The Top 3 Girls for The Live Shows

Simon Cowell chooses the three girls to perform in the next few weeks' Live Shows on X Fcator. This is the big step - once you've made the Live Shows then even coming out at an early stage needn't be too bad. You will have had an opportunity to show your talents and maybe someone will pick you up and take you forward from there. Make it to the Top 10 (or maybe this year it could be everyone anyway) and you get a salary on the X Factor Tour around the UK, even more attention and lots of opportunities to meet people who can help as well as performing to thousands.

Obviously, winning is easier f you make the Live Shows too! But, as we've seen many times before, it is more frequently an act that comes something other than 1st that eventually wins in terms of longer-term success and recognition.

So this stage is crucial. Seven will become three.

First to perform is Sahaila. I wish she didn;t come across as so desperate to impress. She is actually very good but the introduction she always gives turns a lot of observers off. I am absolutely sure she would be an extremely competent and reliable performer, able to present any genre in whatever way the producers asked. She is professional and her version of Genie In A Bottle was faultless. However, you don't really see who she is naturally, herself, behind all the professional acting. It's difficult to be convinced that she actually means what she's singing. So I'm not so sure she'll make it. Much depends on how the others perform.

Of course, she starts in 1st place.

Kayleigh follows. She just stands and sings. She wins over Mel B and Emma, who are 'helping' Simon, easily and is a very good singer. I just don't feel she is right for this show. But I can see her getting a place because she is spot on vocally and she has that character that Sahaila didn't show -some vulnerability that makes you want to help them more. Simon doesn't think she'd sell to a young audience but the two Spice Girls seem pretty determined to get her in if they can.

I still rate her 2nd of the two we've seen.

Olivia is much more likeable than the previous two and really pretty. She reminded me of a young Britney Spears. A very short audition is all we see, occasionally really good but not always. I like her and can see her doing well. She isn't perfect but she seems more interesting than the other two and that gives her more appeal for the shows, especially if she starts to perform as she had in earlier auditions.

She takes 1st place.

Samantha is a Wild Card entry suggested by Louis. Simon had turned her down but here she is and she's the youngest at just 17 now. Simon comments on her make-up, which I also found pretty off-putting, strange dark eyes that didn't make her very appealing. He suggests she goes away and comes back again. An odd event. I am not sure really how much of that was set up for our benefit. We'll find out how she gets on later.

Caitlyn next. She has has quite an easy run so far and has been quite impressive although never particularly memorable. She is likeable and has a nice, original tome to her voice which is also accurate and she is prepared to take on difficult numbers. She forgets some words at one point but carries on and, as a result, she seemed a little desperate at the end. technically very good but I wouldn't want to watch her that often. I'm not sure sure how she'll do now.

I put her 2nd, though, as I think she'd be chosen above Sahaila.

Emily is sixth to sing. She has been to this stage before. She is brilliant, totally natural and makes an almost perfect job of Exes and Ohs. Amazingly good audition and, surely, she is the first 'must' for the Live Shows that we've seen.

So Emily takes 1st place now.

Gifty is someone who also has had an easy run through the auditions and, again, she flies through this one. she is professional and yet we get some sense that she is naturally talented and a real performer. She is quite unique, stands out amongst this group and has attitude but not too much attitude. A very good performance. Excellent all round. Another definite in my book. I place her 2nd.

Then we get Samantha back, looking very much nicer. It is almost pitch black out there now, considerably later, which makes you wonder just what has been going on. Anyway, she does a fabulous performance of Make It rain, an Ed Sheeran number, I think. The best of them all. Really good, totally natural and she blew everyone away with that. Quite a surprising turn-around.

I place her 1st now and so would choose Samantha, Emily and Gifty. That's excatly what Simon does too. Good. A very interesting and smart category. That should ensure some quality for the Live Shows when they start.