With two songs each tonight each of the remaining five contestants has a chance really to show what they can do. The public, in the shape of visitors to the X Factor web site that is, have chosen one and a current recording artist has chosen the other. Having said that, I should imagine that the production team and judges will have a bit to say too.
Ben gets a song chosen by One Direction. Nice for him to have support of the current No. 1 band and he also, of course, has Simon Cowell. Come Together is the first track for him. A very weird and slightly dodgy set but a good performance and plenty of raspy stuff from Ben. A likeable chap and he didn't do anything wrong but I am not so sure he did that much that was exceptional either. The judges are really complimentary! I was pleased with the way he looked and performed but just feel there was something missing. The song itself actually doesn't go anywhere so it would be unreasonable to expect him to improve on a Beatles number but eh didn't let them down either.
Little Mix, another big X Factor success (they won in 2011), chose Clarity, not a track that I immediately recognise for Lauren. It looks and sounds like an Ariana Grande type number. I understand that it was a track by Zepp featuring Foxes. Nice and current but it was far from perfect. I still see her making it through to the last four. She is also the more likely to succeed in a Ben v Lauren final which is what, at the moment, I am predicting. That is definitely not what the bookies are predicting, though, with Fleur as a very, very clear favourite. So, logically, they also have Lauren as a similarly short odds favourite to go tomorrow.
Tulisa is someone ITV are allowed to mention again by the seems of it and she has chosen their track. Bruno Mars Just The Way You Are is a nice track that should please everyone watching. A fabulous song, really well-written. It works well for them and they put on the sort of show that makes you think that they might just steal this thing after all. If they were to do that consistently then they ought to make the final themselves. Mel disagreed and thought they'd not done well. Cheryl too criticised the way they stood and sang. Simon didn't think it worked well and reckoned a last-minute switch in routine didn't help. So much for what I thought then.
So Fleur is the new predicted winner. Emile Sande chooses a song. Fall In Love by Tina Turner is not a song she knew. Or me. I hope Emile knew what she was doing. I didn't like it much, nor the white trousers, and I didn't find it a natural performance either. However, it was accurate and more or less faultless, just a bit unexceptional. Louis loved it. Neither Mel nor Cheryl were that enthusiastic but they did recognise that she was very competent. Simon says it can't be her that goes home tomorrow.
Andrea gets Alexandra Burke's vote. That was quite surprising. Sam Smith chooses a song for him. He didn't have much to do to survive against Stevi last week but would have a tougher job against any of the others. The song is a Sia number Chandelier that even Sam says is hard to sing. I guess that that means if he does it well then that will keep him in. I found too many painful sounding and looking efforts to reach notes that were not familiar or natural for this fellow. If he'd written the song then maybe he'd have got it but I didn't think a great deal of that. I am also not at all sure that the production matched the sense of the track either. Someone missed the point. Simon says Round One to Ben.
Viewers' choices now. Lauren has a really nice modern track. At last, one that those likely to vote for her will enjoy and they need to vote too to ensure she doesn't go home as predicted. She's slowed it right down and I am hoping for the rhythm to kick in. Will it? Or will she just carry on with the nice ballad approach? That works but it isn't as satisfying as it might have been. A good job but will that keep her in? If she stays then who goes? Simon thinks that may have saved her.
Ben gets Ed Sheeran's very cool number, one of the best songs of the year. Quite easy to sing but he also needs to get the message across. Just rasping away won't work. He needs to be gentle and starts well. He continues well too with a really nice and controlled performance that must, surely, send him flying through. Nice job, Ben.
Stereo Kicks get Run. It's quite a classic and can sound fabulous. It was a good effort but I just felt there were too many and it slowed it and muffled it a bit. The main lead, Diva Kicks, was excellent and maybe should have been left to carry them all through, which I do believe he could have done. This requirement to try and feature each of their voices doesn't work for me but that pleased Mel. Cheryl was politely impressed but was secretly thinking that she'd want them up against Andrea in the bottom two. I must have missed Louis' and Simon's comments.
Luckily, Fleur knows her song. She also ditched the white trousers. A very good performance. I don't feel the song was one we'll want to dive onto YouTube to play again although she did do it justice. She certainly deserves to get through and the bookies reckon she has to be there. I would have thought she could be at risk this week but I guess I am in the minority on that one. I want to see her make it through, for sure, and Simon has it right in that she genuinely wants to be there and to sing. Nice, I still think she's at risk but hope she makes it.
Andrea closes the show. I'm actually not looking forward to watching him chew and wail his way through the huge classic and would much prefer Mariah Carey to watch. He's a nice enough chap. He decides, or someone decided, to do some of this in Italian which could well help him. Almost anyone can make this song sound impressive has it has an anthemic quality and there can be a big choir and lots of sweeping instruments in the background to make sure it sounds good. So it wasn't surprising that he gets a good reaction but if you listen carefully it wasn't that great and he certainly doesn't sound like someone I would rush out to buy. I think he could go if he's up against anyone except Lauren or Stereo Kicks. If it's one of them and the judges go to deadlock then he could well get through. Of course, he may well not be in the bottom two this week. In that case it really is anyone's guess.
All I can say is that it won't be Ben.
Ben gets a song chosen by One Direction. Nice for him to have support of the current No. 1 band and he also, of course, has Simon Cowell. Come Together is the first track for him. A very weird and slightly dodgy set but a good performance and plenty of raspy stuff from Ben. A likeable chap and he didn't do anything wrong but I am not so sure he did that much that was exceptional either. The judges are really complimentary! I was pleased with the way he looked and performed but just feel there was something missing. The song itself actually doesn't go anywhere so it would be unreasonable to expect him to improve on a Beatles number but eh didn't let them down either.
Little Mix, another big X Factor success (they won in 2011), chose Clarity, not a track that I immediately recognise for Lauren. It looks and sounds like an Ariana Grande type number. I understand that it was a track by Zepp featuring Foxes. Nice and current but it was far from perfect. I still see her making it through to the last four. She is also the more likely to succeed in a Ben v Lauren final which is what, at the moment, I am predicting. That is definitely not what the bookies are predicting, though, with Fleur as a very, very clear favourite. So, logically, they also have Lauren as a similarly short odds favourite to go tomorrow.
Tulisa is someone ITV are allowed to mention again by the seems of it and she has chosen their track. Bruno Mars Just The Way You Are is a nice track that should please everyone watching. A fabulous song, really well-written. It works well for them and they put on the sort of show that makes you think that they might just steal this thing after all. If they were to do that consistently then they ought to make the final themselves. Mel disagreed and thought they'd not done well. Cheryl too criticised the way they stood and sang. Simon didn't think it worked well and reckoned a last-minute switch in routine didn't help. So much for what I thought then.
So Fleur is the new predicted winner. Emile Sande chooses a song. Fall In Love by Tina Turner is not a song she knew. Or me. I hope Emile knew what she was doing. I didn't like it much, nor the white trousers, and I didn't find it a natural performance either. However, it was accurate and more or less faultless, just a bit unexceptional. Louis loved it. Neither Mel nor Cheryl were that enthusiastic but they did recognise that she was very competent. Simon says it can't be her that goes home tomorrow.
Andrea gets Alexandra Burke's vote. That was quite surprising. Sam Smith chooses a song for him. He didn't have much to do to survive against Stevi last week but would have a tougher job against any of the others. The song is a Sia number Chandelier that even Sam says is hard to sing. I guess that that means if he does it well then that will keep him in. I found too many painful sounding and looking efforts to reach notes that were not familiar or natural for this fellow. If he'd written the song then maybe he'd have got it but I didn't think a great deal of that. I am also not at all sure that the production matched the sense of the track either. Someone missed the point. Simon says Round One to Ben.
Viewers' choices now. Lauren has a really nice modern track. At last, one that those likely to vote for her will enjoy and they need to vote too to ensure she doesn't go home as predicted. She's slowed it right down and I am hoping for the rhythm to kick in. Will it? Or will she just carry on with the nice ballad approach? That works but it isn't as satisfying as it might have been. A good job but will that keep her in? If she stays then who goes? Simon thinks that may have saved her.
Ben gets Ed Sheeran's very cool number, one of the best songs of the year. Quite easy to sing but he also needs to get the message across. Just rasping away won't work. He needs to be gentle and starts well. He continues well too with a really nice and controlled performance that must, surely, send him flying through. Nice job, Ben.
Stereo Kicks get Run. It's quite a classic and can sound fabulous. It was a good effort but I just felt there were too many and it slowed it and muffled it a bit. The main lead, Diva Kicks, was excellent and maybe should have been left to carry them all through, which I do believe he could have done. This requirement to try and feature each of their voices doesn't work for me but that pleased Mel. Cheryl was politely impressed but was secretly thinking that she'd want them up against Andrea in the bottom two. I must have missed Louis' and Simon's comments.
Luckily, Fleur knows her song. She also ditched the white trousers. A very good performance. I don't feel the song was one we'll want to dive onto YouTube to play again although she did do it justice. She certainly deserves to get through and the bookies reckon she has to be there. I would have thought she could be at risk this week but I guess I am in the minority on that one. I want to see her make it through, for sure, and Simon has it right in that she genuinely wants to be there and to sing. Nice, I still think she's at risk but hope she makes it.
Andrea closes the show. I'm actually not looking forward to watching him chew and wail his way through the huge classic and would much prefer Mariah Carey to watch. He's a nice enough chap. He decides, or someone decided, to do some of this in Italian which could well help him. Almost anyone can make this song sound impressive has it has an anthemic quality and there can be a big choir and lots of sweeping instruments in the background to make sure it sounds good. So it wasn't surprising that he gets a good reaction but if you listen carefully it wasn't that great and he certainly doesn't sound like someone I would rush out to buy. I think he could go if he's up against anyone except Lauren or Stereo Kicks. If it's one of them and the judges go to deadlock then he could well get through. Of course, he may well not be in the bottom two this week. In that case it really is anyone's guess.
All I can say is that it won't be Ben.
No comments:
Post a Comment