Christmas 2008 proved to be a popular month for the song ‘Hallelujah’, with it dominating the charts holding 3 different chart positions. Alexandra Burke held the number 1 spot, Jeff Buckley closely missing out reaching number 2 with Leonard Cohen’s version creeping in at number 36. ‘Hallelujah’ has always had its followers; however The X Factor put this song back in the public eye and captured the attention of a mainstream audience. The clear hype and demand for this song is a classic example of commodity fetishism. Alexandra’s version is the current fastest selling single of a UK female artist. This highlights commodity fetishism whereby the public seemed to have an uncontrollable need to own this single, despite not necessarily needing it. It could be suggested that the public has being exploited, particularly through the media and advertisement that they need to purchase this song. This links to the idea of false needs and false consciousness whereby the public become obsessive over an item or product that they must own. In relation to Buckley’s version, second in the charts after Burke, this highlights commodity fetishism further where the latest cover of the song doesn’t seem to satisfy public needs, but they have to then purchase previous covers.
The pure exposure that The X Factor was able to give to ‘Hallelujah’ seemed to give new power to Buckley and even Cohen’s version of the song. The fact that the same song held 3 different chart positions in the same week is truly amazing and clearly highlights the popularity of this song, and gives credit to Cohen’s writing of the original version.
