Semi Final Pt 2: The Top 4 become 3

Dermot is in a hurry tonight. I guess the producers have had their budgets cut and so there's less time or, more likely, the Christmas adverts are now so long that there isn't a great deal of time left for the show.

Dalton

Opening the show with the Emile Sande song about a Clown. Not as good as he has been still pretty impressive. He seems to be cruising a little now but I am sure he will pull out the stops next week. Recently, this guy, who must be the winner, seems to be relying on some vocal antics rather than emotional interpretation which he was so good at in the early days. Now he's almost a bit ordinary.

Robbie Williams said he thought he was a bit boring too.

Acacia & Alysiah

I now want to see this pair in the final. Too Big For Your Boots mixed with Shut Down. They do seem to be using the same song several times. I guess being in the bottom two for several weeks has used up a lot of their minimal repertoire and, of course, we have heard nearly twice as much from them as anyone else! This was a bit boring too and really did not have any logic in the link which was more of an emergency stop and hill start. All a bit weird and nothing like as good as they have been before. Not as well-synced either. But I'd still prefer them to Anthony or Scarlett in the final. Simon Cowell says they've claimed the right to be there now. Nice.

Anthony

He sings the Oasis number Don't Look Back In Anger. And that's not a bad idea at all, probably the best song he could have chosen and certainly his best performance so far in this competition. Indeed, it could even save him tonight from what I'd thought would be a certain 4th place elimination. We all like the guy but he really ought to go as Scarlett is more likely to contribute usefully to the charts and British pop scene.

Simon wants to change the rules and put all four through to a 'final'. For a moment I thought we were about to see it happen as he suggested to the panel that they talk about it. Shan would have been very hurt.

Scarlett

Something I don't recognise, maybe called I Don't Know My Own Strength and sounds like a Pink number. She even has a Streisand touch in this number and that's quite a compliment. She has become very competent and has an excellent voice with all her bad habits gone. She gets a standing ovation and so I suspect that she will be through.

Tonight I fear it will be Acacia & Alysiah who fall at the final hurdle on the track to the final. Their only hope will be if they scored very heavily and Anthony scored very poorly last night as, whilst he is likely to pile on a lot more with the Oasis number, I feel that few will be bothered to vote again for the pair.

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Yes, it is A & A who go. They did the Blinded By The Light and something else mash. Scarlett does This Is Me which was good too. I can't believe that Anthony got more votes than Scarlett. The decision is down to Ayda and Louis. I had expected them to leave it to the public vote but they both save Scarlett.

Disco Night Song List

Thanks to Tellymix for this:

This week's theme is Disco Night. That ought to suit almost everyone. here are what they will be performing.

Abi Alton – I Will Survive

I did say 'almost everyone'. Heavens! Abi could be on seriously dodgy ground with this. Nicole isn't stupid, though and Abi can perform stunningly well if she gets her nerves sorted and concentrates on not wobbling around. Her voice could be brilliant but I am beginning to wonder if she doesn't need more training to cope with the big stage etc.

This ridiculous song will either kill her off on Sunday or put her back up with the front runners. There can be no half-measures.

Hannah Barrett – Somebody Else’s Guy

I don't know this. It sounds like a Drifters or Shirelles type number but is actually a Jocelyn Brown belter from 1984. Just looked it up. Sounds just like Hannah. So Hannah should be able to reproduce that and sound just like a 1984 belter. Great. Just what we don't need in the charts in 2014. It's a big number with lots of wide open mouth stuff. That will not be a pretty sight but she'll get votes.

Kingsland Road – Blame It On The Boogie

My God, another track that you simply can't mess up and comparisons with so many others will make getting through much harder work than it may have needed to be. If they get this right and have fun and everyone is enjoying the show then they'll be OK. But one slip or dodgy move and they'll be reminded how unpredictable grannies' votes are.

Luke Friend – Play That Funky Music

That's a horrid track. Hate it. God help him.

Nicholas McDonald – Rock With You

This suits the little boy's voice. He and Abi look the least 'disco' of the Top 9 and so might be expected to struggle a bit but this will stand out as different and I expect he'll be pretty spot-on vocally so will drift through easily.

Rough Copy – September

Another track I hate. Tomorrow is going to be a fraught listening evening. The Earth Wind & Fire number certainly suits Rough Copy and I can see them doing very well with this. Should be as safe as houses - unless they let it get boring, which is possible with this decidedly tedious track.

Sam Bailey – No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)

Sam will belt this out well enough to stay another week. It's another classic and, well-arranged could be a stand-out for her again.

Sam Callahan – Relight My Fire

Oh dear. We'll be waiting for Lulu to appear and rescue him. He is scraping through each week and I feel his days are numbered. I know he is trying hard and certainly working hard, rehearsing and making the most of the opportunity he's got (unlike some others in the past!) but he needs to pull something remarkable out of the bag to compete with some of the others. I don't see this being it. Could be trouble for Sam C.

Tamera Foster – Wishing On A Star

This doesn't immediately come across as a Disco number but I suppose it could be. So far Tamera has been the one, the only one really to have what I regard as the X factor. This surely has to be her week and almost whatever she does should see her through. I am not sure what is or isn't going on in the press though regarding her private life and past and to what extent that could jeopardise her chances. The Granny factor again.

Read more: http://tellymix.co.uk/reality-tv/the-x-factor/165129-x-factor-2013-spoilers-latest-song-list-disco-week-songs.html#ixzz2jORaYwZ8

Live Shows Week 4: Results

Fun and Robbie Williams were entertaining. Just as well as the sight of James Arthur taking part in the intro sing-a-long was not pretty. Robbie was quite remarkably good and the brief run through of his past hits was a salutary reminder of how Kye hadn't really done a great deal with his efforts at Let Me Entertain You. In the middle of his performance of Candy, his brilliantly commercial current single, Robbie shouts out his support for Rylan. That must have made the guy's week.

The votes won't have made Union J's week, as they found themselves in the bottom two, much to everyone's surprise. Every judge and commentator had expected a group but it was District3's useless performance that was supposed to have been the dud, not Union J who, whilst not exactly inspiring, were far better.

Jade was the much predicted other low vote recipient, deservedly so after a very strange song selection. She might have rescued herself with a careful and excellent sing-off track had she been up against anyone else than Union J. She wasn't though and so didn't.

She was likely to go in the early weeks but I had expected her to survive longer. Once again, it is abundantly clear that the people voting are still an entirely different mix to those commentating, with Old Baloney through yet again.

Next week it's Number One's Week which, unfortunately, could be up Old Baloney's voting supporters' street. Anything is possible, with such a vast range. So who'll be doing Firestarter?

Lucy a big hit on X Factor UK with Beer Fear

Peter Dickson was back on form in Week 2 of the auditions, blasting us from the start but not nearly as loud as his 'competition' announcement, declaring that there was no question to answer this year to win a trip, money and various nick-nacks. Actually, I reckon that for many viewers, dialling the number required could be as difficult as answering correctly the stupid questions they had last year.

Anyway, back to the show. Who on earth is Rita? The mystery new judge this week has a new, or to most people, a first album to sell but quite how she managed to share the seats with Gary, Louie and Tulisa does remain to be explained.

We start with Rylan Clarke who spends a great deal of time on his appearance, an Essex guy with ash blonde hair and black roots. He wants to tsya in the music industry and puts down office jobs with a glorious comment to the effect that the highlighlight of office conversation would be 'Awright Maud?' which, for me, was one of the most memorable parts of the evening. He was a pretty useless singer but interesting and entertaining so we'll see him again.

Kye (what is it with the strange names this year?) was next. Nice tone and definitely some talent but whether the standing ovation was deserved for this quite good but not spectacularly good chap I am not so sure. Maybe it was more out of relief at that stage of the actual proceedings rather than as we view things.

Off to Manchester and Scary Spice is back and still looking quite odd. After a weak performance from someone called Chanelle we get Lucy from Sheffield. Now she is good. a great song that she's written herself, original and it worked very well for her even if some of the rhymes were strange. I love Lucy you can expect to see emblazoned on T shirts when we move on as she is more than safely through. It was also nice to hear a Florence & The Machine track played in the background to her success.



A load opf nutters follow which I hardly noticed and we end with James, a strange-looking guy with very red cheeks, lots of green and brown clothes and looking a bit out of proportion He gave a good performance of one of the Tulisa's songs which was well received and you can see Gary wanting to take him through to the live shows with Lucy and Kye.

And that was it. That seemed to fly by and all credit to the new producers for concentrating on the two or three that are worth watching and have some hope rather than the dreadful failures. The Xtra Factor also showed a nice couple of girls with guitars - Shackles - a possible contender for the groups category.

X Factor UK returns with more hair

So here we go again. Either Peter Dickson was speaking more quietly than usual or the letters were smaller but this was a classier start than usual and Dermot O'Leary is in there at the start, along with Olly Murs in fine form, on video at least, with Caroline and the judges.

This year for Kelly Rowland read Nicole Scherzinger which could be confusing for American readers, especially when X Factor USA kicks off soon. Nicole steered the excellent and not immediately marketable Josh Krajick to 2nd place in America's version, (Simon winning, naturally, with Melanie Amaro) and if she can actually make her mind up and keep back the tears a bit while she's over here then she's likely to be an improvement on her predecessor. Gary seems a little less desperate to impress, Tulisa looks older but still very pretty and Louis has more hair in several shades of grey. He is so fortunate that Simon isn't on the panel.

The show was under way really quickly and someone calling himself Sheyi takes the stage with a big smile, great manners and obvious talent. A natural entertainer but for some reason he rasped away in a bad impression of Louis Armstrong in tight trousers which no-one in their right minds would expect to get through. I'm convinced that this was some kind of set up - maybe they didn't have anyone amusing and reasonable for the first act so got this guy to act up for a few grand. Two reasons: one, when he dropped out of the rasping growl voice for the intermittent 'yay' or 'hey' you heard a decent and absolutely in tune voice, the sort you'd expect from someone like him and, two, my daughter tells me that he's Deputy Head Boy at Royal Latin School in Buckingham, or was last year, and that's neither his name nor his style. She also rather doubted that he worked at Nandos in London - Milton Keyenes, maybe - or came from Camden. Camden does sound cooler than Buchingham, though.

We moved on and someone with a name like Feckton sings Freedom pretty well, Rick's a fireman with red blotches and gets through as does Tasha with a nice tone and a first glimpse of some real talent. Then comes Jahmene Douglas. You think he's going to be the joke act and whine a lot or something. He has a nervous laugh at the end of each short sentence and long ones seem to be beyond him. The shiny grey suit is worrying too, looking like something someone bought for him and poured him into before feeding him up.

Then the guy sings. At Last is a pretty smart song at the best of times and he is just brilliant. Every note absolutely spot on, a totally natural singer. Outstanding voice but I don't know - despite all the raves from everyone there - how will he fare as the stages progress and can we really, honestly, imagine this chap dancing to an Abba song or whatever they get the poor contestants to do on the Live Shows? Writing this rather later than I should did give me the befit of a peek at some odds and the bookies have him as an early favourite so I guess he's safely through for a while yet.

We get a better chunk of Peter Dickson now with some competition that doesn't even have a question to answer. Eh?

Zoe does a Pink tribute not particularly well, despite a build up that made us think she'd be a good act. There's some nasty behaviour as she storms off and you do have to wonder whether the return of Brian Fieldman to direct the shows has had an influence on upping the drama.

Off to Manchester next and we get Scary Spice Mel B in various shades of strange orange being particularly grumpy with almost everyone. To be fair, they all deserved it and it was quite refreshing to see a judge telling acts that they weren't much good instead of pussy-footing around as most of the others have tended to do for fear of breaking some Single Equality Act regulation.

The one that didn't get the grumps was Ella Henderson who sang one of her own compositions. Now that's a brave move anyway but both her writing and her singing are damn good. Perhaps she will find herself aligned with Adele too much and it is to be hoped that she can pull herself away from that overdone genre. One class act and another tip for the top.

These are, though, very early days. It is, thank heavens, a long time 'til Christmas and the Final! I suspect there will be more contenders than the two everyone is talking about this week.