Tim: Another year of X Factor, and for some reason the same song that Union J would have had last year. Also, the lowest-selling Christmas number one since Robbie Williams and Nicole Kidman did Something Stupid twelve years ago. (See what I did there?)
Tom: The charts are pretty much broken these days, what with downloads and YouTube. Still, there’s still a place in the history books for Christmas Number One. So, the same as last year?
Tim: Sort of, anyway – it’s weird, but for the first two verses and choruses, this was just fairly dull, really. It’s emotionally lacking, unlike Demi Lovato’s original, and it’s not big instrumentation to make up for that like Union J had.
Tom: Oddly, I haven’t heard Skyscraper before — it completely passed me by. I didn’t see why it’s much of a winner’s song until hearing the original: it didn’t seem all that memorable, or a Big Number, until it had Demi Levato’s emotional vocals behind it.
Tim: On the other hand, come the middle eight, BOOM. It’s as though the whole song dials it up a couple of notches: the voice becomes more impressive, the backing really kicks in, and it suddenly becomes worth listening to. I actually like it somewhat, and I’d certainly stick it on an X Factor playlist. Might even put it on a regular playlist, though only if I could be sure I could skip to the good bit each time.