‘The X Factor’ UK preview: Can Lauren Murray impress with big song?

For our second preview of Saturday’s premiere episode of “The X Factor” UK, we meet someone in Lauren Murray who really wants to try to impress the judges with her singing voice. The problem is that she struggles with nerves. If you are looking for a completely new narrative, this is not where to come. This is the same exact sort of package that we’ve seen time and time again.

We will say, though, that there is a funny moment where Murray reveals to Simon Cowell that almost every song in her repertoire for the audition (contestants are asked to come up with a number of possibilities) are all from Whitney Houston. Eventually, she does offer up Jocelyn Brown’s “Somebody Else’s Guy,” and does a very good job with it.

We feel like insofar as analyzing her talent, there will probably not be too many better pure singers on the show this season. Our immediate concern is just if this is going to be one of those big “ballad singers” who wants to come out every week and perform something like Whitney’s “I Have Nothing” or Mariah Carey’s “The Gift,” a.k.a. songs we’ve heard on every single singing competition since the beginning of time. There’s nothing fresh there, and these songs are so dated now that it’s hard to judge a singer’s place in the present-day music landscape. You have to be current to really push yourself on this show, and this will be Lauren’s mission should she make it to live shows.

In the end, we won’t want to judge Lauren’s entire personality too much on a preview video; let’s just say for now that she has talent, but there are also things she needs to work on.

If you missed another “X Factor” preview video focusing on girl group 4th Power, head over to this link today! Meanwhile, sign up here to get some other TV news on everything we cover via our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: ITV.)