2016 LIVE SHOW 5: Girlband vs. Boyband

[aradia22]

Woo? Sorry, I'm just feeling bitter right now. Maybe I'll convince myself to like Matt or Sam by next week.

[Kaoteek]

Song choices for this week.
 

Quote

 

Boys

Matt Terry: Wham! - I’m Your Man

Ryan Lawrie - The Beatles - Twist & Shout

Girls

Emily Middlemas: One Direction - What Makes You Beautiful

Sam Lavery: Girls Aloud - I’ll Stand By You

Overs

Honey G: Kris Kross - Jump

Saara Aalto: Girls Aloud - Sound of The Underground

Groups

5 After Midnight: Spice Girls - Say You'll Be There

Four of Diamonds: Wilson Phillips - Hold On

 

.... Yay.

---------

EDIT :

Okay, so... Matt was pretty mediocre ; Sam wasn't much better ; Honey G still has the energy, but that's about it ; Ryan was somewhat better than usual, which doesn't say much ; once again, I have no memory of Four of Diamonds' song ; didn't like Saara's song or esthetic choices, but at least she was memorable, and sang it well ; not a fan of Emily's One Direction ; 5 after Midnight's wasn't half bad, and them going last was smart, especially considering the rest of the show.

In summary : I was thoroughly bored, this week, both by the song choices, and most performances.

Edited November 6, 2016 by Kaoteek

[Kromm]

Oh Nicole. Even the American viewers didn't get your Press Your Luck reference (all the "Whammy Whammy Whammy" stuff where she was trying to mix Wham! with the "No Whammies No Whammies No Whammies" rant from PYL).

Edited November 6, 2016 by Kromm

[PhD-Purgatory15]

Honey G doing Kriss Kross.....I mean what more really needs to be said.

Visually, Sam morphed into what Emily usually looks like. Not sure if that was great move. Emily sucked the fun/joy out of that 1D song. I'm starting to feel like while she might be commercially viable to some degree.....w/ her there's no "there" there.

I have to admit, I thought 5 After Midnight were total fodder when they made the live shows. But they actually seem to be getting better by the week so good on them for that. Could care less about the two guys. Saara will not let you forget her performances even if you're not really sure you like them all that much...

I think 4 of Diamonds probably went out on a nice song. Their harmonies were a bit better too. I just don't see who they'd beat in a sing off this week unless they end up against Honey G and the other judges decide to take the opportunity and stop the madness early.

Edited November 6, 2016 by PhD-Purgatory15

[Gulftastic]

Honey G was aces! I'm beginning to believe.

[aradia22]

Quote

Emily sucked the fun/joy out of that 1D song. I'm starting to feel like while she might be commercially viable to some degree.....w/ her there's no "there" there.

My issue with Emily is that way more than Gifty (who people didn't like for various, and in my opinion, somewhat shady reasons) Emily strikes me as very calculating. She came on the first time as a typical pop act and when that didn't work she reinvented herself and returned. But instead of really working on her voice and technique, she just invented a new, more "artistic" persona. I would like her more if she showed some more talent either in singing or songwriting. 

So yeah... I think I might watch this week when I get home. But if I don't get to it early enough, someone else feel free to talk about the results. I can't go back to last week though. I'm too raw. This season wasn't shaping up to be a great one but it was fun until they kicked off all the talent and left me with Honey G.

Speaking of when X Factor used to be good, I've listened to Leona Lewis' and Rebecca Ferguson's new albums. Leona's isn't bad. Standard pop power anthem/uplifting/ballad-y stuff. Certainly better than the last one which was some disco garbage? I don't know. I couldn't even listen to the whole thing. Rebecca's album is pretty damn good. It's more pop than her previous ones but I like it. It feels like where Leona should have gone after Echo. It even looks like the album cover for Echo. I think Leona has the better voice but Rebecca has the more interesting one and right now she's making the more interesting music.

[Kromm]

5 hours ago, aradia22 said:

My issue with Emily is that way more than Gifty (who people didn't like for various, and in my opinion, somewhat shady reasons)

My reaction to Gifty being gone was incredulous, but not because I really liked her, but because she went on the one performance where I thought her usual annoying habits (oversinging/gratuitous glory notes) were absent.  It made no sense to me that people didn't vote the night she stopped being a stereotype.

[aradia22]

Oh, not you, Kromm. There were just some nasty youtube comments. A lot of boiled down 'angry black woman.'

[aradia22]

OK, I'm ready to do this.

Matt Terry: I love Wham!. The staging and outfit were lame. Come on, let him have a little fun. It's like they want him to be as safe as possible like Ben Haenow (Hey now!). But Matt was helped a lot by how damn good this song is. And I'll give him credit, the singing was very solid. He sang out, hit all the notes. And instead of a moody breakup song they let him do something fun and while I think he still needs to work on his stage presence, it's easier to sell a fun song. You just have to sing and smile. Which he did. And he only closed his eyes a little. A couple of high notes could have been a little more open but he didn't totally strangle them. I'm going to call this a win.

Sam Lavery: Aw, I love Rebecca Ferguson. I wish she'd do a concert in NY. LOL. What? This is NOT a Girls Aloud song. Simon is forever coming in with tricks that sort of fit the week's theme. I think a song like this is perfect for Sam's yodel/yelp. There's a lot of space. But my problem is she's still not hitting all the notes. It's not hard to sing this Pretenders song. There are singers with affectations who still hit the damn notes. Also a little flat. They've done a pretty solid job molding her into an X Factor girl aside from the singing though. Her performance quality has improved a lot. I mean she's doing all the things they all do, but she's doing them. But what the hell with the choir again? For her dad who's... not dying. Guys, you have to save the inspirational choir for the right moments. I'm going to say... meh.

Louis- "We're halfway through the competition and you're one of the few people that seems really happy to be here." Bwahahahaha

[aradia22]

Honey G: I skipped the VT to preserve my sanity. You can't cheat and eat up valuable song time with her coming from backstage. When people come from backstage they usually start singing from back there. That was at least 22 seconds. Oh, sit down, Nicole. To give her credit, she was better. I don't think there were so many lyrics to trip her up and she handled the few faster parts pretty well. Was it great? No. At best she was sort of average hype man. There are actual rap competitions. No way would anyone go out there with something like this and expect to get through. The dancing was lame. Boo...

Ryan Lawrie: Well, I guess the Beatles were technically boys... in a band... Also, LOL that Ryan was in the bottom 3 again last week. Poor cannon fodder. Look, I admire that he's clearly trying in his performances. And I do think he has charisma and that he's a decent performer. But he has a weak voice and he was really meant for a boy band from the start. They effed things up this season and sent him through to be cannon fodder and it's kind of cruel. OK, on to the actual performance this week. You know, for Ryan, I thought this was solid. He sang. He hit all the notes. I could hear him. I do wish he hadn't been clinging to that mic stand like a security blanket at first but when he started moving around he loosened up. Was it a remarkable vocal? No. But I thought it was totally solid. Though the whole time, I was like damn, he should be in One Direction.

4 of Diamonds: Ugh. What is this? Whining about people not liking you week? I mean, come off it. It's not like they're saying you're ugly. They're saying you don't sing well. Easy solution? Sing better. Also, have they ever been open about being a group that production assembled? That said, they sounded good this week. Woo! Wilson Phillips. Clearly, I don't hate this theme. I don't think they sounded remarkable but they sounded good. Though after the first solo from eyebrows, I thought I was hearing backup singers. GROUPS SHOULD NOT HAVE BACKUP SINGERS. Especially if they're off stage.

Saara Aalto: Saara, you effing liar. The Finnish people didn't accept you... you placed SECOND TWICE in the competition to compete in Eurovision. SECOND. TWICE. You placed SECOND in The Voice of Finland. SECOND, you dingbat. Good vocals but... oof... that wig... and those parasols... and the outfits. Who are you, Katy Perry? We're somewhere between cultural appropriation and actual racism but mostly just cringe. So much cringe. Sorry, I can't do more than this. 

[aradia22]

Emily Middlemas: I think this was an interesting gender flip because the original is such trolling. It's basically negging. The vocals still weren't great but for Emily, they were pretty solid. Less shaky. Still shaky but less shaky. And when she sang out that was a little better. More controlled. One of those straight tones was borderline but passable. But if they're going to give her this beat, I would like to see her groove a little more. They're not straight ballads. You can have some style. You can have some attitude. I'll put it this way. I think Emily is decent but will never be a great singer but she'll let them give her a backing track to lip sync to. If she has any talent for it, I could see her chucking the singing career entirely and going off to be an actress.

5 After Midnight: Not remarkable. And I started to find their voices irritating again. Also, a LOT of backing vocals. But at least I could see them on stage. But I didn't hate it. I don't know. It's really difficult when the backup sounds good and they're drowning them out.

RESULTS

Spoiler

Bottom 3: Sam Lavery, 4 of Diamonds, Saara Aalto

Lifeline Vote: Sam saved

Eliminated: 4 of Diamonds

[aradia22]

So apparently there's a (tiny) conspiracy that Ryan was lip syncing because of this moment when he jumped on stage but you could still hear his vocals.