Hey y'all! First of all, I would like to change my top three from last week. Upon re-watching last week's best performances, I decided that Aiden deserved the bronze medal after Matt and Mary and that 1 Direction were best runner-up. It probably only matters to me, but I wanted to clarify that.
Okay, so Saturday's show was a mixed bag; it started off on a weak note with Storm, Treyc and Paije all failing to bring it, but ended well with Katie, Mary and Matt all giving strong performances. It was a good week for Cher, John and Bella Amie, but quite a bad one for Aiden and Diva Fever who both took a step back from their performances last week.
On a fashion note, Cheryl's hair and lipstick were fucking awful on Saturday, while her look-at-my-boobs dress was almost as bad as the 'boob disc', silver and black monstrosity from last year. Looking at the mangey, purple plait she sported on Saturday night, I couldn't believe that she is allowed to have such horrible hair as a L'Oreal spokesperson. It looked weak, limp, lifeless, dull and strawlike to me... That said, the bog-standard, black cocktail dress she wore on Saturday was fine and her hair and make-up were much better on Saturday. Dannii looked miles better on both nights; I thought her look on Sunday was particularly nice.
Anyhoo, on to the performances.
Storm opened the show with a forgettable performance of Bruce Springsteen's Born To Run. I wasn't all that familiar with the song and thought that he alienated most people under the age of thirty with his song choice. His vocals were not as strong as usual and his desperation and nervousness showed through his rock star posturing.
To be perfectly honest, I find Storm to be quite a tragic, sad character and my heart broke when he said, "You haven't seen the best of me yet!", because that clearly IS the last we will ever see of him. While he's a nice person, I'm happy to see the back of him - he was a bit of a downer.
Treyc - Gave a highly self-indulgent and often screechy performance. I don't believe for one second that Treyc is shy - I just think she has no emotions. She murdered a great song (Prince's Purple Rain) and I would have loved her to get the boot but, alas, she lives to give another soulless, masturbatory performance.
She kind of freaks me out, to be honest. She comes across as a sociopath and if there was an X Factor killing, I feel like she'd be the one doing the stabbing.
Paije - Breathy and messy. I thought he was off from the beginning and the crazy, gospel wailing at the end didn't save the performance. Not nearly as good as last week; disappointing stuff. (On a separate note, my mam wanted him to go because she 'doesn't like looking at fat people'.)
1 Direction - The backing track was insanely loud! The song suited them but the tempo seemed too fast for them and the performance was all over the place with particularly rocky vocals from Zain.
Worse than last week but they've got the aww factor and considering Lloyd Daniels made the top 5 last year, I predict this teen juggernaut will run on for some time.
Cher - For me, the show really began with her performance. Every element of her performance was better than last week; her voice sounded quite pretty in the singing sections and her rapping was far more intelligible.
I still think she's a bit of a one trick pony, but at least she's mastering that trick!
John - This performance made me want to get to know him. He's a natural, authentic performer and I thought he sounded great; there's a lovely, Lionel Richie-esque timbre to his voice.
Raw and real and one of the best of the night. (Now he just needs a sob story...).
Diva Fever - They had to go. There were just two silly gays bopping around to a silly, gay song. They were the weakest element of the performance with the backing singers and scantily-clad dancers both giving it socks and showing up DF as the average 'mos they are.
The decent-looking, decent singer should lose the ugly, tone-deaf spare. (Harsh enough?).
Rebecca - SO OVERRATED! The make-up wasn't her; her voice is constantly going out of tune and she doesn't look comfortable on stage. I couldn't disagree with Louis more; I think Rebecca has no star quality whatsoever, and I find her personality irritating rather than endearing. Either get some confidence and stop being so meek or pick a different career!
I think her appeal lies largely in her softly-spoken, Liverpudlian accent.
One of my least favourite performances of the night.
Aiden - Spazzy and the vocals were shaky throughout. I found him painful to watch and not much better to listen to. He comes across as quite unstable and troubled after his performance. I worry for him.
After Treyc, the next most likely to commit an X Factor killing.
Wagner - I felt like the song went on for ages. Quite repetitive, but there's no denying that he's gas with a capital 'g'.
Was happy enough that he survived the public vote. Am intrigued as to what he and Louis have in store for us next week...
Katie - Much better than last week. The genre suited her husky, soulful voice and her image was vastly improved.
Not quite incredible, but a huge improvement. Now that she's proven her place in the competition, I want her to stop acting so penitently. You'd swear she killed somebody from the way she's been behaving. I want a happy medium between swanning about with feather eye-lashes and a lace parasol and an ex-con, repaying her dues to society.
Bella Amie - Wow! I was expecting them to be absolutely shit after their performance last week but they sounded much better and they exhibited a confidence I didn't know they had.
That said, they were the freaks of the week as far as their outfits were concerned.
Image is all important for girl bands and if they're going to stay in the competition they'll need to up their style.
Performance-wise, I thought they were better than 1 Direction.
Mary - WHAT A WOMAN! The best of the night. An expressive and authentic performance. From the first note, I knew that it was going to be a great vocal. Her voice was so powerful and secure that it put most of the other performers to shame (not least of all, Katy Perry. Oh snap!).
The reception from the studio audience was rapturous; she gave Cheryl Cole (and yours truly) head-to-toe chills and, for the first time, I feel like Mary could win the competition.
She's just fuckin' great!
Matt - Is Bruno Mars his musical hero? He didn't stick to the theme of the show but that doesn't really matter. His performance was good but not quite as good as last week and not as good as Mary's. He experienced a few pitch problems throughout the song and if he did hit that high C, it didn't take my breath away.
That said, he has a great voice and he emotes when he sings. However, I wonder whether some of his power is in his hat and maybe that's why he was slightly off? I thought he looked better without it, though.
In short, very good but not Mary good.
That wraps up my recap of the second live show and results show. I was quite surprised by how much changed in a week; Aiden and Paije both fucked up quite badly this week while Katie and John proved themselves to be contenders.
My top three of the night are 1. Mary, 2. John and 3. Matt, with notable mentions to Katie and Cher for stepping up their game.
And... that's about it!
Oh yeah, and Diana Vickers doesn't have the figure to wear a leotard.
Xoxo, Robinita ;)
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