The X Factor Finals: Week 7
November 23, 2009 9 Comments
This week’s theme was George Michael. Meh.
Saturday
Running Time (including the Xtra Factor): 140 minutes
Time I watched it in: 59 minutes
X Factor Ratio: 42.1%
Lloyd – Faith – The exciting news is that Lloyd has had a bit of a haircut. The unexciting news is that his singing is as ropey as ever. It’s not that he’s got a bad voice, as such, he’s just really patchy. I suppose that you have to remember that he’s only 16. There’s no George Michael masterclass, so the theme seems a bit OTT.
Louis is wearing a ridiculous bow-tie, and so it really suited him. The crowd went wild because Simon described the performance as ‘not bad’. Is this the level that we’ve sunk to?
Stacey – Don’t know – They had her sat down to start the performance whilst wearing a very short dress – quite brave. The song was really boring, whatever it was. It would have been quite a good performance but there were one or two dodgy bits in it. She’s still a lovable gonk though.
The crowd seemed to be suffering from mass hysteria; I wonder what they feed to them before it starts. Stacey looks really bashful when she gets praise, which is quite endearing. People will probably think that she was putting it on, though.
John and Edward – I’m Your Man – This was a relatively subdued performance from the twins as they cavorted around on a 20-foot high scaffold. They were definitely back in the absolutely rubbish category, but at least they aren’t boring. Simon described them as an “unstoppable machine” – a truly frightening thought.
Danyl – Careless Whisper – I don’t really know what I thought about it. He’s on a different level to the other acts and so it’s difficult to really judge him. Cheryl said that parts of it were really flat – she gets in her weekly Danyl dig – good girl.
Olly – Fast Love – Another one of the acts with dodgy bits. I think I’m going to have to accept that I just don’t like him, even if it’s really unfair. His stupid dancing was quite subdued, which was a shame. Overall, I thought it was pretty bad, he seems to be getting worse if anything. Danni said that there were tuning problems in the first half of the song. I’m glad it wasn’t just me that thought so.
Joe – Don’t Let the Sun Go Down On Me – Simon did a great appreciative nod towards the beginning of the song. Joe’s not really my cup of tea but he’s certainly consistent each week, and that’s more than you can say for the others.
We’ve got to the stage in the competition where Louis loves everybody. He did manage to to open his rule book and have a go about it being an Elton John song and not a George Michael one. Simon managed to take credit for the performance, as he always does.
The main show seemed to fly by tonight, so my comments seem to be a lot shorter than usual. Could The Xtra Factor help me pad it out any? Well, Joan Collins was in the audience looking like a leopard-skin scarecrow. It was quite scary so I just focused on Holly and I felt instantly soothed.
Up in the studio with the judges and Cheryl was wearing a ridiculously short dress to be sat on a stool. The stylists appeared to be going for the upskirt factor.
Someone asked Louis why he has to be childish whenever he’s being criticised, he said ‘because that’s what I’m like.’ Which was a good answer, to be fair. Someone else slagged off Simon’s song choices for Danyl. Another guy suggested that Louis has had a face-lift. Gina phoned up and nastily accused Cheryl of favouring Joe over Lloyd. God, I love Britain.
Predictions:
Should be in bottom 2: Lloyd + Olly
Will be in bottom 2: Lloyd + Danyl
Sunday
Running Time: 120 minutes
Time I watched it in: 35 minutes
X Factor Ratio: 29.2%
The group song was Wake Me Up Before You Go Go. Like always, it was hideous.
Skipping through a lot of rubbish (Susan Boyle and Mariah Carey), it boiled down to John & Edward and Olly in the final two.
Jedward sang Boyzone’s No Matter What, the first time in the competition that they’ve actually ‘sung’. It really showed just how bad they are.
Olly sang a song (I knew what it was but I’ve already forgotten what it was) and was distinctly average. Sadly, ‘distinctly average’ is too much for Jedward to contend with.
It was pretty obvious who was going to go, but I found myself praying that the twins would survive. Sadly they didn’t.
In conclusion
It’s quite incredible that Lloyd wasn’t in the bottom two, maybe people are voting because they feel sorry for him. Jedward are finally gone – they were absolutely rubbish singers, but the show is going to be a lot more boring without them. There’s no one left that I’m really rooting for – a sorry state of affairs.
My favourite acts:
1. Stacey – Meh.
2. Danyl – Meh.
3. Joe – Meh.
Total Duration: 260 minutes
Total time I spent watching it: 94 minutes
Overall X Factor Ratio: 36.2 %
About sherby57
I’m sorry to see Jedwards go. Don’t really care who wins now.
I absolutely know how you feel. The last few weeks are going to be a bit of a chore.
Hello chaps. It was all pretty poor, wasn’t it?
The best was Joe by a mile, although I quite liked Lloyd again (maybe it’s his new hair, I don’t know). Olly was terrible. Stacey was boring. And Danyl – I don’t know either, Sherby. Just like last week. It may have been good, it may not have been. It was certainly LOUD.
I actually felt really sorry for Jedward (and God help me, I’ll miss them too), although it was definitely time for them to go. Could the crowd not have stopped booing and let them have their last song in the sing-off without having to face a barrage of abuse? For the first time, I saw some fear and vulnerability in their faces and I remembered that these are actually kids. Their singing was terrible but a bit brave as well I thought – to sing to a totally hostile crowd “No matter what they call us, however they attack” takes a fair bit of guts. Or obliviousness, I suppose, but I thought it was guts.
I wasn’t too impressed with Dannii’s petty “Is this a singing competition?” nonsense either. You want to have a go at Simon, have a go at Simon, but do it directly TO SIMON, and don’t make it harder for the poor contestants standing waiting to hear their fate. I thought it was cheap point-scoring and whether she had a point or not, it didn’t matter, it wasn’t the time to make it.
Btw, Stacey’s song was “I Can’t Make You Love Me”, and Olly’s sing-off song was “Wonderful Tonight.” (Told you I was nerdy
)
It certainly wasn’t the best, CJ. I think I’d prefer any of last year’s final five to win over all of this year’s contestants.
Danyl seems to have absolutely no life left in him, which is really sad. It makes for extremely strange performances.
The booing of Jedward was pretty poor form, but it’s the whole Big Brother pantomime audience effect all over again. I actually wish they had won the whole thing – at least it would have been funny. I think it was brave of them to sing a ‘slowie’, perhaps they knew that there time was up and they just chose something that they actually wanted to sing.
Dannii’s comments were ridiculous – have they not cleared all this up by now? Perhaps it all relates to something that has gone on behind the scenes, but, as you say, she should have directed her complaints to Simon.
I have actually heard of “Wonderful Tonight” but it had completely disappeared from my head by the time I came to write about it (about 2 minutes). It pretty much sums up what I thought of Olly’s performance. I’d definitely never heard of “I Can’t Make You Love Me”.
Can you actually pick someone that you want to win now? I’m really struggling.
Me too – I’m not really bothered about any of the acts at all. I would rather Simon won than the other judges but it’s looking unlikely given both his acts have been in the bottom two now. I think Joe or Stacy will win, and they will make very dull MOR albums and ultimately end up having Leon-style “success” for about 5 minutes rather than Leona-style…
Oh! I forgot to say -
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/xfactor/news/a188402/take-thatelton-john-theme-for-x-factor.html
Oh dear oh dear oh dear.
Does Take That\Elton John even qualify as a theme? This means that in future that they can pick any two random artists and lump them together – very strange.
I don’t know if I could pick any one that I actually want to win. Maybe Stacey – because she’s a girl.
I suppose they’ll say it’s two themes, Sherby, because they’re going to do two songs each, so one Elton and one TT.
The more I think about this, the more apprehensive I am….
Ah, the concept becomes clear – two songs each! In fairness, can it be any worse than some of the previous themes? And at least Elton John & Take That have done plenty of songs suitable for MOR acts.