A trio of would-be singers - Pakistani contestant Murtaza Haider, Gisela Lee and April Koseoglu - received a verbal lashing from acerbic judge and music producer Simon Cowell.
The trio, who call themselves Jahm, (“the ‘h’ is to emphasise that we’ve been jamming together”) attempted to make their way on the British music talent hunt show “The X Factor”.
The band members said they met on the internet and had been rehearsing “over the phone and on Skype.”
Haider said they could compare themselves, in terms of sound, “to the N-Dubz or Black Eyed Peas.”
When asked if the judges would ‘get’ them, Haider said they would because Jahm was “not like an average girl group”.
Haider said “The X Factor” audition was a “life-changing opportunity and we just want to give it everything we’ve got.”
Haider is a former student of the Karachi Grammar School and is politician Faisal Saleh Hayat’s nephew.
However, the life changing opportunity didn’t pan out - as Cowell said, “Your dream, our nightmare”.
Jahm opted to cover Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance”, but the expressions on the faces of the judges’ within the first few seconds of them singing were priceless. Cowell smirked and then tried to disguise his laughter, while Cheryl Cole looked like she was in shock. The camera panned to the audience, where one man had put his hands on his ears to block out the sound of Jahm singing.
The reactions may sound extreme, but the cover was hopelessly out of tune and disjointed - and their awkward dancing did not help their case either.
The judges didn’t speak for several seconds after Jahm finished their cover, prompting Gisela Lee to ask “How was it?”
The response Cowell gave should warn future contestants from ever posing that question.
“If you want me to be honest,” Cowell said, “Probably the worst group we have ever had on this show. Genuinely, I’ve never ever heard anything like that. It was utterly atrocious.”
Fellow judge Louis Walsh chimed in with, “It was like three cats getting strangled in an alleyway. It was really, really bad. You were all out of tune. It was ... bad.”
Cole said, “Honestly, that was quite shocking.”
When April Koseoglu tried to protest with, “This is our dream,” Cowell responded, “Your dream, our nightmare.”
Published in The Express Tribune, October 15th, 2010.
This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction: October 15
The article had incorrectly identified Demot O'Leary as a judge. Louis Walsh was the judge.
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