Fright Night For the Top 9.

It's Fright night so there's make-up and scary-looking people everywhere. The songs are likely to be a bit predictable too so t's probably a good idea to get this stage out of the way sooner rather than later. As it happens, just about all the acts manage to bring their own individuality to the show - all credit due to them, with not one bad performance tonight.

Gifty

You can absolutely rely on this girl to perform well. This was not particularly memorable but precise and entertaining. She could do well with her own shows. Not amazingly well but, maybe with a good writer, she'd hit the charts as she is quite current.

I'm In Love With A Monster is what I am guessing the title is. Neither Louis nor Sharon know the song but that shows up their knowledge rather than any comment on Gifty's talents. It was a Fifth Harmony song, by the way.

1-2-3-4-5

Matt

Looks like they're starting with the two acts who can be relied upon to keep viewers rather than risking people wandering back to Strictly. Actually, I am sure most people will record this and watch it slightly delayed.

I Put A Spell On You is a great number. If everyone chose tracks as good as this then having a theme wouldn't be such a bad idea. (It is a bad idea still because the idea is to find an act who can steal the charts and also have a go at making it across the Pond too, rather than entertain in a set genre for one week at a time, switching in and out of what they like doing best).

Going back to Matt, though, this was really very good indeed. He should have had  four standing ovations for that. Everything about that performance was first class. Maybe not a chart hit but I can see him getting some great stuff written for him that would hit the charts. He'll make the final.

1-2-3

I do like the di di ra la la bit stripped from Whigfield that we get in the intervals.

5AM Five After Midnight

Thriller is, of course, a natural for these guys. They can sing the song and dance the dance. Good harmonies and well presented. That looked pretty faultless but it didn't sound as strong as it ought to have done. Not at all bad but I would like more depth and less tinny stuff. It seemed to go down well, though, and they may have played safe but that's understandable. For sheer quality and the fact that voters will remember that, I reckon they'll make it through to next week and I'll rate then above Gifty this week.

2-3-4

Honey G

Men In Black works really well for this girl. She is the 'comedy avt' this year but I have to say that she is getting better each week and this time she looked and sounded very professional. Not my style but it will be popular. Tremendous stage show. Impressive week for her. She may well survive another week or two yet after all! She clearly has been working hard. It would be a shame if she went this week, although I would have to place her 4th out of 4 so far.

4-5-6

Ryan

Another make-over this week and it suits him better, a rougher image. Rock Your Body is normally a big heavy number and this is a bit light in places but he tries to make it meaningful. Not a bad effort but, because the others have done so well so far, I feel that he will still struggle. As Louis says, that was his best performance so far but I don't know how much support he'll get. It was odd hearing Sharon, who had championed Nicholas Macdonald, saying Ryan had been a bit wet in previous weeks. Still vulnerable, though.

5-6-7-8

Sam

Super start to Total Eclipse Of The Heart. Her voice suits this sort of song well. Crazy range in the song and she manages. Just. That was impressive. Her voice is amazing. Instantly recordable. Find her a writer now. She probably just pipped Matt again.

1-2

Saara

Lady Gaga's Bad Romance sounds good. She puts on a great show, much to the credit too of the guy planning it all in the background but seriously she is excellent on stage. This could have been her own show again and that is very much to be appreciated. Where that will place her in the hearts of the voters here I do not know. I don't know whether she'll survive but she will be remembered and I do expect someone will take her on and give her a contract to do something in a show somewhere.

6-7

Four of Diamonds

Ghost is an odd choice. You almost wonder if Louis chose it because it had the word Ghost in it. The start is not good at all but once they get going it works quite well. I fear that it will not have worked well enough, though. That was not a great example of what they could do. Pity. They will be at risk this weekend. They may survive but they'll need some luck, and probably another good sing-off track.

8-9

Emily

Closing the show is another genuine contender this year. It's a good slot because people tend to remember the last one and a good performance here can garner more votes than it might have done in the middle of the show. Odd but that's just how things work. Both Sam and Matt can be beaten still. I can't imagine her failing and falling into the Bottom Three - she is Top 5 material.

This is amazing. It is Creep, the classic track that some people just excel at. This is different with a very slow and carefully phrased track that is not at all simple. It would display each and every fault but Emily makes none. Wonderful. She takes #1 spot this week for me.

1

So, safe this week, should be:

Emily | Sam | Matt

Needing some luck with the voters:

5AM | Gifty | Honey G

At risk:

Saara | Ryan | 4 of Diamonds

Four Of Diamonds make the Top 9

Despite its age, this show never ceases to surprise me. This week, after the now intriguing little excerpt from Whigfield's Saturday Night that we get before and during breaks in the show every week, the name of Busted is announced and on come some of the guys we used to know as Busted and McFly looking considerably older. That was actually the first vaguely entertaining 'sing-a-long' as the ten contestants joined them on stage.

We also get Shawn Mendes doing a classy version of his new single. That made me wonder whatever happened to Ben Haenow. He needs a good writer.

Then it is straight into the announcement of who gets through to the Top 9.

The delight on Saara's face when she hears her name is great to see. I had reckoned that she deserved to stay but had not thought she would have had more public votes than, at least, Ryan, Relley C and Four of Diamonds, placing her at least in 7th place.

On Diva Night, Relley C appearing in the Bottom Three was unexpected, although I have not been impressed with her ability to hit the right notes so far. Ryan was the only act I had expected to be in major trouble this week and he gets saved by the new 'second' public vote so must be relieved to be the most popular of those three.

The sing-off, therefore, is between Four of Diamonds and Relley C. I am thinking that, after Simon's remarks yesterday, he would favour Relley C and that Nicole would too so she would be the most likely to survive.

However, Relley C's singing really is not very good. So many poor notes that trail off in I Can't Make You Love Me. If the judges say how wonderful that was then they must surely just be being nice. Sorry, that was wobbly and not something I would want to listen to again.

Four of Diamonds are not at all well dressed. I don't know who suggested those combinations but they are awful. They are four attractive girls but one white affair makes the wearer look wide, like when you get the screen ratio wrong on an old film. Another has some loose black bits hanging down that ought to show a long bare leg but just look strange and not at all sexy either. The other two are not a great deal better. Basically they all look a bit desperate and that theme continues when they start singing. Who Are You Today is, I think, the title. Not a common track and not one you'd expect to be chosen for an important sing-off. Once they get going, though, they're a lot better and the harmonies begin to impress. The notes are good and it becomes a smarter performance with some excellent and quite impressive bits by a couple of the girls in particular. They were definitely a lot better than Relley C but whether that will have been enough to change Nicole or Simon is not clear.

It is. Both Nicole and Simon join Louis is saving the group and they live to fight another day. Fright week next week. Oh dear. Lots of annoying make-up and forced song choices. I do wish they'd just settle down to getting acts to do what they reckon they're best at and would be likely to be doing in future.

The Top 10 Perform. Simon's Girls 1,2, 3.

Those who think X Factor is a pointless show or that the acts appearing are pretty useless might care to note that this weekend sees X Factor acts at #1 and #2 in the UK Top 100. Olly Murs and Fifth Harmony (an X Factor USA finalist) have another five entries between them.

Look at the album charts and Rebecca Ferguson is at #7, Little Mix at #30, Fifth Harmony 61 and James Arthur #71.

Dermot wants to 'dance with somebody' and does his now traditional turn at the start and then we get Nicole singing as an intro. It's Diva Week so that makes some sense - and so much better than the group 'Sing-a-long'. Well done, producers. It's not often I say that.

Ryan

With a guitar, although he doesn't do a great deal with it. Rolling In The Deep is a pretty much over-done track at the best of times and it and Ryan seem to be opposites. He is no 'Diva' anyway but he does sing this very well. It's not his week and this will not really help him. I feel he's unlucky and may be at risk but he is going to go sooner or later.

Sharon is embarrassing again as she says he's 17. He's 20.

Gifty

Great start. Not a song I know. She looks attractive with the long, blonde hair. This is a tricky track to get right but she gets every note in place and, with no cover available in the backing, that's important. She is very good and deserved the standing ovation from all four judges at the end. She should fly through this week. That'll take some beating.

Five After Midnight

They choose an odd one - Valerie as in The Zutons but I suppose it is Amy Winehouse who adds the 'Diva' tag so they can use it. For all that, this is not that great. They put on a super performance and all credit to them for that but it was all a bit like a cartoon. Not at all something I want to hear again and I'm not sure they'll be doing that well on the downloads this week. They were the bookies' second favourite at the start of tonight's show but I suspect they may drop after that. Simon says he didn't like that but they ought to survive.

Sam

A major song for this young girl. Michael Jackson's Earth Song is full of potential mistakes and places to go wrong. It's a big risk but she takes it on and does very well. Very powerful and she gets a decent length too. Super voice, edgy and interesting. In places I feel she tried a bit too hard but that ought to see her through.

Matt

He starts as the bookies' favourite. He has a super voice and seems very professional so I expect him to sail through. He sings another Michael Jackson number, I'll Be There.  It's OK, but he does bring in some crazy falsetto stuff which I could probably have done without. It was better as a strong pop song. In places he tries way too hard and actually misses the key quite badly. Not a good ending. Not a memorable performance either. I expected a lot better.

The judges gave him rave reviews, however. He ought to be fine.

Honey G

John Legend says that her challenge every week is 'topping yourself'. OK. Let's hope she doesn't do that.

Here goes a strange 'Diva' track: Ice Ice Baby. She does it better than JEdward did. Actually a good solid performance. Switch to Under Pressure for no particular reason then back to rapping and the regular 'Ice Ice Baby' lyric. Well, that was OK. That could see her through. It was a good performance, even though I don't go for this at all and really would not want to see her get too much further. But that was more interesting than several acts tonight.

Relley C

She has been suffering from a sore throat so we're expecting her to have trouble but then I am sure the team will have got her organised and adjusted the song so that she can avoid the impossible notes. Her song is Natural Woman which is OK. Her voice must be better as she hits some loud and high notes out there. Not a bad performance but a bit bit messy in places. Good for tonight, I suppose. I still see her going fairly soon and she may be in the bottom three this week.

So far, no-one has really done anything we'll remember.

Emily

A completely different version of Whitney's How Will I Know? Very nice and she is making herself very hard to beat and certainly standing out against the others this week. Brilliant. Best of the night so far. Note perfect and delightful simplicity that says 'quality'. I take back the comment about nothing being memorable!

Louis says John Lewis should choose that as their Christmas Advert track!

Four Of Diamonds

Hoping that these girls do well again. Now that they have had time to settle a bit more. Lady Marmalade is a good start. Bang Bang is also a good sign of what they can do. Stylish for sure and no question that they can all sing. That was near perfect and not at all easy. It seemed to finish a bit soon but OK. Great choice and super performance. They could do a Fifth Harmony here.

Saara

What can this girl do? It ought to be her week as she is the best outright ballad singer in the competition. So what will she perform and how will the British voters take it? Even before she starts I see her in the Bottom Three - and that is a shame but probably true. She may find herself in yet another sing-off and the judges may simply decide that they cannot really support an act that can't get the public's support. It sounds terribly unfair to judge her even before she has sung but it would require something extraordinary to change people's likes and dislikes out there in voting land.

It's The Iceland Bork's It's So Quiet. Oh dear, that's a pity. It won't get her the votes she needs. A very good performance but just not what the show needs. All credit to her but I think that may see her going home.

She is a star, for sure. It's the West End she should be on. She could do well there. Great reviews from the panel. They are all full of praise and that's right.

Here, though, is how I predict the phone vote will go:

Safe and sound

Emily
Gifty Louise
Sam

Relying on getting the votes in

Four of Diamonds
Matt
Honey G
Relley C

Bottom three

Saara
Five After Midnight
Ryan

Week 1 Results: The Top Ten

I worry slightly when Dermot announces the 'traditional' sing-a-long introduction to the Sunday show. This really does spoil every effort that might have been made to support individual acts and promote them as viable chart performers. Seeing this year's batch descending, or in one or two cases, ascending to some average party song and dance number designed to ensure that everyone gets even camera time and with lyrics that won't upset anyone is depressing.

Actually, Saara got by far the most noticeable spot, the rest blending into the tedious nonsense that is this element. She was very good and even seemed to care a bit.

Anyway, that ended soon enough. No songs get a full length rendition unless it's a guest. Usually that will be mimed to a backing track too although I did get the impression that poor old James Arthur was genuinely doing is thing. He has struck lucky, finding that his Mumford-type style fits nicely in the current genre that is popular. He is now riding high in the charts after we had all thought he was done for. I could have done without the plug for a mental health charity that he adds at the end of his chat with Dermot and the judges. It may be a decent cause but that just looked dumb. The guy's famous enough at the moment to plug stuff properly in chat shows, radio interviews and magazines. I am sure that most acts have got a favourite charity but if they all started plugging them every time they saw a camera we'd soon get not only bored but a bit confused as to which we should give our donations to.

The make-over teams have been hard at work and made a reasonable job of everyone which is quite a relief as they have gone badly wrong in the past. I am not sure about the shaved stripes for Emily but no-one looked out of place this year. I suppose they still have time. And there's not a great deal you can do with Honey G anyway.

So, it's time to see who made it through to Week 2. Dermot fires through the list this time. With eight to announce I guess he had to. With Brooks Way not even getting a mention this time and, I presume, they have been dropped from the show, I was thinking the producers might have given everyone a second shot but, no, there's a 'Bottom Three' as usual. What is described as 'new' is that one act gets saved by the public vote. It is slightly different in that we get to vote again at that time for which of those three lives to sing another week. Before it was basically a delayed 'who gets through' announcement based on the main vote.

The three in competition are Freddy, Saara and Bratavio. That seems about right to me. I can't remember now what I had predicted but f I didn't predict these three then I should have done. Freddy did not come across very strongly and, however good looking he may be, that will not be enough at this stage. Saara was good but the Finnish thing will never help her and Bratavio just deserve to go anyway.

Freddy is the one saved, which seems right and there is a sing off between Saara and Bratavio.

Saara is quite remarkably good. Amazing, in fact, as she soars through the extremely difficult SIA's I'm Alive and that was pretty damn impressive. Very classy. I am not at all sure that she is someone that is for the UK market but she really does deserve to stay after that. It would really be quite wrong for the other pair to be the ones sending her home.


Yazz's The Only Way Is Up is actually not that bad. Camp and a bit dodgy and definitely out of tune in places but it is quite fun. Totally opposite to Saara. No class, no notes to speak of but you can see their appeal to some sectors of the crazy UK pop sales market. My guess is that a 50-50 vote between the judges would see them through with a higher public vote.

Louis, of course, votes for his act, although I did wonder for a moment whether he might change his mind in view of the amazingly good reviews that Saara had got, some describing her performance as the best sing-off in the whole 14 years of this show. Sharon sends the boys home. Nicole, who gave Saara the Wild Card, sends the boys home so it's up to Simon. I sit there hoping that he really will do the right thing. He does, and backs it up by saying that that was the easiest decision he'd had to make. So Saara will be back next week and she and Freddy will surely have to find a way to attract more votes.

Top 3 Boys for the Live Shows.

It is a real relief to get away from the Over 25s and on to the last category to be decided. Nicole gives the Boys something to remember by emerging from the sea to greet them in some sort of James Bond Comic reprise. She is certainly considerably more watchable than Sharon, Simon or Louis. And the talent in this category is clear. Based on previous auditions, any of these seven could make it.

Ryan is first and is someone we hardly know at all. Simon appears to have put him through as a Wild Card after he failed to make it in a boy band earlier. We didn't see any of that. Maybe we will if he makes the Live Shows. His tone seems to be the same all the way through his song. He's cool in a slightly retro way but remains 'current' somehow. A competent performance and the guy knows what he's doing.

Niall has been one of the very best so far. He sings Two Become One which is an odd choice. It sort of worked but only just sort of worked. He has a good range, although he seems nervous and this was not as good as he has been in previous stages. He would be an interesting choice although his image isn't great. I would still say he has to be one of the three.

Freddie certainly does have the image. Looks very good but doesn't sing that well. Not bad, just not as good as the others. He could be appealing on tv but I don't see him making it against this year's competition in this group. Nicole thinks he's the best 'artist' and so maybe it'll be a close decision. On balance, I give him the performance edge over Ryan.

Nate sings Summertime. Wanders a lot around the classic. He may find he has appeal but needs to be careful and just concentrate on singing which he does well. It's a very short audition but I feel the show needs someone like him.

James tries to sing Ain't No Mountain High Enough but it goes wrong. He is nowhere near as good as he had been previously. Very surprising and disappointing for him. He has to be out, I feel.

Christian is, again, very emotional in his performance and has a quite unique tone. He expresses lyrics tremendously well and deserves a spot. My only worry is that he might be a one-trick pony and fail to deliver on the wider range that the show expects. Definitely Top 3, though.

Matt Terry is one good looking chap. Add a really nice personality and you have a winner here. He sings She's Outta My Life which is a brilliant choice. Natural and just one great performance. He is a dead cert for the Live Shows and a potential winner indeed.

I would choose Matt, Christian and Niall and expect to get all three to the last six.

Ok, so I am right about Matt, and Nicole seems to be in love with him already. Her other two choices, though, are surprising. She takes Freddie, who I don't think will last very long (although longer than the Over 25s!) and new boy on the block Ryan. Now that's a risk. She and Simon must know something that we don't about that lad.