Wooden Steve dons a shiny suit and looks uncomfortable on the stage. He should have brought a truck door to lean out of. Talking at what seemed about one word a minute you wondered whether he 'd get through the introduction before the first ad break. Pepsi wouldn't have been too concerned as he tells us that, as well as the $5 million, the winner will be a 'Pepsi Doll' too.
British audiences may applaud a song at the start when they recognise it as one of their favourites. They also seem to have developed the annoying habit of cheering and clapping when someone reaches a predicted high note or big point in song. What they won't do, but what happened twice tonight, is cheer and scream and clap during the gaps in a quiet, emotional number. SYCO should fine them and offer behaviour training to all those offending in that audience or, preferably kick them out or wrap up their mouths with bandages if they can't shut up otherwise.
We kick off with the boys. Nice change not to start off with Rachel.
Astro or Brian
You can make up your own words with Brian's rap and in this case it was an X factor ad which was fair enough I suppose. He didn't need to sing and was pretty credible and a good opening performance. You do have to wonder what else he can do and roll on Country & Western week as I can't wait to see what he does with Jim Reeves and Old Tige or a duet with Scotty would be fun to watch. He'll get through although, as I've said before, LA Reid should just give him a deal and give someone else a chance in this category.
Chris
He sounded and looked really quite weak in comparison. It's pretty clear to me that he's on his way out fairly early in this competition. A totally forgettable track and peformance.
Phillip
I'm A Believer??! Well, Neil Diamond will appreciate the surprise cheque in the post. This is a handsome junior Brat Pack fellow and that weird song choice took him into a different zone. It didn't work, despite the pretty girls and clever staging. He was looking and sounding good, for sure, and that should see him through.
Marcus
Certainly No Boy George this guy so doing a Culture Club number stretched the imagination a little. LA's been making some strange song choices. Marcus is a great performer, though, who should be safely through this week. He may have been wobblier than I've seen him before and nothing like as confident or competent as in the auditions. Another one out of his zone.
LA decides...
...and, sure enough, Chris goes... Oh. No he doesn't! He chooses Phillip. Good grief. He must know something about Chris that we don't.
The Groups
Stereo Hoggz
Try A Little What? tenderness? Eh? Didn't sound particularly tender to me, more like attack and shout. Putting the lyrics to one side, however, the group has an excellent lead and tight backing group. Nice, solid production should see them safely through.
The Brewer Boys
I was expecting George Michael to come out of the wings and help them with Faith. He'd like these two. I didn't. Before, they've been amazing through audtions and Judges' Homes but they could have lost it here. I feel they could still be worth a chance but much depends on what Lakoda Rayne do as you can be sure that InTENsity will be through without even seeing them. With 10 mums lurking in the background or, worse, in the audience within striking range of the judges, Paula wouldn't dare risk their fury.
InTENsity
What an inspired choice! The Clapping Song mixed with the great, and still fresh-sounding, Footloose worked excellently for them and whilst one or two sounded pretty wobbly, the girl in the red jacket took control and they finished up doing a fun and young performance which the audience loved. The annoying one also stayed out of camera sight too. Nicole called them her 'little pumpkins' which must have worried some of The Ten Mothers with Hallowe'en imminent. Astro must be relieved he didn't get the same treatment from LA Reid.
Lakoda Rayne
Wooden Steve reads from the autocue to tell us guys that we're gonna want to date them. Well we not might be able to afford to if they don't get through but I can't see us loggin on to Americanbabes dot com just yet as they perform C'mon Eileen as I've never heard it performed before. They were really very good indeed, all four excellent singers and a couple probably deserved places in the solo section anyway. Steve adds what I suspect is going to be a bookful of classic stupid comments by saying 'Thank you guys' as they go off.
Paula's decision...
...Yup, Brewer Boys go. Steve blunders into Paula's kind words to them and you begin to think that soemone needs to tell him to go too.
The Over 30s
Dexter
I Kissed A Girl?? Oh Lord, what a silly song for him. I think he was supposed to sing She Kissed A Girl but either way it would have been wrong. He's a really likeable fellow and suited his Jimi Hendrix jacket well. Yeah, let's all yell, whatever happens. Bye Bye Dexter. You've got further than you could ever have imagined.
Leroy
Good, almost note perfect and gravelly performance in a serious, calm Joe Cocker style without the arm waving. Nobody Knows. And that's true - how can he compete with all the kids dotted around the place and you do wonder whether he can really sell many records. He's safe tonight, though.
Stacy
Here was the most professional performance and she sounded and looked as if she were entirely at home on the stage. The make-up department have done a super job and this girl will be around for many weeks yet.
Josh
Wow. Forever Young. This was one cool performance - he took a big risk with virtually no accompaniment but gained everyone's admiration for one of the three stand-out acts of the evening. The audience were just so annoying with some idiots shouting out each time he paused. How on earth can you deliver anything with emotion if each time you go quiet stupid people scream. Ruined the chances of getting a good YouTube video too.
Nicole decides...
...no need to think about this one. Dexter goes. "How do you feel?" he's asked. "Confused." replies the poor bloke, quite honestly. "What's confusing you?" asks wooden Steve. Someone take him away, please. He did, however, restore a little of our respect by asking someone to look after Dexter. That was a nice unscripted touch.
Girls
Simone
Just look at the way this girl looks at Simon. Come on - how could he have resisted bringing her along? Her legs are so ridiculously long... oh, she's started singing. I'd better pay attention. Just Be Good To Me suited her and she made a valiant attempt to justify her place and was modern and certainly had appeal. She remained a bit average, though, and wouldn't last that long against such amazing competition. She'll have a tough job surviving, though, with two to go this week.
Rachel
Looking like an upside-down tartan mop you do have to wonder who made her up. Maybe Simon did. Baby Where Did Our Love Go? she sings. Little girl, you're way too young for it to have arrived. And she does seem so much like a little kid. There are younger people in inTENsity and little Brian might have sat behind her in class for all I know but, seriously, they are performing to compete with adult X Factor contestants now but she sounds and acts like someone who should be in a different show altogether. Tonight she was off key and I feel she may struggle to keep up.
Drew
What A Feeling. What a great and inspired version. Well done, Simon. This was an amazing and gently very powerful rendition of the Irene Cara number. Yes, we did wonder whether she might suddenly break into the fast version and even maybe dance and surprise everyone but she didn't and that's fine. For me, she and Josh are the ones to beat. Someone needs to control the idiots in the audience though.
Tiah
A strange, slow, too slow and Hallowe'en themed Sweet Dreams Are Made Of This which I'm not sure Annie Lennox would have recognised. She was behind the beat most of the way but came alive and caught up near the end. Not a brilliant performance. She ought to go.
Melanie
Simon can hardly send her home again! Luckily he won't need to think long about it as her fabulous control and sound tone presented I Don't Want To Hurt Anymore very well. She's got bags of natural talent and I'd love to see her in future weeks as she could have a lot more to show and will do well.
I'd send Rachel and Tiah home but suspect it'll be Tiah and Simone, with Simon, unusually and somewhat out of character, nodding towards his colleagues' views.
Simon decides...
...precisely that. Tiah isn't very surprised. the camera catches that amazingly powerful look that Simone gives Simon, though, and you really do have to wonder whether there isn't something going on there. Either that or she is one great actress. Intriguingly, and a touch opportunistically, Simone plugs her soon-to-be-released track. Its title? He Likes Little Boys. Hmmm. Why do I think she knew she was going tonight?
And so now we have the Top 12 for next week and, at last, you the American public can have your say from here on.
No comments:
Post a Comment