I'd wager a good deal of money that you've never heard of Matthew Raymond-Barker.
Yet last night he made it through to the final of X Factor 2011.
He's a 21 year old student from Mitcham and he's going to get my vote in next Tuesday's final, live on M6.
There's something delicious about X Factor in France. It's not as glitzy as the UK version and the singing & choreography is often naive but at least it's honest.
No clearly scripted spats between Louis & Cheryl.
No hyperbole from Simon ("in anybodys money that was a world class vocal.....better than the original").
They've had some decent guests this series too, from Lady GaGa and James Blunt to The Black Eyed Peas and, of course, Johnny Hallyday.
Next week the invitees are Beyoncé and Bruno Mars but I hope that they are upstaged by M Raymond-Barker. My guess is that you never will get to buy his records outside of France but his story is still quite remarkable. He's conquered the nation and millions of teenage girls think he's more hip than Justin Bieber.
Bravo Matthieu et bon chance......
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