What a start. One act is to be sent home at the start of the show. That is so cruel if they have, as we have to assume, been rehearsing all week for this show. It's Carlos. What a shame. Nice chap and he was showing some good signs of talent there. So now it's just 12 to perform.
And two will be kicked out this week. So the numbers will tumble from 13 to 10 during the course of the weekend!
Lillie starts the 80s night show and she suits that genre. She certainly has the big hair, although my recollection is that it was in fact the blondes that had the big hair! Anyway she's doing the Chaka Khan Ain't Nobody number and sounds just like the real thing, if not even better. Amazingly good at this sort of thing. Halfway through I was beginning to wonder if she'd forgotten the words or the moves as it seemed to dry up but it came back to life like a CD that gets stuck and then shudders back to play. Good reviews from the judges and Simon's last question crashes into the 'time to move on' music.
Carlito is next. His song is Rhythm Is Going To Get You which has the Latin feel going for it and this guy should be able to do something with that. He isn't that great, sort of lost in all that's going on on the stage, especially as he should be getting the girl and didn't seem to be. He performs well but his voice is a little weak. I have a feeling that he's popular out there, though, with the girl voters, especially now that Carlos has gone, and that he'll be around for a while yet. He gets pretty bad reviews this week - Simon particularly predicting that he'll be going home.
Rion I have to keep reminding myself is just 13. Crazy. We Belong To The Night is her track, whatever meaning she can possibly put into that. She sings fantastically well and you simply have to believe what she's singing which is no mean feat but is quite worrying for all that. What a voice this girl has got. She is quite some star.
Sweet Suspense
Micky by Toni Basil is an unusual choice that Simon's given them. It's fun but I am sure a Cyndi Lauper number would have been better. But they put everything into that and are really entertaining. Loved it and they look tremendous and seem like a nice, ready-made group. Strangely, Demi doesn't like them. Not sure why. Kelly isn't complimentary either. Simon goes strong on defence and says that he feels as if he's up against three witches! I like this group a lot and they seem very current.
Tim
I would have expected him to have gone home before Carlos so there's a hint as to how the audeience that votes is made up. Good, old style voice but he does miss some important notes. Against All Odds sounds good and maybe as good as the Phil Collins tedious original. So if his fans are as numerous as I suspect, that will have pleased them and should keep him safe. He ends very well. Kelly and Demi are definitely in a bad mood and don't seem to like him. He hasn't got the X Factor, to that extent they're right. But he deserved better comments than they gave. Simon was wondering more about the girl dancer. I have to agree!
Khaya reminds me a lot of one from last year. She is superb but taking on Madonna is always going to be dangerous. Borderline emphasises just what a great singer Madonna is as it is damn difficult to sing and Khaya does struggle, sounding quite painfully off key at times. Not a nice oerformance at all and she doesn't look as good as she has done before either. Oh dear. She ought to be the one in trouble. Amazingly - the judges rave about her! Eh?? Have they got different microphones or speakers there? So weird. I do agree that, apart from this, she has been great and is someone who could win and have a career in the industry. But that was a poor performance through my speakers,
Restless Road do Footloose. That was unexpected. I had them down as a Country style and ballad group. So this is out of what I'd seen as their comfort zone. But... my God, they did well. The guy with the beard did rather carry them through, the others tending to come along. The low voice one was almost looking a bit surprised to see what was going on around him and did seem a bit out of place. The good-looking one should have had a few more singing opportunities and seemed to be thinking a bit more than singing but when he did join in he was good. That worked a lot better than I'd expected, they should be well safe.
Rachel
I like this girl but she flies between brilliance and being not very good at all. She seems a little older than she should be for the hot pants. Alone is a great song from Heart that really does encapsulate the 80s. This song suits her so well and she gets it across really well and shows the others exactly what power singing is all about. Yes, it was dated but yes, it was good. I can't see where she fits in to the scene but I do like her. I'd like to hear the songs she writes herself. Great reviews. I'm not sure Kelly is that good a mentor as she comes across as very angry and not as supportive as she might be.
Ellona was quite fortunate to be here after a dodgy week last week. She has to deliver I Wanna Dance With Somebody the Whitney classic that, like Madonna's songs, is tough to copy. She is a good dancer and has a presence on stage. It wasn't that good, to be honest. I think she's popular out there but that was not a brilliant performance. I was impressed at how she recovered from a slip and, if anything, she got better afterwards. Just average for me, though.
Josh was brought back last week and is singing Paula Abdul's Straight Up. He's young and talented. I am quite impressed with what we see of Paulina's mentoring and advice. He is a great dancer and so comfortable on stage. He is the first not to be surrounded by a whole bundle of distracting others. Great voice, nice style and, even if this was not, perhaps, that great a song choice for him, he should be around for a while yet. He's good.
Jeff is someone who seems a bit out of place in this series. He should simply cruise through 80s night, though. I Just Died In Your Arms Tonight is one of the classics. Cutting Crew is the group who did this first. He has just the right voice but this was strange performance. Good start but it just drops from there and doesn't really go anywhere or leave us feeling 'Wow!' as we ought. I can't see who out there in voting land he appeals to. He could be vulnerable this week. Kelly is much more defensive of him than she was of Rachel and yet he was nowhere near as good. Oh well.
Alex & Sierra have Addicted To Love to perform. Ha! That should be fun. Robert Palmer is a million miles away from these two. Strange set with each performing in separate 'rooms' in a crazy but quite good performance. These two are actually quite good and the girl, in particular, made this work tonight. I think they go down well with voters.
Here in the UK, we get the results straight after the performances. My guess is that Jeff, Khaya and Tim are in trouble. Possibly Sweet Suspense as that was a song that few voters will have been familiar with or appreciate.
The 12 start with a nice tribute to Lou Reed. Perfect Day is one of the few tracks designed for one-at-a-time singing so, for once, a sing-a-long that worked.
Losing two at this stage seems very sad to me. None have really settled yet. I would keep all of them for longer and then, later, when we've seen a much better set of performances, lose two or three each week in later stages.
Watching the repeats, I loved Sweet Suspense, Josh and Rion. Alex & Sierra should be safe as will be Restless Road. Rachel's performance was stellar and she has to stay, surely. Ellona missing some key notes was annoying and I'm not sure how she'll fare. Tim was neither here nor there. Jeff was more powerful than I'd remembered. So it'll be close, I think. Maybe Alex & Sierra could be in trouble as it might be asking a lot of voters to support that quite unusual stage show.
One of the problems with watching this in UK is that it is difficult not seeing the results beforehand on Twitter. I usually manage to do so but because it is such a shock this week it was impossible to avoid.
The lowest vote was for Sweet Suspense. That's sad. I wish Simon hadn't been chewing gum when he was answering Mario as to what his views were. I do hope he works something out for these three excellent and very smart girls.
As if to emphasise their currency we get Selena Gomez doing the sort of thing that Sweet Suspense would be jolly good at. Sad. They didn't deserve to go. Odd voters.
Almost as unbelievable is the voters' choice of bottom two: Khaya and Rachel. Odd voters indeed. Neither should be going anywhere. Khaya did mess up but deserves another chance and could win. Rachel is not going to win but is hugely more talented than several others who have been voted through. I guess I would have to send Rachel home but I wouldn't want to at all.
Fifth Harmony are back and obviously having a great time with a fun single Me And My Girls. There were one or two less than convincing vocals in there but they're so today and just fun to listen to that you can imagine teens buying their stuff, just as I had thought Sweet Suspense, arguably better singers, could do.
Thereagain, Fifth Harmony only came third (or was it fourth?) and neither Tate nor Carly Rose have exactly blown us away with releases since. I wonder whether, with some clever management, Sweet Suspense could actually be in the charts before the end of the series? That would be a nice lesson and a good example of how success is always possible for talent. So, Simon, give them a chance - and the UK market would love them too. Seriously better than Little Mix and there's no competition except the Saturdays and we don't see much of them.
Khaya is first in the sing-off. What was that song that she sang to save herself? just Don't Give Up On Me Marvellous and absolutely spot-on this time. She reminds me so much of Duffy. Really good. That was a very very good performance and there is no way she should be even close to going home.
Rachel sings From This Moment a more Country orientated song and it lacks the amazing power of Khaya's but she has this delicate charm that is so endearing and looks about 19 tonight. She really should not be going home either. But I guess she will be. Here's her version Of Alone, though which I prefer to remember her by.
It's down to Paulina and Simon. I wonder if they'll leave it to see who actually came bottom in the votes. No, Simon settles it. probably right, of the two. But it really should not have been that two.
And two will be kicked out this week. So the numbers will tumble from 13 to 10 during the course of the weekend!
Lillie starts the 80s night show and she suits that genre. She certainly has the big hair, although my recollection is that it was in fact the blondes that had the big hair! Anyway she's doing the Chaka Khan Ain't Nobody number and sounds just like the real thing, if not even better. Amazingly good at this sort of thing. Halfway through I was beginning to wonder if she'd forgotten the words or the moves as it seemed to dry up but it came back to life like a CD that gets stuck and then shudders back to play. Good reviews from the judges and Simon's last question crashes into the 'time to move on' music.
Carlito is next. His song is Rhythm Is Going To Get You which has the Latin feel going for it and this guy should be able to do something with that. He isn't that great, sort of lost in all that's going on on the stage, especially as he should be getting the girl and didn't seem to be. He performs well but his voice is a little weak. I have a feeling that he's popular out there, though, with the girl voters, especially now that Carlos has gone, and that he'll be around for a while yet. He gets pretty bad reviews this week - Simon particularly predicting that he'll be going home.
Rion I have to keep reminding myself is just 13. Crazy. We Belong To The Night is her track, whatever meaning she can possibly put into that. She sings fantastically well and you simply have to believe what she's singing which is no mean feat but is quite worrying for all that. What a voice this girl has got. She is quite some star.
Sweet Suspense
Micky by Toni Basil is an unusual choice that Simon's given them. It's fun but I am sure a Cyndi Lauper number would have been better. But they put everything into that and are really entertaining. Loved it and they look tremendous and seem like a nice, ready-made group. Strangely, Demi doesn't like them. Not sure why. Kelly isn't complimentary either. Simon goes strong on defence and says that he feels as if he's up against three witches! I like this group a lot and they seem very current.
Tim
I would have expected him to have gone home before Carlos so there's a hint as to how the audeience that votes is made up. Good, old style voice but he does miss some important notes. Against All Odds sounds good and maybe as good as the Phil Collins tedious original. So if his fans are as numerous as I suspect, that will have pleased them and should keep him safe. He ends very well. Kelly and Demi are definitely in a bad mood and don't seem to like him. He hasn't got the X Factor, to that extent they're right. But he deserved better comments than they gave. Simon was wondering more about the girl dancer. I have to agree!
Khaya reminds me a lot of one from last year. She is superb but taking on Madonna is always going to be dangerous. Borderline emphasises just what a great singer Madonna is as it is damn difficult to sing and Khaya does struggle, sounding quite painfully off key at times. Not a nice oerformance at all and she doesn't look as good as she has done before either. Oh dear. She ought to be the one in trouble. Amazingly - the judges rave about her! Eh?? Have they got different microphones or speakers there? So weird. I do agree that, apart from this, she has been great and is someone who could win and have a career in the industry. But that was a poor performance through my speakers,
Restless Road do Footloose. That was unexpected. I had them down as a Country style and ballad group. So this is out of what I'd seen as their comfort zone. But... my God, they did well. The guy with the beard did rather carry them through, the others tending to come along. The low voice one was almost looking a bit surprised to see what was going on around him and did seem a bit out of place. The good-looking one should have had a few more singing opportunities and seemed to be thinking a bit more than singing but when he did join in he was good. That worked a lot better than I'd expected, they should be well safe.
Rachel
I like this girl but she flies between brilliance and being not very good at all. She seems a little older than she should be for the hot pants. Alone is a great song from Heart that really does encapsulate the 80s. This song suits her so well and she gets it across really well and shows the others exactly what power singing is all about. Yes, it was dated but yes, it was good. I can't see where she fits in to the scene but I do like her. I'd like to hear the songs she writes herself. Great reviews. I'm not sure Kelly is that good a mentor as she comes across as very angry and not as supportive as she might be.
Ellona was quite fortunate to be here after a dodgy week last week. She has to deliver I Wanna Dance With Somebody the Whitney classic that, like Madonna's songs, is tough to copy. She is a good dancer and has a presence on stage. It wasn't that good, to be honest. I think she's popular out there but that was not a brilliant performance. I was impressed at how she recovered from a slip and, if anything, she got better afterwards. Just average for me, though.
Josh was brought back last week and is singing Paula Abdul's Straight Up. He's young and talented. I am quite impressed with what we see of Paulina's mentoring and advice. He is a great dancer and so comfortable on stage. He is the first not to be surrounded by a whole bundle of distracting others. Great voice, nice style and, even if this was not, perhaps, that great a song choice for him, he should be around for a while yet. He's good.
Jeff is someone who seems a bit out of place in this series. He should simply cruise through 80s night, though. I Just Died In Your Arms Tonight is one of the classics. Cutting Crew is the group who did this first. He has just the right voice but this was strange performance. Good start but it just drops from there and doesn't really go anywhere or leave us feeling 'Wow!' as we ought. I can't see who out there in voting land he appeals to. He could be vulnerable this week. Kelly is much more defensive of him than she was of Rachel and yet he was nowhere near as good. Oh well.
Alex & Sierra have Addicted To Love to perform. Ha! That should be fun. Robert Palmer is a million miles away from these two. Strange set with each performing in separate 'rooms' in a crazy but quite good performance. These two are actually quite good and the girl, in particular, made this work tonight. I think they go down well with voters.
Here in the UK, we get the results straight after the performances. My guess is that Jeff, Khaya and Tim are in trouble. Possibly Sweet Suspense as that was a song that few voters will have been familiar with or appreciate.
The 12 start with a nice tribute to Lou Reed. Perfect Day is one of the few tracks designed for one-at-a-time singing so, for once, a sing-a-long that worked.
Losing two at this stage seems very sad to me. None have really settled yet. I would keep all of them for longer and then, later, when we've seen a much better set of performances, lose two or three each week in later stages.
Watching the repeats, I loved Sweet Suspense, Josh and Rion. Alex & Sierra should be safe as will be Restless Road. Rachel's performance was stellar and she has to stay, surely. Ellona missing some key notes was annoying and I'm not sure how she'll fare. Tim was neither here nor there. Jeff was more powerful than I'd remembered. So it'll be close, I think. Maybe Alex & Sierra could be in trouble as it might be asking a lot of voters to support that quite unusual stage show.
One of the problems with watching this in UK is that it is difficult not seeing the results beforehand on Twitter. I usually manage to do so but because it is such a shock this week it was impossible to avoid.
The lowest vote was for Sweet Suspense. That's sad. I wish Simon hadn't been chewing gum when he was answering Mario as to what his views were. I do hope he works something out for these three excellent and very smart girls.
As if to emphasise their currency we get Selena Gomez doing the sort of thing that Sweet Suspense would be jolly good at. Sad. They didn't deserve to go. Odd voters.
Almost as unbelievable is the voters' choice of bottom two: Khaya and Rachel. Odd voters indeed. Neither should be going anywhere. Khaya did mess up but deserves another chance and could win. Rachel is not going to win but is hugely more talented than several others who have been voted through. I guess I would have to send Rachel home but I wouldn't want to at all.
Fifth Harmony are back and obviously having a great time with a fun single Me And My Girls. There were one or two less than convincing vocals in there but they're so today and just fun to listen to that you can imagine teens buying their stuff, just as I had thought Sweet Suspense, arguably better singers, could do.
Thereagain, Fifth Harmony only came third (or was it fourth?) and neither Tate nor Carly Rose have exactly blown us away with releases since. I wonder whether, with some clever management, Sweet Suspense could actually be in the charts before the end of the series? That would be a nice lesson and a good example of how success is always possible for talent. So, Simon, give them a chance - and the UK market would love them too. Seriously better than Little Mix and there's no competition except the Saturdays and we don't see much of them.
Khaya is first in the sing-off. What was that song that she sang to save herself? just Don't Give Up On Me Marvellous and absolutely spot-on this time. She reminds me so much of Duffy. Really good. That was a very very good performance and there is no way she should be even close to going home.
Rachel sings From This Moment a more Country orientated song and it lacks the amazing power of Khaya's but she has this delicate charm that is so endearing and looks about 19 tonight. She really should not be going home either. But I guess she will be. Here's her version Of Alone, though which I prefer to remember her by.
It's down to Paulina and Simon. I wonder if they'll leave it to see who actually came bottom in the votes. No, Simon settles it. probably right, of the two. But it really should not have been that two.
No comments:
Post a Comment