Cant see how people think Cher is versatile.
I think what music execs love about Cher and Katie is that they are a marketing man's dream. They can be marketed and pushed in so many ways, it makes the marketing team's job very easy.
Compare them to say Rebecca. How on Earth do you get her in the papers/media? Has she done/said anything controversial? She looks emotionally fragile (not sure if this is actually the case), so if her the record company bosses ask her to do something she doesnt like, how will she cope.
What if record bosses ask her to takes some raunchy shots for FHM or any other magazine? How will she cope? What if she has to do interviews...how will she cope? What if record bosses need her to do say/do something controversial...how will she cope?
People seem to think that just because you have the best voice, you will automatically sell records...this is not the case. Leona Lewis is a fantastic example of this. She is considered boring, by the press and as such gets very little media coverage. The result is that none of her songs recently have ridden high in the charts. The song which could really have propelled her into superstar status, was, "I see you". This was the big song of the Avatar movie, created by the same guy who made Celine Dion's "My heart will go on". That song was one of the biggest selling singles of all time. So when Leona's "I see you" didn't make a dent in the charts, this would've been extremely disappointing for all concerned.
The point I'm making is that in 2010, you need the media to back your cause. You need to be constantly in the face of the public. To sell records, you need to do loads of interviews, for pop shows and children's tv shows (waking up early in the morning), etc. NDubz are a fantastic example of this - they were terrifically hard and are constantly on our tv screens. This helps them sell records. If they were "boring" (like Rebecca), nobody would be interested to have them on tv shows.
Cher is not boring and will do well when she has to parade herself on tv shows, newspapers, magazines, etc.
Matt Cardle has the best voice, but I can't see how he can do better than
Brookstein, unless he sexes his image up (this is a route which
Shayne Ward has decided to take). And frankly, I'm not sure if this is going to work.