Live Show 4: Fright Night

[aradia22]

Is that what you call it when you celebrate Halloween a day late?

[aradia22]

In addition to my normal comments I will also be ranking everything as Halloween or not Halloween. 

 

Ben Haenow: Highway to Hell. Arguably Halloween. Thank God they finally just gave him a rock song. This is his sweet spot. He still needs better stage presence but now when he's not doing much you can chalk some of it up to rock star swagger and not just emotional disingenuousness. Bear in mind that I don't like rock but I think Ben sounded great.

Lola Saunders: Crazy by Gnarls Barkley. Barely Halloween. Also I swear to God she said "I remember when I lost my mind. There was something so sexual about that place" which are NOT the lyrics. It was an improvement from last week. The song plays to her strengths but she still doesn't have good enough control. Sometimes the notes are wonky and she doesn't know how to let her voice soar. It was still very sloppy with lots of bum notes. I do think her stage presence was better.

Fleur East: Thriller. Halloween. Her voice seemed weak when it was exposed in the beginning of the song. I think that was a mistake. I still love Fleur and I think it was better than last week but it was just OK. I don't know if she used to smoke or she has that Emma Stone thing where she shouted too much as a child but that rasp in her voice makes me think that as hard as she works, she might never have a big voice. They need to be careful and play to her strengths, though yeah, giving her the Thriller dance was a good fit, it is still a singing competition. Don't go home, Fleur!

Jack Walton: Bleeding Love. Not Halloween. I actually love Leona. I know some people hate her but I like her first two albums. I haven't listened to the new one yet and I don't listen to Christmas albums. He's not horrible. I just find his voice incredibly annoying. It's like you take normal notes and make them breathy and twist and torment them into these tortured closed off vowels. The notes don't deserve that. Just a touch flat. The vampire thing was super creepy.... creepy because Jack looks 13 and the predatory vampire looked way older than that.

Jay James: Mad World. Not Halloween. You'd think it would be barely Halloween like Lola but the lyrics just throw it off too much and Jay's performance didn't do anything to help that. He's not a good singer. But it was a good week for him. He sounded very weak in the beginning but once they hit the breakdown I think he was surprisingly tolerable. Not... I would buy his album... tolerable but not bad. It's a weird kind of singing in between talk-singing and straight toning it but it's not an unfamiliar pop vocal.

Andrea Faustini: Relight My Fire. Not Halloween. Also, gold devil horns Andrea is something I can't unsee. I liked this more than I usually do because I don't think he was reaching for a song beyond his capabilities. I do think this exposed a few weaknesses. His voice isn't actually that powerful most of the time and his vowels are a little closed off too sometimes. I need some way to describe it. It's not like he's going to an "e" vowel but it's almost croaky. I don't know. You know it when you hear it. It's different from what Jack does.

Lauren Platt: Dark Horse. Halloween. Pretty but I think she was just a hair off pitch. Like she was really in the danger zone in the beginning of the song. There were some weird notes because I don't think her voice has fully developed and she was going for rounded alto notes that she couldn't hit quite right. And she doesn't have the power she wants to access. It's a thin sound when it comes out of her throat. Also, hey, let's not make her pretend to dance again. There were also a few really strangled notes. It's a Lola problem of control but I think her voice is also still developing. For God's sake I feel like I say the same thing every week.

Paul Akister: Bat Out of Hell. Halloween. I think they were taxing Paul a little with all those lyrics. It was just like, please get to the chorus. I don't know if it was the range but I heard this really mellow pretty sound that I don't get often in Paul songs when he's doing what Haenow and Andrea do. There were nice runs but I think for the most part it lacked the energy it needed. Still, the good was enough to put him ahead of the others.

Only the Young: Monster Mash. Halloween. Oh, Louis Walsh you magnificent creature. Just give them a bloody kid's show already. This is what they're meant for! I think the brunette was still a little iffy but the others picked up the slack. When they're on, the guys have perfect clean bubblegum pop vocals and baby voice adds character. I actually really enjoyed this.

Stereo Kicks: Rock Your Body. Not Halloween. I have a hazy memory of this time in pop music but is this the video with the Halloween theme? I don't think it works if you take away the costumes since the song has nothing to do with Halloween. The "Oh my God, we're back again" made me laugh out loud. There were a few issues but overall they sounded good. They almost always sound good. There are just too many of them! Just cut the weakest singers! God damn it.

Stevi Ritchie: Music of the Night. Arguably Halloween. But... dafuq? Breathy and flat and something else I can't describe. Kind of like if you scraped the notes over something without getting any grittiness in the vocal. The high notes were weak. I feel like he's talking a lot of this. Ugh. Ugly vowels. From "let your mind start a journey" it got better. Is this who Stevi really sees himself as? It's not up to Broadway/West End standards but for X Factor there were some nice moments. Overall sloppy though. But Brits love the crap out of Phantom.

 

1. Only the Young

2. Ben Haenow

3. Paul Akister

4. Stereo Kicks

5. Andrea Faustini

6. Jay James

7. Lauren Platt

8. Lola Saunders

9. Fleur East

10. Stevi Ritchie

11. Jack Walton

 

We're still going with double eliminations.

Jack Walton

was already sent home. Never a fan. OK performance last night but it's hard to stay with that when we're getting down to the top 10.

 

I'm really worried for Fleur tomorrow. I have a strong feeling a girl is going to be in the sing off tomorrow.

[Kaoteek]

*sigh* Another week, another series of disappointments. Though I gotta say at least some songs were enjoyable, tonight.

 

Ben Haenow : not bad. It lacked some bite & attitude, but not bad.

Lola Saunders : she still leaves me cold, but it wasn't as mediocre as some previous weeks. Improvement ! Yay !

Fleur East : nice bit of choreography, but so-so vocals. Still, entertaining.

Jack Walton : My only reaction was "what!? He's still there ?!". Well, now he isn't, and it won't bother me one bit.

Jay James : I get why they chose this song for Fright Night, since it's an iconic song from the movie Donnie Darko, which takes place during Halloween. However, this particular version of the song ? I hated it. Really really hated it. Jay can't sing in the lower register, and after that break, he was better... but that cover of Mad World wasn't.

Andrea Faustini : Well... that was different. Not necessarily bad, but different. Not sure it was a right fit for Andrea, though.

Lauren Platt : Meh. Let her come back a couple years from now, and she might be a viable contender for the top spot. Right now, she isn't ready yet.

Paul Akister :  Yeah, he clearly wasn't feeling it. I didn't either, despite liking the song, and liking Paul.

Only The Young : brilliant. Loved it. Finally something fun & light-hearted. Much better than last week.

Stereo Kicks aka "one guy & his background singers" : yeah, they sounded okay. But if you take the Backstreet Boys costumes, the dancing & the video out of the equation, it really becomes a generic boys band track. I don't really get why they didn't even try to spice the performance up with choreography or costumes.

Stevi Ritchie : again : I like the guy, he's not a great singer, far from it, but he's got an infectious smile & attitude. Here, however... sigh. Well, it didn't help that I don't tolerate Andrew Lloyd Weber much, esp. Phantom, but still, I think Stevi might be nearing the end of his run, if not this week, next week. I hope he'll get a nice tv host gig out of it, or something, cos he could work wonders there.

[aradia22]

Whew! Thank you, voting public. Fleur wasn't even in the sing off. Instead

Lola

faced off against

Stereo Kicks

and the judges went to deadlock.

Lola

went home. I feel brilliant for predicting it would be a

girl

.

[Kaoteek]

Even though they haven't been eliminated yet, I'm still sad for Stereo Kicks... there's that one guy with a great voice, and he's stuck doing all the work for the seven other guys, half of them having barely decent solo voices, and the rest just being used as background singers. Tonight was a perfect example of that, and it bothers me cos once they'll get voted off (probably next week or the week after that), they'll all get lost in the shuffle, whereas that voice guy could have gone further in the competition (as a solo contestant) than Jack did, imo.

 

Anyway. Disco Night. I guess it means that, unless there's another double elimination scheduled, Stevi will probably stay one more week in the competition, then.

Edited November 2, 2014 by Kaoteek

[aradia22]

I felt like we should know his name so I went back and watched one of the old arena audition videos. The one who sings all the solos in Stereo Kicks is named James Graham.

[Kromm]

How is this even remotely fair? Least votes at the end of the episode goes but the voting is open the whole show? How do the later people not get automatically shafted? They're not even PRETENDING this is fair now.  Oh wait,  That shit Stevi is last.  Maybe people not having enough time to vote for him will help send his horrible ass home (probably not).

Onto the performances (I'm watching a day and a half late):

Heynow! - pretty good. heavy metal on this show is nice to see, if done well like this was.
Lola Whatserhername - just awful. she was tremulous and shaky, and yet it got praised.
Fleur - doing Thriller with original choreography? Fraking NUTS. A few weak vocal moments, but it sure was brave. overall a thumbs up, just for guts.
Jack - is wack. go away... you suck, kid! (and I don't mean "stupid staged vampire girl suck". I mean YOU SUCK AS A SINGER.

Jay - I believe this song was just done better on The Voice US. But this wasn't shit--just mediocre and wrong for him.  He just should have gone with his gut that Simon's idea was a bad one.

Andrea - I'm just tired of him.  At least this was more overt R&B than the faux-operatic slant he's put on much of his stuff.

Lauren - Meh.  Sorry, kid.  I know you tried.  Those stupid dancers only made it worse, but mainly it was just your weak vocals.  The panel trying to respin another bad performance as good? Ignore that.

Paul - I don't get why he was a baby about this. I thought it fit him.

Only The Young - WTF? 

Stereoshit - because that's how this is going. 8 guys still not working.  harmony portions.  they'e enhanced by 8.  but every other bit?  its too much.

Stevi "Bulletproof" Ritchie - aaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhh!  why won't he "die" (in this competition I mean).  eff you, maggot.

 

 

Then to rub in what amateurs these folks are, they have to have John Legend on the Results show.  Next to which almost anyone on the planet is going to sound the lesser (you know... like Cheryl).

Edited November 3, 2014 by Kromm

[Trek]

Despite being billed as singing competition, these shows are just as much a popularity contest, so including that slant:

 

Haenow: Automatically gets two additional stars from me for doing a proper metal song on shows like this that are overloaded with diva-ballads and "easy listening" pop. Also like the texture of his voice. Loses one star for seeming to want to look like (including adopting some of the manerisms of) Collin Farrel.

Fleur: Not the best vocalist, but by far the best performer. Can actually dance in sync with the back-up dancers, even has a costume change. Last weeks show in particular was something you might see at mid-era (Material Girl era) Madonna concert.

Jay: Singing is just Ok-ish but gets a star for being proud of his old job.

Lola: The opposite of Jay. Singing is actually bad and I hate people who beg for votes ala "I really, really want this because I can't stand to go back to my old job." This is not a fuqing charity event. Go do clubs and pubs or, if not talented enough, apply for a job you like or go to school and get a new one. That's what the millions not on talent shows do without moaning about it.

Andrea: I'd have had it with him if he'd done another Huston/Beyonce ballad. Again. As is, his Relight My Fire, was not bad.

Lauren: Neither here nor there for me.

Paul: Decent voice but the guy just bores the crap out of me. Prefer paint drying.

OTY: Liked what they did this week, but they seem more suitable as a band hired to do a kids show.

SK: One decent performance (The Beatles mash-up) Nothing of much worth before or since.

Jack: Has gotten worse with every.single.step since his pretty good 1st audition. Is it him or Mel B?

Steve: Uhmm. No comment. 

[aradia22]

 

Stereoshit - because that's how this is going. 8 guys still not working.  harmony portions.  they'e enhanced by 8.  but every other bit?  its too much.

I recently learned that there's a boy band in Korea with 10 guys in it. I don't even know how that would work. But maybe Stereo Kicks should take some notes. Or sing notes properly. Either one.

[Bill1978]

I'm always a supporter of groups on any version of X Factor. Mainly cause that's the category that really sets this show apart from the other reality singing shows. But I have to admit that this year I don't even think a group will survive into the final half of the show. I think Only The Young have the best shot. I think Louis is the wrong mentor for the groups. For someone who has experience with manufactured pop groups, he often seems clueless with how to present them.

 

I really want Stereo Kicks to work since it is a unique thing to have a boy band that isn't made up of 4 or 5 members.I think the problem Louis has is he is trying to apply the One Direction model of boyband to the group instead of relying on the 90s model. By this it seems he thinks that the best performances is to have a bunch of solos followed by a big group sing for the chorus. With 8 people it is probably best to have the solo singer supported with the harmonies behind, like Take That did in the 90s or even Westlife, during the verses and then a big group sing with harmonies. I would really like to see these guys attempt something like Back For Good where Louise would be forcd to get that whole boyband singing going. It might actually help untie the group before they are lost. I admit that while James Graham can sing, he freaks me out for some reason and I wish Louis would stop highlighting him.

 

I agree with others who have said Only The Young are probably best for kdis parties, but damn I am getting a fun Same Difference vibe from them and would like them to survive a little longer. I have formed no opinions of the solo acts yet. Will wait until the groups are booted and I am forced to care about one of the solos winning

[aradia22]

 

I admit that while James Graham can sing, he freaks me out for some reason and I wish Louis would stop highlighting him.

For me, part of the problem is that with eight guys, we never fix what's wrong with James Graham. As a solo artist both the judges (production backstage) and the audience would have the opportunity to focus on his flaws and they'd be addressed. You know, the way they made Paul stop making crazy faces (for the most part) or tried to make Lauren dance. Hidden in the group we're just so grateful when he comes on and we get a reprieve from the off key wailing of the others. I particularly dislike the little one because they let him sing way too much given his ratio of hitting the right notes. I have noticed that he could work on his stage presence but it's never going to be addressed while they have so much to focus on. I feel bad for James. He really got shortchanged getting thrown into this group.

[Rockwello]

It gave me a fright alright!