Live Show 5: Queen vs. Michael Jackson

[aradia22]

Why is this even a thing?

[aradia22]

Paul Akister: I like that Paul sings properly, holding the notes, actually try to sing the notes instead of shout or talk or whisper them. But I think some of the low notes were out of his range and sounded awkward. Also, adding a beat will not make him James Arthur. These are clearly not Paul's choices. Paul doesn't want to wear a leather jacket and disappear into a cloud of smoke.

Jay James: What the heck is this? Moulin Rouge? I'll give him credit for improving during his time on the show from intolerable to incredibly mediocre. But he's never going to be great. Also, his outfit? Is he part of the tech crew? Put in some effort, man.

Lauren Platt: Fantastic. A throwback song not outside of her capabilities that didn't show off how her voice hasn't fully matured yet. Really boring though. Also, WTF why were there so many lens flares? Ah no, nevermind. She couldn't hit the big notes at the end. 

Only the Young: I like them. Not in an ironic way. They make me smile. If they do get careers after this they will either release an album of covers and become children's TV presenters or they might find someone to write great songs for them and become a throwback pop act. Like a combination of S Club 7 and The Scissor Sisters and the B-52's.

Ben Haenow: Vowels unpleasant. He wasn't singing badly. I just didn't enjoy it. Why do his eyes roll back in his head when he sings? It makes him seem really not genuine which is the opposite of what you need to seem for Man in the Mirror. I think it got a little better when the music came in. Hitting the chorus helped too.

Stevi Ritchie: I feel like I'm being tricked. I could not really pick out Stevi's actual live vocals until the other voices dropped out. There were problems. Though at times it wasn't bad. I just don't find Stevi fun anymore.

Stereo Kicks: I feel like this was a mistake. Backstreet Boys was fine but this era in the sound of boy bands does not do Stereo Kicks any favors. All the solos, even James Graham's, had some issues and also some nice moments. Perhaps we wouldn't need to kick people out of Stereo Kicks if all the members of the band could sing perfectly all the time. Instead, we have 8 people who collectively sing the right notes about 60-75% of the time. Also, I thought their stage presence was just really off and then a rando got carted off stage. Poor James Graham. I hope they're not in the sing off again. It's getting to the point where I might just buy his solo album because I feel so bad for him getting stuck in this stupid thing.

Fleur East: So this was clearly Fleur's "I can sing" week. I like this song because of Boyce Avenue. There were some issues but I think she did a solid job of proving she can sing. She gave me a bit of a Whitney vibe. A great thing about Fleur is that even when she's not dancing she knows how to perform. She doesn't park and bark. I think some of the issues came from her raspy voice.

Andrea Faustini: When it started I thought 'I might genuinely enjoy one of Andrea's performances'. I think it was one of his better vocal performances but I think it was still just too much. I don't mind his voice too much when he's singing straight but there are just too many affectations. He needs to edit.

My Rankings. I'm fine tomorrow unless Only the Young or Fleur are in the sing off. I'll feel a little bad for James if it's Stereo Kicks. 

 

1. Only the Young

2. Fleur East

3. Andrea Faustini

4. Stereo Kicks

5. Paul Akister 

6. Ben Haenow

7. Lauren Platt

8. Jay James

9. Stevi Ritchie

Edited November 8, 2014 by aradia22

[Nedsdag]

You forgot Andrea, who was good, but not great.

 

It's obvious that the judges and TPTB want Octoboyz feat. James Graham on the tour the way they are buttering them up when they were meh.

 

My favorites of the night were Fleur and Ben.

Edited November 8, 2014 by Nedsdag

[Kaoteek]

Paul Akister : Yeah... well, I like him, I like his voice, he sings well, but "Don't stop me now, cos I'm having a good time" lyrics don't really fit his behaviour & personnality (contrary to Stevi, when he first sang it). Still, he should be safe.
 

Jay James : Ugh. I hated that version. For some reason, Jay decided to change the melody, here and there, and the overall experience was pretty unpleasant.
 

Lauren Platt : She was pretty decent. Boring & bland, but decent. Again, she should come back in a few years, with more experience under her belt.

 

Only the Young : Yeah, I like them too. Funnily enough, they seem like they're one of the most polished acts, as far as stage presence goes. They're fun, confident, they sing well enough... I hope they'll get a few decent opportunities out of this.

 

Ben Haenow : Wasn't a big fan of the a cappella part, enjoyed the chorus much more. Aside from that, not much to say, he's clearly a finalist.

 

Stevi Ritchie : He's got the energy, he's got the stage presence, he's got the likeable personality... and every now and then, for a couple seconds of a song, he's got the voice. Too bad he doesn't have it more... I still enjoy his performances, if only for the WTF factor, and the looks of horror on Mel & Cheryl's faces.

 

Stereo Kicks : same old same old. The song was pleasant enough, despite the fanboy intrusion, but in the end, it was just more of the same "James Graham & his backup singers" act. And they clearly know it even though they don't necessarily acknowledge it.

 

Fleur East :  Can't argue with her stage presence. Sadly, I'm not really a fan of the rest. She isn't bad, far from it (despite some dodgy notes here and there), but I just don't connect on any level with her performances.

 

Andrea Faustini :  The opposite of Fleur : I love his voice, affectations and all, but his stage presence & charisma are close to nil, and it's starting to really detract from his overall performances, as far as i'm concerned.

Edited November 8, 2014 by Kaoteek

[aradia22]

Paul Akister and Jay James

were in the sing off.

Jay James

was in the sing off, you guys! Hooray! Sadly,

Paul

was the one who ended up going home. Not sad because I feel any real attachment to

him but he

was always fairly competent and I was really hoping it would be

Jay

. Oh, well.

[Kaoteek]

Yeah, no surprise there. The moment these two were designated as the bottom 2, I knew they were gonna go to deadlock, with

Paul

being sent home. Too bad, cos he was good tonight, and pretty decent yesterday, whereas

Jay

was just meh, both times. But he's got the sob story, the "nothing to lose" background, so of course he was gonna stay in the competition.

[Rockwello]

I felt no attachment to either

[Kromm]

Cheryl should have talked slightly out of synch on this episode.  Its how we're used to her now!

 

Paul - Queen seems like a natural choice for him. Then again, Paul has a real attitude problem, as well as he sings.  I will say this. He looked ridiculous in the middle of those dancers. And I don't think it was his fault. He's just NOT the kind of performer you should surround with gyrating dancers.

 

Jay - You could hear his problem holding some notes, but that said, it does sound like his problems maybe were exagerated for drama.

 

Lauren - Ugh.  The Cheerbots in the audience may have gone crazy, but that sucked. Clearly the judges were instucted to boost her this week to try and help Cheryl stay. 

 

Only The Lame - That Brunette girl's voice gets worse each time she sings lead.  Why do they LET her? Oh wait. It's because the Blonde is even worse. If they somehow stick around they need to only let the boys sing lead.

 

Heynow! - Acapela (well at least the opening) is an interesting approach to Man In The Mirror.  I actually think it worked. Later on we got the typical big arrangement for the song (including Choir), but he built to it, so I don't mind.  His voice wasn't even perfect, but it was effective. And Mel really is on a tear down of Simon's acts this week, isn't she?

 

Leechy Ritchie - Go away.  Go away.  Go away.  Go away.  Argh. We're never going to be rid of this piece of @#^. The public has to perceive this as a huge practical joke.  They have to.  I hope. I know Freddie Mercury is supposed to be over the top.  But you still have to be able to SING. This moron can't. I take craps more talented than this guy.  "Very very frightening", indeed.  GOOOOOOOOO AWAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!

 

BTW: I hate Louis getting credit for "Old Spice".  I bet one of his assistants read here and told him.

 

Stereo Punks - I guess for them this was an okay job.  But the whole idea of the group is still a mistake. And when only 1 or 2 can actually sing solos well, it's a mistake to spread them out.  The harmonies are good, as usual, but the other side of that is when you have 8 people singing harmony it starts to sound Choral. Which is NOT marketable.

 

Fleur - Not perfect (a few early bad notes), but ok.  And there's thar darn Choir again.  Fleur on a mediocre week is better than most of them on their best though.

 

Andrea - Again, it's Freddie Mercury, so you get some license to go cheesy a bit. And unlike that worm Stevi, at least Andrea's voice is good. But his delivery is so tiresomely faux-operatic, I'm sick of it.  This week it made sense.  But he's going to be doing the same crap next week when it's NOT Freddie Mercury when it doesn't make as much sense.

Edited November 10, 2014 by Kromm

[aradia22]

 

Lauren - Ugh.  The Cheerbots in the audience may have gone crazy, but that sucked. Clearly the judges were instucted to boost her this week to try and help Cheryl stay.

Cheryl wouldn't have this problem if she didn't love picking female contestants who can't sing. 

 

Only The Lame - That Brunette girl's voice gets worse each time she sings lead.  Why do they LET her? Oh wait. It's because the Blonde is even worse. If they somehow stick around they need to only let the boys sing lead.

I've grown to like the blonde. Her singing is fine. Her voice is just a little odd. But it gives the group... not edge, really, but color, I guess. Something that makes them stand out and sound a little less generic.

[Gulftastic]

MVP this week was the audience member who bellowed 'ONLY THE YOUNG!' everytime Dermot did his dramtaic pause in the results bit.

[Trek]

I really think Mel B is a bad coach. Jake and Jack both got worse every time they appeared. Meanwhile Paul is so dull in the live shows that I actually dred it when it's his turn but I liked him fine during auditions, especially his rendition of Marvin Gaye, when he was picking his own songs and arrangements.

I was actually rooting for him to go home. But then, when it came to the sing off, (which is again where Mel would have had no input) I enjoyed him and he certainly out sung Jay in that particular round. However, I still prefered him gone since if he'd stayed he'd be "coached" again and reverted to dull.

[aradia22]

I can kind of see what she was doing with Paul. She wanted him to be more like Bruno Mars. A contemporary pop artist with a bit of a throwback sound. But that's not Paul. Paul is awkward and uncomfortable on stage. Paul is not a fun guy. I don't even think Paul can do Aloe Black. Paul is more like the guy they get to sing the cover when they don't want to do a straight up sample. Like Madcon's Beggin if they had a different person come in to sing the Frankie Valli part. I don't think he's a star but they didn't do a good job of showing where he'd fit in the market. He seemed smoother in auditions but I think that's because we had low expectations at that stage and weren't as concerned with him closing his eyes and making weird faces and not moving around much.