Live Show 6: Big Band Week

[aradia22]

This can only end in tears. I may have used that line before.

[aradia22]

Andrea Faustini: It was fine. I still find him underwhelming. Good in comparison to the X Factor competition. Extremely average compared to other people who have performed this song.

Lauren Platt: I love Nat King Cole. Like, he's one of the only non-Broadway male singers that I listen to. Not sure if this was a great choice for her voice but it's perfect for her personality and stage presence. Trying to be happy and young but ultimately kind of melancholy and a bit too serious. It was fine. But I wish she'd give her voice more support. She's kind of holding the notes but she's not really singing them properly. You could hear it more in the beginning. It's like if an older singer with vocal damage and years of smoking were performing. It was pretty but kind of mediocre. Like, if an actress that wasn't known for singing did this I would think it was OK but this is not the performance that should be coming from a professional singer. Also, it started to get pitchy it in the middle and a little tortured. She doesn't have her technique down.

Jay James: The Empire State of Mind bit was weak. The actual Big Band part wasn't bad. Like, still cruise ship. But he sounded fine and much less annoying. I'll give him credit for improving. His vowels were much better in this song. But I still don't think he's good and he better not win. Also, don't come to NY, Jay. We don't want you.

Stereo Kicks: I know it's Big Band week but this is a terrible song choice. This is a band struggling to seem relevant and you give them Mack the Knife? This is the kind of song they would have given to Chloe Jasmine. On the one hand, it was a simple enough song that their voices weren't overwhelmed so they sounded alright and didn't stray off key. On the other hand, it exposed how weak most of their voices are. This is why they didn't cut it as solo artists. They don't have technique and their vocal quality isn't special or all that appealing. The one I like who isn't James Graham kind of flubbed his first solo but he was better the second time he came in. Really though the only one who held it down was James Graham. And he keeps looking in random directions and looking a little listless until he remembers to smile because there are eight guys and they don't have time to teach him how to act on stage. GAH! Maybe they should just go be actors or something. That was rather terrible considering most of the solos only lasted a few seconds. You had most of the week to practice 2-3 lines of a song. Even a few hours is enough to learn that much. (I know they changed song choices.)

Ben Haenow: I know it's his arrangement but I hate that this is referred to as Michael Buble's Cry Me a River. UGH, Buble. Kind of rough. I feel like he wasn't landing the pitch most of the time. It just wasn't pleasant to listen to. I want to go listen to Julie London again. However, like Lauren, it fit his stage persona. He struggles with genuine. He's good with angry and kind of pissy.

Only the Young: OK, Louis, I've been amused by your choices in the past but this one's embarrassing. A Katie Waissel number? Really? Only the Young are better than that. This is perfect for the really clean way the guys sing though. If you're not going to swing it or make it more like jazz or Sinatra, then Big Band is good for people who can sing cleanly. The brunette was super flat on the last note and she made the girls' small solo sound like karaoke. I needed more of the blond's baby voice punctuated throughout.

Stevi Ritchie: I do not get Stevi's voice. He's not genuinely terrible like the joke acts usually are. But he's also not good. But there are moments when he sounds like he can sing. But more often he sounds breathless or out of the pocket or slightly off pitch or... I don't even know what's happening. I did enjoy the dancers whipping off their wigs and using them as pom-poms. Who came up with that amazingly stupid bit of choreography?

Fleur East: For Big Band week? How is this going to work? What the hell have they dressed her in? This is a terrible arrangement of Bang Bang but I liked Fleur. I did feel like they were making me work hard to decide whether or not I liked her voice or performance with this terrible forced Big Band arrangement.

 

Rankings:

1. Only the Young

2. Fleur East

3. Andrea Faustini

4. Jay James

5. Lauren Platt

6. Stereo Kicks

7. Ben Haenow

8. Stevi Ritchie

Edited November 16, 2014 by aradia22

[Kaoteek]

Well... I always loved Big Band numbers, but I came out of this one quite underwhelmed.

 

Andrea did a typical, solid albeit overwrought performance. Still better than the rest of the competition.

Lauren left me cold. Really really cold. It wasn't bad, though, but... still really cold.

Jay... the mid-song transition didn't work for me, but I kinda liked his performance on NYNY. It wasn't great, but it was probably good enough to save him from the bottom two.

James Graham & his backup singers : indeed, a great song choice if you want to hide all of those guys' weaknesses (well, most of them, at least, since a couple of guys sounded iffy despite their limited solo time).

Ben : just like aradia, I really wasn't convinced by this one. Ben had a cocky smile during his performance, and his voice just didn't work with that song, it felt off.

OTY : I like them. Really. They're not perfect singers, but they're fun, mostly on key, and they're enjoying themselves. But that song wasn't really up to their usual par. I don't know why, really, aside from the choreography/staging which was dreadful, and had the four kids concentrating more on where they were supposed to go rather than singing. I hope it won't send them home, though.

Stevi : the problem with Stevi is he just clearly has no vocal training & technique... and he just doesn't care. He'd rather dance & move around rather than sing into the mic, and I'm sure that with a couple months of serious vocal training, he'd manage to get much better. But that's not why he is on the show, really, he's there to make the others look better (but also much less entertaining) in comparison.

Fleur : For once, I saw the potential star in Fleur. Sadly, just like aradia, I wasn't sure if I was liking it or hating it : her style just clashed with the big band environment, and it did feel somewhat awkward, like they were trying to force something to happen that just wouldn't.

Edited November 16, 2014 by Kaoteek

[Trek]

Only Ben, Fleur and Andrea have a shot at winning this IMO. OTY should have a future as the in-house group for shows like Seasame Street or Blue Peter. I like them but don't think they can sell many records to anyone that is old enough to have their own credit card.  Stevie, well, I like him better that the joke acts of the past like Rylan, the Brazilian guy or Jedward, so there's that. The rest have all been sitting in the meh catagory for a while.

[Kromm]

Why won't Steven Ritchie (I refuse to call a grown man "Stevi") go away?  Why?

 

There are tens of thousands of third rate singers in cheesy community-level music review shows, and an even larger group of  bad wedding singers, who are like Steven.  But better.

Edited November 16, 2014 by Kromm

[Kromm]

Fleur : For once, I saw the potential star in Fleur. Sadly, just like aradia, I wasn't sure if I was liking it or hating it : her style just clashed with the big band environment, and it did feel somewhat awkward, like they were trying to force something to happen that just wouldn't.

Yeah, trying to shoehorn that song into Big Band was fail. Then again, she's one of the few on this cast who actually bother to try to innovate. It just didn't work this time. Edited November 16, 2014 by Kromm

[aradia22]

Sometimes the X Factor voters get it right.

Jay James and Stevi Ritchie

were in the sing off. Amazing. I actually thought the former turned in a relatively (compared to the others) decent performance last night but that doesn't mean I'm crying for

him

. The judges went to deadlock.

Jay James

went home. I. Am. Shocked. I didn't want or expect

him

to win but still, I didn't expect an elimination this soon given the apparent popularity of this act.

[Kaoteek]

HA. I'm still laughing my ass off at this result.

 

I didn't particularly like

Jay

's song tonight (always the same formula with him : start almost inaudible, not quite in tune, with a trembling voice, and finish big, in tune, thus wiping the first 60 mediocre seconds' memory out of the voters' mind) and I felt

Stevi

had a strong performance (as far as

Stevi

's performances go, let's be honest) but still, I thought he was a goner.

 

That said, I'm quite happy he's still in... even when dreadful, he's still one of the less boring acts of the show. Also, I can't help to like anything or anyone that throws a wrench into Simon's long-term plans...

 

I didn't catch next week's theme, if there's one ? Did they mention it ?

Edited November 17, 2014 by Kaoteek

[Rockwello]

Being a fan of frank Sinatra, all I can say is no comment about the first three, make that four, no, five ....omg it just proves to me what a brilliant talent Sinatra was. Lol

Is it just me or is this show just getting worse? Lol but I love it.

Edited November 17, 2014 by Rockwello

[Kromm]

Sometimes the X Factor voters get it right.

Jay James and Stevi Ritchie

were in the sing off. Amazing. I actually thought the former turned in a relatively (compared to the others) decent performance last night but that doesn't mean I'm crying for

him

. The judges went to deadlock.

Jay James

went home. I. Am. Shocked. I didn't want or expect

him

to win but still, I didn't expect an elimination this soon given the apparent popularity of this act.

Well maybe the voters got it right, but then the judges failed if the idiot who stayed stayed.

Circuses are entertaining. Horror movies are entertaining. Flatulence (or at least jokes about it) can be made entertaining. None of that means that you'd want Circus performers, Horror movie stars or Farters to win a singing comp. "Entertaining" has to be in the right context for it to matter.

[aradia22]

 

Also, I can't help to like anything or anyone that throws a wrench into Simon's long-term plans...

Let's review. Mel B has Andrea. He could take it but I personally would never listen to his album and to me, he feels like more of a Britain's Got Talent act.

Cheryl is left with Lauren who seems to be getting worse over time. She employs the same move Jay does as described by Kaoteek except she's in tune in the beginning and starts to careen around wildly when it comes to the shouty bit at the end.

Louis has Only the Young and Stereo Kicks. I personally love Only the Young and I think they could take it. I would be perfectly happy if they won. Stereo Kicks are a pretty mediocre boy band and without James they're horrid but they might have been in the competition long enough to build up their fan base. 

Simon still has Fleur, Ben, and Stevi. Let's be honest, it's not going to be Stevi. Ben could make it farther but I just find him unlikable in his performances. He needs to work on not seeming so smarmy. Fleur is his best shot but she's not a Leona or Rebecca or Alexandra and I'm worried about her chances of getting to the end. 

[Occasional Hope]

Goodbye Mr Boring.  I won't shed a tear.  (Though I can't say I feel very invested in any of them.)

[Rockwello]

I can't see any of them winning