X Factor Indonesia
The X Factor Indonesia is a reality TV music competition that aims to discover new singing talents in Indonesia. The winner of the competition is awarded 1 billion rupiah and a recording contract with Sony Music Indonesia. The show premiered on December 28, 2012 on RCTI and is the second franchise in Southeast Asia after the Philippines.
Unlike its rival, Indonesian Idol, The X Factor Indonesia is based on the British The X Factor franchise and has several unique features. The competition is open to both individuals and groups, and there is no upper age limit. The judges are assigned one of four categories, which are boys aged 15 to 25, girls aged 15 to 25, individuals aged 26 and over, and groups. During the live shows, the judges mentor their assigned category, helping them with song choices, styling, and staging, while also judging contestants from other categories. The judges also compete to ensure that their act wins the competition, making them the winning judge.
The original judging panel of The X Factor Indonesia consisted of Ahmad Dhani, Rossa, Anggun, and Bebi Romeo, with Robby Purba as the host. Fatin Shidqia is the only winner of the show so far.
Although Indonesian Idol became a massive success and the number one show in Indonesia for seven consecutive seasons, the original UK version, Pop Idol, did not perform well. Simon Cowell, a judge on Pop Idol, wanted to launch a show that he owned the rights to. While the first series of Pop Idol was hugely successful, the second series experienced a drop in viewer figures, and some, including Pop Idol judge Pete Waterman, considered Michelle McManus to be an undeserving winner. Pop Idol was axed in 2004, and Simon Cowell announced a new show, The X Factor, created without the involvement of Idol creator Simon Fuller. The X Factor's ratings were initially average, but by the sixth series in 2009, ratings had reached 10 million viewers per week.
In March 2010, RCTI, the broadcaster of Indonesian Idol, signed a deal to launch the Indonesian version of The X Factor. Initially, X Factor Indonesia was intended to replace Indonesian Idol in 2013, but due to the immense success of the seventh season of Indonesian Idol in 2012, RCTI and FremantleMedia decided to continue collaborating with both shows airing on alternate years. To replicate the success of the seventh season of Indonesian Idol, Fabian Dharmawan from RCTI was appointed as the executive producer for RCTI for the first season of The X Factor Indonesia, while Glenn Sims, the head of entertainment for FremantleMedia, Virgita Ruchiman, and Ken Irawati served as executive producers for FremantleMedia Indonesia.
The X Factor Indonesia started airing short commercials in August 2012, with a second promo featuring various Indonesian artists and One Direction. The show premiered on December 28, 2012, and focuses on identifying singing talent, with appearance, personality, stage presence, and dance routines also playing a role. The competition is open to solo artists and vocal groups aged 15 and above, with no upper age limit. Auditions are held in front of the producers first, and then those who pass are invited to perform for the judges in front of a live audience. The judges' auditions require at least three out of four judges to say "yes" for the auditionee to move forward. There is also an online audition process, where the auditionees can upload their performance on the X Factor Indonesia website and receive votes from viewers on YouTube. The judges act as mentors to their category and help contestants with song choices, styling, and staging while judging contestants from other categories. A selection of the auditions is broadcast over the first few weeks of the show, featuring the best, worst, and most bizarre auditions.
The contestants selected at auditions are further refined through a series of performances at "bootcamp", and then at the "judges' home visits", until a small number eventually progress to the live finals. In the bootcamp, contestants will have to go through a series of challenges until the number of contestants were trimmed down to 26 and divided according to their categories. At the end of bootcamp, the producers will also reveal which category the judges will be mentoring. The judges then disband for the "judges' home visits" round, where they further reduce their acts on location at a residence with the help of a celebrity guest mentor.
The finals consist of a series of two gala live shows, with the first featuring the contestants' performances and the second revealing the results of the public voting. Celebrity guest performers will be featured regularly. The performance show occasionally begins with a group performance from the remaining contestants. The show is primarily concerned with identifying a potential pop star or star group, and singing talent, appearance, personality, stage presence, and dance routines are all important elements of the contestants' performances. In the initial live shows, each act performs once in the first show in front of a studio audience and the judges, usually singing over a pre-recorded backing track. Dancers are also commonly featured. Acts occasionally accompany themselves on guitar or piano. Each live show has a different theme, and each contestant's song is chosen according to the theme. After each act has performed, the judges comment on their performance. Heated disagreements, usually involving judges defending their contestants against criticism, are a regular feature of the show. Once all the acts have appeared, the phone lines open, and the viewing public vote on which act they want to keep. Once the number of contestants has been reduced to six, each act performs twice in the performances show. This continues until only three acts remain. These acts go on to appear in the grand final, which decides the overall winner by public vote.
The two acts polling the fewest votes are revealed. Both these acts have to perform again in a "final showdown," and the judges vote on which of the two to send home. They were able to pick new songs to perform in the "final showdown". Ties are possible as there are four judges voting on which of the two to send home. In the event of a tie, the result goes to deadlock, and the act who came last in the public vote is sent home. The actual number of votes cast for each act isn't revealed, nor even the order. Once the number of contestants has been reduced to five, the act that polled the fewest votes is automatically eliminated from the competition.
The winner of the X Factor Indonesia is awarded a recording contract from Sony Music Indonesia, which would include investments worth 1 billion rupiah, which is claimed as the largest guaranteed prize in Indonesian television history. Several cash rewards from the sponsors, including a new car, is also awarded for the grand finalists in the 1st season.
There were several rumored candidates for the judging panel, such as Indra Lesmana, Titi DJ, Maia Estianty, Vina Panduwinata, Tompi, Anang Hermansyah, Sherina Munaf, Agnes Monica, Ruth Sahanaya, and Iwan Fals. Eventually, Ahmad Dhani, Bebi Romeo, Rossa, and Anggun were confirmed as judges for the show, with Mulan Jameela stepping in for Anggun during auditions due to her ongoing concert tour in Europe. The show had various potential hosts, including VJ Boy William and Daniel Mananta, but Robby Purba was ultimately announced as the host on November 23, 2012.
Each judge is assigned a category to mentor and selects a small group of contestants to advance to the live shows. During season one, Ahmad Dhani and Rossa's decision to eliminate Alex Rudiart instead of Gede Bagus caused public backlash and calls to boycott the show.
On September 29, 2012, Cross Mobile was named the official sponsor of X Factor Indonesia, with an extensive multi-platform marketing partnership both on and off-air. Kopi ABC was announced as the second official sponsor on December 26, while Indosat Mentari was named the third official sponsor on December 28. Oriflame served as the official make-up sponsor, and Procter & Gamble promoted its Pantene, Olay, and Downy brands through the show.
