British pop group Little Mix, who won season eight of the British version of The X Factor in 2011, put on a spectacular show at the launch of The X Factor Arabia in Dubai on Wednesday, March 11.
The fabulous foursome performed their lively hit single "Move" to an excited audience and the Arab talent show's celebrity judges, who couldn't do anything but "move" to the song's energetic beats.
Although the glitzy launch at Jumeirah Beach Hotel was a great success, the same cannot be said for certain about the future of the upcoming show.
While the Simon Cowell-created franchise is highly successful in the UK and several countries across the globe, it's been quite the opposite for the first three seasons of the X Arabia.
Season one was cancelled by the Saudi-owned Rotana after two seasons in 2007 and the Egyptian channel CBC after one season in 2013.
But will it have better luck now that media giant MBC Group has bought it? The TV network airs Arabs Got Talent and Arab Idol, which have been religiously-watched for years across thousands of homes in the Middle East.
In a bid to spice up the returning programme, MBC cleverly signed on Lebanese superstar Ragheb Alama, 52, and Egyptian starlet Donia Samir Ghanem, 29, to sit next to Lebanese lovely Elissa, 42, on the judging panel.
Let's hope that Ragheb's expertise, Elissa's charisma and Donia's young spirit will be appealing enough for viewers to tune in to the show's premiere on Saturday, March 14.
More importantly, the judging panel is "tasked with not only finding the best voice but also talent, marketability and performance," according to The National news.
Since there's an excess supply of solo artists, the region is crying out for a fresh, new type of singers, which we have a hunch should come in the form of a boy or girl band!
Maybe the pop group culture will then trend in the ME. Who knows, we might even kick start the career of a band as strikingly successful as Little Mix or One Direction, who were finalists in the 2010 X Factor UK.
By Arwad Khalifeh
