Did You See That

As everyone in the country already knows, Alexandra won the X Factor. Wonder if she was helped by this amazing duet with Beyonce. It did seem a little bit unfair that Alex had a global megastar to duet with, and JLS and Eoghan were lumbered with just Westlife and Boyzone.

Later on in the show, Simon said that Alexandra hadn’t had many breaks in her life which was a bit odd because she’s the daughter of a former hit recording artist, so this isn’t much of a rags to riches tale, but I guess you’d have to say she was a worthy winner although really I wanted JLS to win. I hope they aren’t made to wait a year before they release some material. Holly Willoughby asked Louis to make sure they don’t just do ballads on Xtra Factor and he replied ominously “Ballads sell records”. Eugh, let’s hope JLS have some creative influence in it!

Wow, Laura was surely one of the favourites and had delivered some amazing performances in her time on the X-Factor but fate conspired to knock her out of Saturday’s X-Factor. She was in the bottom two with Ruth, and Ruth seems to excel in that situation. Once again, she rocked it out and was saved by Louis. Louis thought that Daniel should have been in the bottom two but I liked his performance and it would have been Rachel and Laura in the bottom two this week for me.

Next week is Best Of British… here’s my predictions of what songs they might sing, just for fun:

• Eoghan - Careless Whisper (George Michael)
• Ruth - Daniel (Elton John)
• JLS - Back for Good (Take That)
• Daniel - Sex Bomb (Tom Jones)
• Rachel - Son Of A Preacher Man (Dusty Springfield)
• Diana - Thank You (Dido)
• Alexandra - Diamonds Are Forever (Shirley Bassey)

What do you think they might do?

In week four of the competition, it was Disco week. Have to say, considering of the the classic disco tracks they could have been chosen from, the songs were particularly uninspiring and some of them were arguably not even disco.

Daniel continues to get a load of stick from the judges, but this week I thought he was actually pretty good.  Simon said it was “arguably the worst performance” they’ve ever had on the show. His favourite word seems to be”arguably”- I’d say he’s arguably talking rubbish. Perhaps he is so over the top in his criticisms because he knows the game by now and that people will vote to keep the underdog. It’s a TV show after all and Daniel’s story has better narrative than most.

After Austin’s performance, Simon said he hoped he stayed in. Interesting comment and I wondered if he was attempting to lead the viewers because he raised the prospect that Austin wouldn’t be back, and guess what, he won’t!

Alexandra, Laura, Diana and JLS were fantastic. Notice also that Will Young sounded as good live as he does on the radio. Compare that with Girls Aloud when they performed live!

The big band were brought for the annual swing-a-long on X-Factor, so how did they do?

First up was Scott who soundd much too boyish to credibly perform “That’s Life”. Daniel was as flat as we’ve come to expect. Laura has that super powerful voice, but it was almost like a wall of noise and I couldn’t discern much of a melody which didn’t make it an enjoyable performance for me. Eoghan got rave reviews from the judges, but to me he sounded blooming awful. Duff notes a plenty in there, but maybe I’m wrong? Alexandra was great and looked amazing although the song wasn’t one that I was familiar with. JLS, Diana and Rachel all delivered the good though.

When it got to the results show, all the finalists (with the exception of Daniel and Ruth who were apparently locked behind a jammed door) performed their charity song, Hero. I say performed but don’t infer from that that they were singing, because it was clearly obviously mimed. A bit  embarrassing really that they weren’t singing it live.

The final two were Scott and Daniel. To be honest, I thought Daniel murdered the song and seems to trade a little too much on the backstory, but it was a believable performance maybe Scott was just going through the motions as Louis said. So, a severely gutted Scott was sent home. He was dumbstruck and had nothing to say until suddenly changing his mind.  At that point, I thought he was going to go bananas and slate everyone on there but he thanked his friends from Pontins. Maybe he was rueing the fact he didn’t have someone to dedicate a song too.

The result perhaps added a sad and cynical tinge to what was an otherwise excellent night of entertainment.

What did you think? Who had the X Factor for you??

It was Michael Jackson week this week on the X-Factor, although I don’t think we heard many of his really great tracks and the show was a bit flat for the whole. Some of the acts that the judges thought were outstanding, to be honest sounded a bit naff to my untrained ear at home. For me, there were two standout moments: Diana Vickers, and then Ruth in the sing off.

Diana Vickers was brilliant and brings something very different to the competition. She reminds me a bit of Will Young in that she might not be the best singer in the sense of being able to do the huge Celine Dion numbers etc, but she can brilliantly give her own interpretation to a track and make it spell binding. She’s probably my favourite to win at this point.

And then there was Ruth, who I thought was pretty good earlier on but ended up in the final two with Girlband. I wouldn’t be surprised if Simon’s negative comments earlier swayed the vote against her. But then she knocked it out of the park with an awesome rendition of “Purple Rain”. Maybe the best peformance of the live shows so far but Simon didn’t have the grace to admit it and was again spouting off about the lack of Spanish and forced it to deadlock instead of doing the right thing and sending Girlband packing although I imagine he knew the public vote results anyway.

Ok, so we’re onto the live shows of the X-Factor which is now the official countdown to Christmas! It’s looking like one of the girls will win this year as the competition is fierce. Laura, Diana and Alexandra were all sensational. Ruth Lorenzo was also pretty fab. Wasn’t suprised to see the girl groups in the bottom two as they weren’t great and it’s always harder to connect with a group than an individual artist. Here’s my fave bits from Saturday’s show…

Laura White

Alexandra Burke - looking amazing and dancing too!

Episode 2 of this new series of thr X Factor, and the highlight was probably Alan Turner. No, not the portly Alan Turner from Emmerdale, but a rather different one. from nearby Barnsley. They rather overdid it with the now customary sob story, and that has bit them on the bum this week as there has been claim and counter claim about the accuracy of his claims. But that aside, he gave a decent rendition of “Us Against The World” and the judges were very impressed, with Cheryl Cole seeming to forget herself and just simply say “you’re absolutely gorgeous”.

In a shock upset, Leon Jackson won the 4th series of X Factor and a £1million recording contract, defeating Rhydian and Same Difference. Was Leon the best singer? Really, I don’t think so. So let’s consider why he won…

The Scottish Angle

The  Scots are a proud bunch and seem to enjoy voting en bloc to support their local candidate. Look at how far the McDonald brothers got year. Or how David Sneddon won Fame Academy and Michelle McManus won Pop Idol. Leon was helped by this and the fact that the producers pitched it as an England vs Wales vs Scotland contest in the final.

The Celebrity Guest

Rhydian got Kathryn Jenkins. A great voice but I think mostly unknown to pop fans. Same Difference got Jason Donovan, last seen in Iceland ads with Kerry Katona. Leon got global superstar, Kylie Minogue. Hmmm…..

Extra Time?

When it got to the final two, I think the lines were reopened after Leon’s final performance - which was before Rhydian has performed his final song. This gave Leon a bit of extra time to mop up votes.

Rhydian the Cold Fish

Rhydian was a little hard to warm to. Fantastic voice, but he had an icey personality whereas soppy Leon would blub almost uncontrollably at the drop of a hat.

Leon came across a nice guy with a rich tone to his voice but will he have a long career? I very much doubt it. They said he could be the UK’s Buble. Michael Buble isn’t just a great singer, he also writes brilliant songs. Leon is no Michael Buble. I think we just found a new David Sneddon.I’d actually prefer to see Leona hang on and claim the Christmas number one.

What did you think?

In tonight’s semi final of the X Factor, Niki left the competition. Earlier in the evening she gave a belting performance of One Moment In Time. It sounded rough round the edges to my amateur ears.

Leon was back to his cringeworthy embarrasing worst, but somehow made it through despite some ropey vocals and a stiff first performance, and some terrible dancing in the second. Same Differerence gave us the bullying sob story and are through to the final.  Well, could we have an X Factor final without one of Simon’s acts? It is his show after all!

Rhydian was on top form, singing two of the songs which really his voice is made for: Bridge Over Troubled Water and You’ll Never Walk Alone.

Michael Buble was the special guest, and was terrific as usual. What a swell guy! He got some bad publicity in the week but he came across as so personable and seemed to take a real interest in the acts.

BTW, Dead Dad Niki is a cruel nick name but the makers of the show really seemed to have traded on it, as they have done with any sob story they can find.

What did you think? Did the right person go?