Cheryl Cole's debut solo performance - X Factor 2009

I don't want to appear that I am anti-celebrity. I am completely the opposite. I totally love them. Nearly all of them.

But things like this do disappoint.

Cheryl Cole, the first member of Girls Aloud to attempt a solo career, is not going to sing live on X Factor this weekend.

This is a poor show.

The entire programme is based on the idea that singers need to perform live to have a successful career, but Cheryl's decision not to do so make it look as if, really, it actually is all about being pretty. Everything else comes second.

A source told the Daily Mail: "Cheryl is the break-out star of Girls Aloud and there are big plans for her. Nobody - neither on the X Factor nor her record label Polydor - wants to see her fail, which is why we thought it was better for Cheryl to mime her performance."

Surely, the way to avoid "failing" is for her to rehearse, rehearse and rehearse some more? Then there would be no need to not sing live.

I love her solo song, but it does feel that everything about this is so rushed. She spent a matter of days in LA recording it and on the making of the video the choreographer noted the super-short amount of time she had to come up with the routine.

Get it done, get the profile high, make it big. Money in pockets. Done.

If she truly, truly does care about her music career, she would sing live for this first performance.

Even if for the rest of the album promo she didn't, this is the one performance that she really really should.

It looks bad to the X Factor contestants, bad to the fans and bad to anyone who wants to believe that there is a tiny amount of talent in the pop industry.

But she won't.

And having said all that, if she pulls an amazing performance out the bag, then I'll probably still love it. Maybe she can just sing some bits. ANYTHING. Just don't mime it all the way through please love.