps using the word “entertainer” to describe him, and typically, this translates to mean that his major selling point is something other than vocals. Luckily for him, you can get deep in the competition (see Frankie Cocozza or Rylan Clark) without being the best singer out there if you have a personality that is through the roof … and that is what the judges try to get out of him.

Basically, this entire clip is Rock Star 101, and how to be good at being wild and inappropriate. Basically, they want to take sweet little Fil and turn him into someone that would probably get arrested if he acted this way much of his everyday life. He seems at least like a nice enough guy based on what little of him we see here (we don’t get to hear him sing), so it should be interesting to see how he fares in many of the later rounds from here on out.

Want to see another “X Factor” UK audition to get ready for tonight’s premiere? Then click here, where you can hear an emotional performance from Hannah Barrett.

Photo: ITV