Marcus Collins - Mercy

Where did it all go wrong for Marcus Collins? For an artist that looked so promising for most of his X Factor journey, come the show's final and the subsequent release of his album and dire White Stripes cover, it all seemed to have gone a bit tits up.

While Little Mix were busy becoming the UK's new sweethearts, Marcus devolved into a kind of cabaret act, and Mercy only furthers the dispiriting sense of 'Is this it?' that surrounded his attempt at Seven Nation Army. A methodical stomp through big brass riffs and Motown vibes, it's symptomatic of the largely disposable nature of Collins' debut.

And it's a shame really, because there's a glimmer of potential still in there somewhere - Break These Chains and Gary Barlow-penned Feel Like I Feel were actually rather good, and it'd have been nice to see Marcus push the boat out a bit and release the latter as a single. As it stands though, it's hard to imagine Mercy doing anything to reverse the fortunes of its parent album.

Mercy is released on the 3rd June.

Marcus Collins - Break These Chains

The jury's still out on Marcus Collins' predictable cover of Seven Nation Army, but here's a thing... the single's b-side is amazing. Likely properly full-on pop scales of amazing. What we disliked most about Marcus' White Stripes cover is that it proved nothing that he hadn't already made evident on the X Factor, but in Break These Chains, he positions himself as the kind of pop artist that can actually bring the big guns to bear.

With all the bombast and pizzaz of some Erasure classic twinned with sleek Ronson-esque production, Break These Chains succeeds on every level that its a-side fails. It also poses the question, if this is a b-side, what delights can we expect on Marcus' album itself?

Marcus Collins - Seven Nation Army

The trouble with Marcus Collins releasing a cover version as his debut single is that it proves nothing. Having dazzled on the X Factor show itself, his jazzed up take on the White Stripes' Seven Nation Army is reduced to something all too predictable.

Unlike Marcus' tacky finale performances which veered dangerously into cabaret cruise-ship territory, Seven Nation Army is thankfully more restrained, more classy - but it does nothing to push the Marcus brand, to show us what more the lad can do. We know he's got a great voice, we know he's got a snazzy sense of style - he showed us all that on the big ol' XF - let's see him deliver with some material of his own now, as Rebecca Ferguson did to sublime effect last year.

As it stands, Seven Nation Army seems to scream 'I wish this was produced by Mark Ronson' while simultaneously shimmying up in an assortment of Janelle Monae's leftovers (admirable though it is that Marcus wants to cover Monae on his debut album, Seven Nation Army proves he's in danger of becoming a poor man's imitation of her).

Marcus undoubtedly has potential - and Seven Nation Army is far from awful. But if he's not careful, he could quite easily end up as the next Leon Jackson or Andy Williams.