Anyway, the weird thing is that I can’t really disagree with anything you said, even the bits which are disagreeing with the bits that I wrote.

I feel like I can’t objectively comment on any of them. They can all basically sing, but then some of the performances seem awful. Even when they’re not actually that bad. I quite like Stacey, but that’s based on nothing more than a whim – I totally understand why you’d find her dull.

I think it’s all very symptomatic of some very mediocre finalists this year. I don’t think that the live auditions really helped the selection process.

I feel guilty as hell for criticising Holly. It just isn’t right. I hope she’ll forgive me.

In “controversial comment shocker!”, I disagree about a few things, Sherby. I actually thought Danyl’s first song was ok but his “Your Song” was absolutely appalling. Really bad. He didn’t even seem to be on the same street as the tune, and it just sounded like yelling to me. I think the song would have suited Lloyd’s tone better, as it works best when it’s more gentle and Lloyd wouldn’t have YELLED it (I agree with you that he can’t really project his voice, poor wee mite.)

I was bored yet again by Stacey except for the absolutely gorgeous starry light effects behind her. They were beautiful. Her singing – ah, not so much, but then both those songs are a bit dull. I agree with Simon that she’s not a Leona, and yet Dannii keeps pretending she is.

Olly – first song bad, second song passable – and Lloyd – first song passable, second song bad, I thought. I know Lloyd wasn’t great but I found myself wishing Danyl would go too, so it’s not just you.

Nothing was as bad as the results show, though. I made the mistake of only fastforwarding Rihanna – I should have skipped through all of it. The group performance was excruciating – I don’t think anybody hit any of the right notes, imagine how bad it would have been if it hadn’t been mimed – and the rest was total filler. Poor Lloyd. He’s not the best of singers but he seemed like a sweet kid and he handled his exit very well, I thought. I hope he finds success (and volume – of voice, not of hair, he’s doing fine on that front) in a few years.