Samantha Jade - Television Tropes & Idioms

Just call her the Comeback Queen.

Picture this: A young woman who fits all the criteria of being a popstar (good looks, great voice, stage presence, fashion blog darling) is being touted as the Next Big Thing. The magazines interview her about her upcoming album, the newspapers explain why she deserves to go international, and websites are starting to spread her name like wildfire. She's writing songs for the likes of Jojo and Ashley Tisdale and even David Guetta is lining up to work with her. Basically, she's the music industry's new it girl.

Suddenly, it all stops. Turns out the album is vaporware. Collaborations with other well-known artists are scrapped and no more promotion is invested into the artist. Not all that surprising, especially when your record label decides to invest more time into Britney Spears.

But then that woman decides to audition for X Factor. By the virtue of the Australian public and under the tutelage of Guy Sebastian, she ends up winning the competition. She now has a number-one single and an album released in time for the Christmas shopping frenzy.

This is the story of Samantha Jade.

Discography:

"Step Up" (from the film of the same name) (Single) (2006)
"Turn Around" (Single) (2007)
"Secret" (Single) (2009)
My Name Is Samantha Jade (Originally scheduled for a 2008 release before being cancelled for good)
Samantha Jade (2012)

Filmography:

Beneath the Blue (2010) - Kita

Samantha Jade shows examples of:

Absolute Cleavage: From cover art and publicity shots dating to 2007�09 during the promotion of her cancelled album. Of course, she is wearing a corset. The Absolute Cleavage and corset also make appearances in the "Secret" video.
Bare Your Midriff: Did this often in the mid-2000s. There's quite a lot of it on show in the "Step Up" video.
BBC Quarry: The entirety of the video for "What You've Done to Me" was filmed in a quarry.
Canon Discontinuity: According to the Australian media, "What You've Done to Me" is her debut single. Hmmm...
Christmas Songs: "Christmas At Last", released to iTunes in 2012.
Cover Album: All the songs on her debut are re-recorded versions of all the songs she performed on X Factor save for her winner's single, "What You've Done to Me".
Cover Version: She's done oh so many (comes part and parcel with being featured on a Talent Show), but her rendition of Kanye West's "Heartless" is considered her turning point. The song cemented her place in the competition and shot to number one on the iTunes chart.
- Her cover/performance of "Scream" by Usher is also a turning point in the competition.
The Cutie
Development Hell: She was working on an album as far back as 2002. To put that into perspective, not even Australian Idol existed back then.
Dream Team: Before My Name Is Samantha Jade was shelved, she was working with the likes of Wyclef Jean, Darkchild, Timbaland, Max Martin and StarGate. Now she's become an X Factor graduate, she's back to square one.
Fan Nickname: Virtually no one refers to Samantha Jade by her full name. It's always been "Sam", "S-Jade" or "Sammy" due to the unique Australian habit of shortening the names of media personalities.
Genre Roulette: Need Synth Pop, pop-rock, R&B or dance? She's got the tunes.
Go Karting with Bowser: She covers her former rival Britney Spears' song "Everytime" on her debut and is rather influenced by her.
Incompatible Orientation: "Secret" is about dating a closeted gay man.
Intercourse with You: "I Need You Now".
Keep Circulating the Tapes: In the mid-to-late 2000s her leaked songs were a popular commodity on filesharing sites and P2P services. Now she is a household name, these files will undoubtedly become more valuable in nature.
Melismatic Vocals
Ms. Fanservice: Well ... she is a popstar.
Multicolored Hair: Had blond streaks at the time of her win on X Factor.
Nice Hat: On the "Secret" cover art.
Nice Girl: A key factor in winning X Factor was her Genki Girl attitude and her positive relationship with the judges, fellow contestants and fans.
Punctuated! For! Emphasis!:
That's what you've! What you've! Done to me!
Silly Love Songs: "What You've Done to Me", "Step Up", "Turn Aroud" and a song that was eventually given to Jojo called "Secret Love".
Spiritual Successor: "The new Kylie Minogue" has been mentioned, a couple of times, as well as Leona Lewis. She could also be described as Jessica Mauboy on steroids. Meanwhile, her new material has garnered comparisons to Kelly Clarkson.
Stage Name: Her full name is Samantha Jade Gibbs.
Talky Bookends: The video for "Secret" extends the song by nearly two minutes with footage of suspects being rounded up into an interrogation room.
Three Minutes of Writhing: "Step Up" video - Samantha Jade writhing in a street. "Turn Around" video - Samantha Jade writhing on a beach. "Secret" video - Samantha Jade writhing on a stage, in a dressing room, against a wall, in an interrogation room...
Video Full Of Film Clips: The "Step Up" video has Sammy dancing intercut with clips from the Step Up movie.