[ElProximo]

Originally Posted by nanaimo

What has happened to Simon, "The best performance of the season" and no he wasn't talking about Rebbeca but the mediocre Cher, not bad but not great either, seems to be the pet of the X factor this year.

OP you are bang-on.

Over the last few years Simon has been a bit softer but that is not the problem here. He can be 'soft' but still tell the hard truth, be accurate and break the bad news.

No, this problem is something else. This is Simon seeing (correctly) a perfect recording artist payday in Cher. A perfect teen-pop hit-maker using a studio and some audio-engineering wizards and some slick music videos.
OK.
But instead of Simon (as we knew him) just blatantly stating this upfront we get Simon trying to convince us that she is truly magnificent and good in her own right in this competition.
Ugh.
Honestly, IF Simon just said all this outright "Cher, you are not great live on-stage but I hope you stay because you are a perfect recording artist" OK then!
I mean I'd respect Simon for just saying that and think it would actually bolster Cher.

But instead we all have to pretend along with this?
Like we don't know or what?

I WOULD expect this from the other judges but always Simon was the 'reality check' and balance.
Now what?