As she took the stage to sing Lady Gaga’s Born This Way on Saturday’s X Factor, Misha B declared: "This song’s for Manchester". But did Manchester repay the compliment?
Not if the traffic on Twitter is anything to go by. In among the messages from Mancunians rooting for the 19-year-old from Longsight, there were huge numbers, also plainly from Mancunians, bitterly denying that the city is behind her.
"Misha B loves Manchester so much she sent a camera crew back there last week to film it," said one sarcastic tweet.
"Annoys me more than anything how Misha B mentioned Manchester about 7 million times last night. Why the ***** do you think we all adore you?" went another.
All this was in stark contrast to the much less numerous, uniformly supportive tweets from Liverpudlians about their X Factor contenders Marcus Collins and Craig Colton.
Deanna Delamotta: Mancunians are so cynical about their X Factor girl Misha
For the second time, Misha B was in the bottom two, forced to sing, successfully as it turned out, for her survival.
One theory may be that feisty Misha is a Marmite proposition: everyone, Mancs included, either loves or hates her.
The accusation from judge Tulisa Contostavlos that Misha had "come across quite mean to certain contestants", and fellow judge Louis Walsh’s complaint that one of his acts had felt bullied by Misha may have stuck.
The damage may have been done despite Louis later apologising for using the word "bully" and despite all the glowing character references from those who know Misha well.
But perhaps there was something else feeding Manc antipathy towards Misha – something characteristic of our city.
Manchester is "more aloof, more hip, more cool" in comparison with other cities, according to Dr David Holmes, a senior lecturer in psychology at Manchester Metropolitan University, whose many media projects have included working with the makers of Big Brother.
Holmes worked as a roadie for New Order, and at the Hacienda, and was a friend of the late Tony Wilson. It was in relation to Wilson, the founder of the pioneering independent record label Factory, that Holmes first noticed a strange Manc mindset.
Wilson was "completely vilified" even by those whose careers he was advancing. "If there’s someone in a position to help you in a band, you’d expect people to be grovelly towards them. But you got the reverse," says Holmes.
"I thought it was something inherent in the music business, but then you found out it was fairly peculiar to Manchester. There was this equality thing in Manchester: ‘We’re all stars, so why are you special?’.
"As a Mancunian, you are allowed to criticise anybody who puts their head above the parapet.
"If you’re on the receiving end of it, it can be incredibly cold. It smacks of jealousy, but there is a wry humour built in with it which is supposed to be bonding. It’s a bit like your mates at school, when you manage to get yourself a little famous, they tell you, ‘You’re still one of us’, with a hearty thump on the back to remind you you are human."
So perhaps Misha is perceived, through this Manc prism, as getting a bit above herself. What’s more, she’s standing on a stage in a TV studio in London, imploring Manchester to get behind her. The "London" part of that equation cannot be over-emphasised.
Manchester does not, in any case, like to have its support taken for granted. So many of the musical heroes this city has produced are, in truth, anti-heroes. Morrissey, Ian Brown, Shaun Ryder, Liam and Noel Gallagher are all fully paid-up members of the awkward squad.
And so many of Manchester’s achievements in popular culture of recent decades - – from the Stone Roses to the Courteeners – have started with local underground success, not instant fame brokered by someone in London. Even Take That came up this way in the early 1990s: they were the template for the British boy band, building a grass roots following in the clubs and on the gay scene.
But, aside from the cataclysmic influence of the Sex Pistols gigs at the Free Trade Hall in 1976, Manchester has never taken kindly to being told by London what to think or to like.
Manchester does have loyalty by the bucketload. You only need to go to Old Trafford or the Etihad Stadium to witness that. But as with football, Manchester loyalty is tribal.
Manchester has another city, Salford, at its shoulder, complaining about being overlooked. Towns such as Oldham, Wigan, Bolton, Bury and Stockport don’t necessarily align themselves with Manchester. Merseyside seems to feel much more of an emotional allegiance to Liverpool than Greater Manchester feels to Manchester.
Perhaps also the great corporate star-making might of X Factor is just the latest recipient of Manchester’s radical outlook, its centuries-old refusal to bow to orthodoxy.
"People are beginning to see the whole of this generated media hype, from Big Brother right through to the X Factor, as being incredibly formulaic," says Holmes. "They can see the big business behind it. But what keeps it going is the fact that it’s a great networking thing, like Coronation Street. If you can go off with your mates and talk for hours about it, even if you are slagging someone off, you’re still in there sharing this thing."
All of which means that the Misha-haters are still part of the big X Factor conversation. It’s when Twitter falls silent on the subject that Simon Cowell’s bank manager really needs to start worrying.
Deanna Delamotta: Mancunians are so cynical about their X Factor girl Misha
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Regardless of whether or not "Manchester" is behind Misha nobody EVER in the real world, particularly in Manchester separates the city of Manchester from Greater Manchester as a whole.
The article even contradicts itself by talking about Old Trafford which is in Trafford, not the city of Manchester. Very poor journalism.
I like her, buit would I pick up my phone to vote? No! because I dont like wasting money! Do wish she would not look so strange when she sings tho. As for who is going to win? Amelia by far! best look, best voice and she should not have gone in the first place!
perhaps word is out as to how she was at school!!
Reading the comments on this website leads me to believe that people from Manchester generally consdier anyone else from the city not exactly like them to be feral scum who need birching; unwashed, stinking, noisy bus users; benefit and house stealing immigrants; dole loving work shy layabouts who need some forced labour (or national service), then birching; law ignoring self rightous cyclists; me me me, get out of my way car drivers; unwashed Totskyite student scum who should shut up and get jobs; or councillors/council workers who are either animal farm type pigs just itching to unleash the hounds, or useless incompetants who really should tell everyone else how to behave; and either drunk/drugged out of their heads or nanny state moralisers dreaming of being Cromwell, or maybe some combination of the above.
And would probably much rather shoot them than vote for them.
Perhaps there's a lot of us that don't ''love Manchester''. Maybe a lot of people vote for who they like the best as a singer not for somebody just because they come from the same place.
I'm not mancunian but I have lived in this great city for a while now and I love Misha B. Come on Manchester get behind your home girl!!
Although, I think her only competition has just turned up. Amelia is gonna give her a run for her money.
why should we vote for someone thats from manchester, the shows about talent not where your from, and there are a lot of people on there who would get my vote before her.
I think Misha has a great voice but she isn't unique and i also think she is lacking the likeability factor.
The whole premise of this article completely misses the point. If 'X-Factor' was a contest to identify Britain's favourite city, then Manchester's lacklustre showing might be of concern. But it isn't. Viewers are voting for their preferred stage performance, not a geographical location. And if the preferred singer happens to hail from Inverness or Plymouth then so be it. It is all about the music; vote for the track you enjoyed the most. Otherwise, why not just scrap the performances and put up a list of towns with phone numbers alongside them?
i don't doubt Misha B's talent, but there is nothing likable about her and her nasely voice goes right through me
Because it's a talent show, not a where do you come from vote.
By the thinking that we should vote for our locals and not the most talented would we be expected to vote for "Jimmy the Weed" as a better singer than Barry Manilow?
perhaps Mancs care more about music? Joy Division, Smiths, The Mondays, Stone Roses, Misha B? Don't think so. If Scousers want to spoil their heritage by adding Ray Quinn to list that includes the Beatles, the Las, the Coral etc. that's their look out. MEN just hoping her winning would give the female staff several million trivial 'celeb' stories about her. I'd rather get news about the state of the world than hear about some karaoke singer just cos she is local.
WE JUST DON'T LIKE TO VOTE FOR HER ! PERIOD !
It's the X Factor, who cares? You can see people who sing exactly like Misha B (what's wrong with her full name?) in karaoke bars all over the country everynight of the week.
Get it off the television, surely we can have a re-run of Cannon and Ball instead?
I remember the MEN urging everyone to vote for Shane (15 minutes of fame) Ward on the basis he was from Manchester.
I always thought the aim was to vote for the best person not where they live!
Also, the reason why there was not much support on the network known as ''twitter'' is because how many 13 year old girls who watch Zzzz Factor are on ''twitter''?
Should Misha B worry about some Mancunians not getting behind her on X factor? No.
Should she be gutted if she doesn't win or get in the top 3? No.
Misha shouldn't plead and beg for our support, like it's the be all and end all.
The truth is, in the long run, she doesn't need us.
She's jumped through a few hoops and compromised a little to get exposure to millions of people. That's fine in the short term. She'll get a recording contract out of it and be allowed to grow and develop and she'll come into her own. She'll be a national success and could very well go international. Being an X factor contestant will fade into a distant memory.
A few miserable and bitter locals mouthing off, means absolutely nothing in the grand scheme of things.
She's a complex character with a complex past. She's not everyone's cup of tea, but she doesn't need to be. No need to try and win everyone over, Mancunians or not.
Just do your own thing and do it well and you'll get a growing fan base outside of this competition. It's a big world out there, so think big!
She adds nothing different to the music scene, she doesnt really have any "X" factor, shes quite boring.
A lot of jealousy about Misha its a shame really. People keep going on about her at school. Can we all say we were perfect in school? Are we not entitled to a second chance. My white colleagues don't like her, when asked why they say it is her attitude. I responded by saying a lot of white people seem to have a concept that black people are hoggish, hostile and unproachable and they have inferred her to be the same. None of us really know this girl and the only people who can speak are her close friends and family. Regardless of what anybody thinks about Misha you can't take away she is a brilliant singer. Concentrate on the singing rather than anything else.
apart from the fact that Liverpudlians would vote for a dead slug if it spoke with a scouse accent, I think Marcus Collins and Craig Colton are genuinely nice folk, not sure about Misha B
X Factor is like looking into the toilet bowl and knowing you will need a brush or constant flushing to remove it.
It is just like working in Sales, people buy from people, If I don't like the sales person dealing with me, I'm thinking If I buy then this person gets some commission out of this. I dont have a problem with this concept of business but if the guy / girl is an a***hole then they are not going to get my money.
If people don't like her they wont vote - simple as...
Is she likeable ? BTW This argument is colour blind.
What is the gender make up of voters I suspect its 90/10 female to male. Which is why the girl vote is usally for males. Lots of issues here...
I like her and I've heard that's all she's bothered about!
Misha is an amazing singer and the best, she should win for that reason alone!
a lot of people don't vote because of something called a RECESSION!
I suspect that we should all vote for her, Cowell deserves it.