I didn't spot any registration numbers this time as two new Rolls Royce motors deliver the judges this week. Well, not this week but some time in July, I think, when the weather was extremely warm and lots of people were carrying little fans. At the time of writing, Dermot O'Leary is off at Boot Camp, I'm told. Expect the rumours of who gets through to start emerging any time now!
Natasha is someone who I expect to see more of. She introduces herself in a delightfully honest way as a girl who's got a flower stall in Kentish Town. You have to like her already. She's very good too and has a natural talent. Despite apparently never having performed anywhere before she seems to be happy on the Wembley stage which is impressive. There are a few places where you can see she'd benefit from a bit of advice and training but I still much preferred her version of Impossible to that previous winner's chewed lyric version.
Next we get some youngsters. Not that Natasha was old but these people are really young.
Eliyah is 14. Very enthusiastic, pretty confident and has some good moves.
Acacia is 15 and is a confident rapper but not so sure about the rest of what she did.
Simon asks them to rehearse something else and come back as a pair.
While they're doing that we meet Owen who's just 17 and is known as Ozzie for some reason. He does an Elvis number, Trouble, and you don't get many Elvis numbers on X Factor these days. Well, you might get them in the auditions but the producers don't let us see them which is probably just as well. This guy is a bit strange, with very long straggly hair and a tendency to walk around a lot. He's very thin and wears odd clothes that just don't look right. So he looks odd, sounds a bit odd too but the panel kinda like him and he gets through. I have no idea how he'll cope with the Abba round.
The young girls return and actually do really well, bearing in mind that they've had only an hour to put their act together. Maybe it's something that kids of that age can do. Maybe we get tricked by recordings from different times - although on this occasion I don't think so. They do a version of Bang Bang Into the Room or whatever it's called and it's full of teen attitude and they go together every well indeed. Nice job. I'd probably have put them through anyway as individuals and one, if not both, would have got a fair way down the line so I am not totally convinced the duo is going to fare any better but we'll see.
Felix is another youngster at 20. He is studying for a degree in song writing and is keen to get the transgender word in pretty soon. Then I notice he is dressed a little strangely. He looks and sounds like a bloke at the top but his legs and shoes look like a girl so I am a bit confused and almost wish he'd just got on with the job and not drawn attention to that. He chooses a smart Kodaline track and has an interesting voice that could be good but he does veer off key too often for pleasant listening. I guess he could develop a style that would set him apart from the mainstream and the panel love him. I wasn't too bothered and doubt we'll see a great deal more.
Next we get three blokes who can each sing reasonably well. You can understand why they applied and why their friends and family are there to support them but they are so bland that you simply cannot imagine anyone actually wanting to go out and buy their tracks or download whatever they record. In the earlier X Factor days I reckon one or two, if not all, of these guys would have been through to Boot Camp at least, maybe with a bit of advice about dress and performance they might even go further and start to gather a few fans. In this big arena, though, the auditions are tough in that the big crowd will quickly sense who is entertaining from the very start and they will effectively pass on any rejection or disappointment to the panel there and then. So none of them make it and get a pretty harsh refusal, especially when you look at how considerate to the the youngsters before them the panel had been.
Talking of entertainment, Ivo comes from Bulgaria and he's 42. A choreographer by profession and that skill becomes clear when he performs with a group of dancers. A fascinating and weird affair indeed. Louis Walsh would have loved him and you know he'd make the Live Shows. His voice is mostly in tune and well structured but he makes it warble around at times and the whole thing, couple with the expressive forms taken by the dancers and himself, present more of a work of art than something we'd think about buying and playing in the car on the way to work.
Most bizarre but the panel put him through, even though no-one really sees this as X Factor material. I guess we all want to see what on earth he'll do next. Quite a likeable character too, which helped a lot.
Well, in every series of X Factor one programme has to end with an emotional girl from the Philippines. This year it's Marie, just 17 who comes along with all the classic phrases like 'it's my dream'. She's a very appealing girl, attractive and quite confident. It seems that her family have brought her all the way here just for this audition. No pressure there then. The familiar strains of the intro to Purple Rain start up and, for a moment I am worrying that this isn't going to end at all well. It's a very typical karaoke performance at the start but eventually she starts to break out of that and give something of herself to the song. I still don't find her anything like as impressive as Ruth Lorenzo, for example, who genuinely owned this track when she performed with it. Marie seemed always to be chasing after it and the dramatic changes she made just emphasised how desperate she was not to go home just yet.
This was good TV and she did look like a little star, for sure. No-one would not put her through anyway so there was never much to worry about. I can see her gaining quite a good following as she has everything going for her and, with better song choices, and a bit of control, people will want to see more of her. So a potential Live Show girl maybe, but mainly for the audience figures rather than sheer talent.
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