The X-Factor 2011 - The battle hots up

By Jason Wright (Entertainment expert)

FOR the first time in quite a while, the remaining acts in the competition were all genuine contenders, with none really being classed as ‘joke acts.’  Here is how the latest drama has unfolded over the last two weeks…

WEEK 7

The Ultimate Saturday Night Blockbuster

THE X-Factor met Hollywood for a night of movie themes.  The name’s Colton, Craig Colton. (I mention that way because he was assigned a classic Bond number ‘License to Kill.’)  Showing off his great vocals once again as he has always done, he came under the firing line however for the first time with questions over whether the song was wrong for him.  After two weeks of mediocre performances, Janet Devlin somewhat returned to form with a simple yet effective rendition of ‘Kiss Me’ from How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days.

     The other two Girls also had strong nights, even if it wasn’t their best to date.  Returning act Amelia Lily’s performance of the Bridget Jones song ‘Think’ focused more on a stage production than just the voice but was still very competitive.  After a second stint in the bottom two the previous week, Misha B went out and proved she can still compete with the best in the competition and her take on ‘I Have Nothing’ from The Bodyguard had Gary Barlow calling for people to start supporting her again.

     The one remaining group in the competition Little Mix tried something different this week.  ‘Don’t Let Go’ from Set It Off was a song that might have been upbeat but more stripped back with more emphasis placed on their vocal abilities.  In a nutshell, it paid off handsomely again.  Finally, Marcus Collins also went down the stage-show route (again) for his performance of ‘Higher and Higher’ from Ghostbusters, this time with the help of a gospel choir.  It just proves that he is the real deal and it would be a travesty if he at least didn’t make the final.

Curtain Closes On Craig

After a surprise appearance from legendary icon Bryan Adams in the finalist’s group performance, and somebody nicking his guitar without anyone noticing, it was time for the latest round of results.  With Misha B, Little Mix, Marcus and Janet all having done enough to go into the quarter-final, it left Craig, expected on his performance level, and Amelia, just a week after coming back, battling for survival.  Both acts gave it 110 per cent and this wasn’t going to be an easy decision.  Both Gary Barlow and Kelly Rowland stood by their acts but Barlow was bang out of order in saying that Amelia “shouted her way” through her sing-off performance.  It wasn’t shouting at all, it’s the way Amelia performs.  Tulisa based her decision on the sing-off performances and decided Craig had put more passion into his before Louis Walsh decided that Amelia was a better all-round performer than Craig.

DEADLOCK: However, it was the end of the journey for Craig

     That meant after seven weeks, a Final Showdown finally had the judges torn over their votes.  The Deadlock situation was called into play for the first time this series and not to anyone’s surprise, Craig finished bottom of the public vote and his time on the show was up.  A bitter shame as he had performed beyond everyone’s expectations but in a competition so close, it was a case of one bad night and you’re out.

WEEK 8

Everyone has a guilty pleasure

WITH five acts now left standing, it was now double the pressure as each one had to perform twice for the support of both the judges and the public.  In the first round of performances, each act performed a song of Guilty Pleasure.

Little Mix went first with Justin Bieber’s ‘Baby’ and although it was made to perfection, Louis wasn’t impressed by the choreography involved in it.  At least they coped better than Janet who tried the tested and failed formula of an up-tempo song, ‘MMMBop,’ and yet again, she fluffed the lines and this time blamed it on being about to vomit.

Misha B played it rather safe but effective with Cyndi Lauper’s ‘Girls Just Wanna Have Fun’ before we got the rather usual spectacular from Marcus, this time putting it together with the Wham! Hit ‘I’m Your Man.’ Finally, Amelia Lily brought the first round to a close with a mind-blowing rendition of T’Pau’s ‘China In Your Hand’ with Gary claiming it to be better than the original version.  It of course didn’t go down well with the original artists of the track.

And everyone does need a hero

With the Guilty Pleasure numbers done, it was now time for the acts to showcase one of their big musical idols.  Little Mix got an opportunity to showcase a completely different side.  This time, there was no dancing, no gimmicks, just the four girl’s voices of ‘Beautiful’ by Christina Aguilera.  It was an emotionally-captivating performance which helped them on their way to becoming the new bookmakers favourites to win.

     Janet fared slightly better on her second song, Red Hot Chilli Peppers ‘Under The Bridge’ but it was evident that the damage from the first song had already been done as the judges didn’t really warm to this either.  Misha B meanwhile was having a rather predictable night but still remained on the top of her game with Roberta Flack’s ‘Killing Me Softly with His Song.’

For his hero’s song, Marcus also decided to strip things back with Stevie Wonder’s ‘Lately.’  A very difficult song to conquer and although it didn’t prove to be spectacular, it was still proof of why he deserves a chance in music.  Having mastered a power ballad in her first performance, Amelia Lily went for a rock style in her second outing with Kelly Clarkson’s ‘Since You’ve Been Gone.’  Her first song of the night was better but nevertheless, it summed up her intent to take on the opposition since her return.

Janet bids farewell – but not in a dignified way

With three of the original four girls left at this stage, surely the odds were strong that one of them had to go this week.  Despite five acts being left, a Final Showdown was still held, signifying the rule changes in elimination made last year were no one year fluke.  In the public vote result, Amelia was spared a second consecutive sing-off, Marcus continued to flourish under his growing fanbase and Little Mix made X-Factor history in becoming the first girl group ever to reach the semi-final.

     That left Janet and Misha B; the latter in the bottom two for the third time in six weeks, having to sing again for the one remaining place in the semi-final.  They once again, showed why they were great competitors but Misha’s ability to deliver under the pressure was what swayed it with the judges.  Even Louis, the biggest fan of Janet, decided to send her home and when Tulisa sided and sent her home too, it was game over and her mentor Kelly sealed it – by deciding to opt out of voting!  Despite being warned by Dermot O’Leary about the consequences of her considering actions, she stuck by her decision to refuse in casting a vote.  Cue the jeering from the audience and the typical explosion of angry and furious comments on Twitter and Facebook.

SLUMP: Janet struggled to recover in recent weeks and it has cost her

      Regardless of the outcome, the truth is simply that Janet’s decline began in the fifth week of competition and her failure to recover from this slump has finally led to her paying the ultimate price – a shot at winning the competition.  However, there’s no denying that this is the last we will hear of Janet; she surely will be selling records and albums in the future.

     So, it’s now down to the final four – Amelia Lily, Little Mix, Marcus Collins and Misha B will battle it out in next week’s semi-final.  The prize, for three of them is a place in the showpiece finale live in front of 10,000 people at Wembley Arena.  It doesn’t matter whether this series is trailing in the ratings, this has surely got to be the closest semi-final field yet, anyone can well and truly miss out on the final.

The X-Factor 2011 - The week five curse strikes again!

By Jason Wright (Entertainment Expert)

THIS WEEKEND was the week that is always designed to strike fear into the minds of both contestants and viewers – the dreaded Week Five!  A frontrunner always seems to depart on this particular week.     The competitive Maria Lawson in 2005, the consistent Laura White in 2008, the sexy Lucie Jones in 2009 and the formidable Treyc Cohen last year have all been victims of week five in the past and have had their dreams of being popstars destroyed as a result.  Once again, the jinx would strike again in a shock double elimination.  After its successful trial in last year’s semi-final, the ‘Club Classics’ theme was given a proper chance to shine and as Dermot O’Leary put it, this was the only week guaranteed to be a ‘ballad-free zone.’

OVER 25’s

JOHNNY Robinson was the first on stage and after his successful outing the previous week, he returned back to his entertaining roots with Madonna’s ‘Hung Up.’  Safe to say, the judges weren’t entirely impressed.  Gary Barlow, who finally was won over by him last week, returned to his criticism of him, comparing it “the opening of a bad pantomime in Scarborough”.  Ouch!  Both acts in this category had a troublesome night as Kitty Brucknell failed to impress too.  Her version of ‘Like a Prayer,’ another Madonna classic was out of her usual character on a theme that may have suited her liking.  However, the feedback she got was a little harsh with Barlow saying that she couldn’t dance.  In fairness, Kitty tried but it was lacking the extra vigour that has made her a talking point in the show.

GIRLS

BACKFIRED: Janet's style change led to mixed results

AFTER Kelly Rowland’s absence last week, she was back and ready to get her two remaining acts back on track.  There was no escape for Janet Devlin, who after four weeks of impressive but not stand-out performances, struggled with choosing her own song.  She fluffed the words during her rendition of Jackson 5’s ‘I want you back.’  She did recover, but the judges gave mixed comments, with Tulisa suggesting to go back to her previous style of music.  Following last week’s bottom two shocker, Misha B bounced back with Beyoncé’s ‘Proud Mary.’   It is well noted that when an act ends up in the bottom two on one week, they can’t win but don’t rule her out yet, especially in a competition that is becoming more open by the week.

BOYS

FRONTRUNNER: Marcus looks like the one to beat

STILL with the full line-up in tow from the first week eliminator, Craig Colton kicked off the category’s running with Bryan Adams ‘Heaven.’  A club classic song was probably going to expose Craig’s weakness, but despite looking out of his comfort zone, he performed very well.  Ultimately, he proved again that he can cut the mustard at this level.  Marcus Collins has so far been a challenger if not a serious contender.  However, everyone was up on their feet with his take of the true fifties classic ‘Reet Petite.’  Gary was in lots praise for his act, labelling it as “the performance of the season.”  Perhaps, it was a little bit boastful but can that be blamed?  With every high comes a low and yet again, Frankie Cocozza was on the end of that yardstick with ‘I Gotta Feeling’ by Black Eyed Peas.  It looked as if he had downed full bottles of Smirnoff and Jack Daniels and was fashioned by an unemployed Next salesman!  The result, quite possibly the worst performance ever in a live show; Jedward or Wagner could have done that song justice.

GROUPS

FLYING high after their praise last week, The Risk looked to impress again with Shalimar’s ‘A Night to Remember.’  Not as strong as in previous weeks for the group but it again showed their true potential.  Every year, the experts have attempted to write off the category’s chances each year but on this occasion, they shouldn’t just yet.  Girl group Little Mix have become serious challengers as their version of Rihanna’s ‘Please Don’t Stop The Music’ went down with a storm with the judges. It’s taken eight long years but The X-Factor finally seems to have found its first girl group that can make a successful career from the show.

The Result

FAREWELL: Tulisa had to say a shock goodbye to The Risk

IT’S been clear for weeks now that a certain Mr S Cowell has been extremely unhappy about the quality of contestants this year.  He decided to shake things up and the double elimination did cause a surprise, especially in the public vote.  Little Mix, Marcus, Misha B and Craig all deservedly won their place back next week whilst Janet could count herself lucky to be saved by her many supporters.  Also, despite his tripe the previous night, Frankie was somehow voted to stay in.

     That left Johnny, Kitty and The Risk in the bottom three.  It was anticipated by everyone that one of Louis acts would go first…but no! The Risk was eliminated after finishing bottom of the public vote.  Viewers and the audience were left stunned whilst the boys themselves and their mentor Tulisa looked gobsmacked.  The curse of Week Five has well and truly struck again!

     So it was a showdown between the two remaining acts Louis had.  For the second time in three weeks, he had to make a difficult decision.  Johnny gave a dignified and polished performance but when Kitty can deliver under the huge pressure, it made the final decision far easier.  Kitty was unanimously saved by the judges and expectantly, cued more booing and jeering from the audience.  Sad as it was to see Johnny go, the fact is that Kitty would provide a better chance for Louis in the competition – though that chance is already at slim to nil!

     The double elimination drama did manage to put X-Factor back in lead in the ratings war with Strictly, mainly helped that there was no head-to-head clash this weekend, though there’s certainly still a long road to recovery ahead.  One thing is for certain, the competition has never been this open before as anyone from at least five acts could win!  The second half of this year’s live finals is set to be a thriller … providing any new controversy doesn’t get in the way of course.

The X-Factor 2011 - More issues to be dealt with

By Jason Wright (Entertainment Expert)

THE last two weeks has seen The X-Factor do what it has done best.  Controversy, dramatics and confusion off the stage have yet again overshadowed the great talent that is being shown on the screen.  Here is how the drama unfolded over the past fortnight.

Week 3 – ROCK SONGS

Liverpool hairdresser Marcus Collins kicked off with an explosive rendition of ‘Are You Gonna Go My Way?’ with his mentor Gary Barlow labelling it as how to open up a show.  Next, favourite Janet Devlin sung ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’ but played it a little safe by not putting any upbeat twist on it.  Sami Brookes was compared to a cruise singer in week two and Louis Walsh did no favours by picking another “dated” song with ‘If I Could Turn Back Time’ whilst the girl band formerly known as Rhythmix (see Week 4 section for new name and explanation) once again impressed with ‘Tik Tok.’  Although she is a strong singer, Sophie Habibis is struggling to connect with the public.  Her ballad version of ‘Livin’ on a Prayer’ was so dreary; it could have made people fall asleep.

     Craig Colton was given the chance to sing ‘Stop Crying Your Heart Out,’ which was another solid outing.  Kitty Brucknell wasn’t as mental as last week but still showed off her unique style in her version of ‘Live and Let Die.’  After last week’s bottom two shocker, Frankie Cocozza was lacking in confidence and his performance ‘Get Your Rocks Off’ showed it in every department.  The Risk overcame a bad song choice from Tulisa to get the job done again with ‘Crazy.’  Johnny Robinson finally started to win over Gary Barlow with ‘I Believe in a Thing Called Love’, and Barlow’s jibe at asking whether he got the suit from Argos was a right laugh.

TOUGH: Misha B has had to deal with some rough criticism

     The night ended on a bitter low when after Misha B smashed ‘Purple Rain,’ Louis Walsh and Tulisa unfairly attacked her for acting like “a bully” to the other contestants.  It left both Misha and her mentor Kelly Rowland hurt by the comments and gave the tabloids a field day.  More drama was to come on Sunday night when Frankie swore to nearly ten million viewers, after learning he got through on the public vote.  ITV were forced to make an embarrassing apology two days later after stupidly forgetting to bleep out the dirty language.

     The final showdown was a direct battle between two of Louis acts.  For the judges, they opted to keep Kitty in the competition against Sami, based on the former having the better vocals.  Only Tulisa decided to save Sami with Walsh deciding to go against sending it to deadlock, making a frank and honest decision instead.

Week 4 – HALLOWEEN

THE mess from the previous week was still being cleared up come the show’s Halloween themed night.  Kelly Rowland was struck down by a virus infection whilst on a business visit to LA, so in this weekend to judge was 2008 X-Factor winner Alexandra Burke.

RESPECT: Johnny has a new fan, in Gary Barlow!

     Meanwhile, The Risk had a big problem when band member Ashley quit the group last Thursday, citing personal reasons.  The remaining members invited Ashford from axed boyband Nu Vibe to join them.  Their performance of ‘Thriller’ justified their decision and in fact, made them sound a better group than before.  Meanwhile Johnny Robinson finally got the chance to show off his full vocals with the ballad ‘That Ole Devil Called Love.’  Gary Barlow was so pleased that he went onto stage afterwards for hug and a kiss.  Who said romance was dead!

     Barlow’s mood soon changed when Sophie Habibis paced her way through ‘Bang Bang.’  She was described as “dull as dishwater” and quite rightfully too.  Marcus Collins was one act who got into the spirit of Halloween with his appearance during ‘Superstition,’ once again receiving rave comments.  The two remaining girls in participation, Misha B and Janet Devlin, also made more lasting impressions with their performances of ‘Tainted Love’ and ‘Every Breath You Take’ respectively.

     Fast seeing his chances disappear has been Frankie Cocozza but his take of ‘Should I Stay or Should I Go?’ was a million times better than his previous two performances put together.  Frankie’s song is perhaps one best suited to Kitty Brucknell.  The public is split over her but it still didn’t affect her ability to sell her performance of ‘Sweet Dreams.’  Accusations of ‘auto-tuning’ were strenuously denied but it was confessed that a voice enhancing method was used at the start of that number.

     Rhythmix are no more, long live Little Mix.  Maybe they should have put a lot more imagination into their new name but regardless, they gave the best performance of the night with ‘E.T.’  Craig Colton closed the show with his best outing since the opening week.  ‘Set Fire to the Rain’ was given complete justice throughout.

WHITEWASH: Misha B was too strong for Sophie on Sunday

     As luck would have it, the week which Kelly was absent was the week she lost an act.  Both Sophie and Misha B, possibly due to the bully allegations of the previous week, were in the final showdown.  It was no contest; Misha was by far the better performer and took a clean sweep from judges.  In a bizarre twist, instead of having guest judge Alexandra Burke speak on behalf of Rowland or just skipping her right to vote, the show contacted Rowland to vote from the other side of the Atlantic.  To say the least, this was a curious decision.

     In closing, the last two weeks have brought more negative headlines.  Viewers continue to switch off in their droves, with Strictly Come Dancing continuing its domination of the Saturday night ratings.

     The X-Factor is still contracted for further two years after this year but if it gets even worse, I think that it will have to be killed off.  ITV will perhaps now be rueing a missed opportunity in bidding for The Voice.

     It may still be entertaining to watch at times but it looks as if the shovels are at work in the TV graveyard…

The X-Factor 2011 - An explosive start to the live shows

By Jason Wright (Entertainment Expert)

FROM the thousands and thousands acts that had aimed to become ‘The Next Big Thing,’ just 16 acts now remained in the running, ready and raring to kick off this year’s X-Factor live finals.

     With new judges, new attitude and a new opening title sequence (long overdue but I’m not too keen on the remixed theme), everything was in place for the perfect beginning.  However week one would be dominated by a ‘Big Twist’ and this time, it would be the first ever quadruple elimination, but not decided by the public.  Instead the judges would have complete control over the future of their acts.

     First, in their one and only effort to convince their mentoring judge, all 16 acts performed a song either by a popular British or American artist. Here’s how they fared…

GIRLS

Opening the live finals is a very daunting prospect as people expect the standard to be set high early on.  This year it fell to youngster Amelia Lily from Middlesbrough.  As part of the questionable makeovers given to the contestants in this run, her familiar blonde locks were switched to a shocking pink, but that didn’t stop her giving an confident rendition of the Michael Jackson classic ‘Billie Jean.’  Despite a few dodgy notes in the chorus, it was a good start, considering this is a very challenging song to perform.  Next up was Sophie Habibis with a piano version of Katy Perry’s ‘Teenage Dream.’  Slow-paced it may have been, but surprisingly, it came off very well as it showed the entire vocal range she has.

BREATHTAKING: Janet made herself the early frontrunner

     Then it was the turn of Misha B (she’s confusingly dropped her surname for the finals) with another surprise package of the evening.  Her version of Adele’s ‘Rolling In The Deep’ was spot on and became more special with an added rap element, perhaps showing off what could be her specialist genre.  Finally, the favourite for the entire competition, Janet Devlin sang Coldplay’s ‘Fix You.’  Unlike the other girls, there were no gimmicks, no dead giveaways, just her singing beautifully. More focus will now surely be placed on her in the coming weeks.

OVER 25s

THANKS to Nicole Scherzinger’s clever thinking, the Over category was raised last year, but with Nicole parked on the US show, it was dropped back 25 for this series.  First in line was Johnny Robinson, with a performance of Cher’s ‘Believe’ that definitely would make anyone cringe.  You may remember on the first week last year, I compared Wagner to Gordon Brown on helium.  On this occasion, Johnny sounds like Nick Clegg on helium!  Following on from him was Jonjo Kerr.  He seemed very nervous and his version of ‘You Really Got Me Going’ by The Kinks exposed it in every department.  He looked pained throughout and sounded more like a failed pub singer.

DIVIDED: Kitty will be either loved or hated by members of the public

    In all honesty, Sami Brookes should be back at her day job, but the exit of Goldie had granted her a lifeline.  She didn’t disappoint either, with her version of Yomada’s ‘You’re Free’ and Gary Barlow vowed to resign if Louis Walsh didn’t save her afterwards.  Lastly, Kitty Brucknell, the true pantomime villain of the line-up came out with Queen’s ‘Who Wants to Live Forever?’  There is no question that she can sing but whether she can last well into the competition is very questionable.

GROUPS

TULISA was put in charge of creating a groups winner for the eighth time in asking.  For this, she (along with her fellow judges) had formed three groups from failed soloists.  First of these “manufactured” groups was Rhythmix.  Dogged by criticism all week, they proved everyone wrong in their performance of Nicki Minaj’s ‘Super Bass’ and were labelled as the best girl group in the show’s history.  The only group to have come in from the auditions proper were Essex duo 2 Shoes, and they certainly brought some glamour into the show by their take of Girls Aloud’s hit ‘Something Kinda Ooooh.’  Gary however wasn’t impressed, comparing it to a “karaoke night in Romford,” certainly the comment of the night.

     The two created boyband groups came next.  First up was Nu Vibe and they were the disappointment of the night.  Their version of Chris Brown’s ‘Beautiful People’ lacked passion and forced judges Tulisa and Kelly Rowland to clash over the arrangement of the performance.  That however was then completely forgotten by the appearance of the new look version of The Risk.  A spot on version of Plan B’s ‘She Said’ was in tune and executed brilliantly.  As far as I’m concerned, they are the leading group in this category.

BOYS

MUCH anticipation was placed on this category as it’s won the show three times in the last four years.  First in was heartthrob Frankie Cocozza.  Though his performance of ‘The A Team’ by Ed Sheeran wasn’t the best by his standards, it at least proved he had strong talent and not just the looks.  That couldn’t be said about James Michael.  The Beatles’ ‘Ticket To Ride’ was completely murdered by his weak vocals and in summary, it wanted to make you fall asleep!

NAILED: Craig proved he is Gary's secret weapon

     The favourite in this category, Marcus Collins, certainly didn’t disappoint with Maroon 5’s ‘Moves like Jagger.’  He must have felt the luckiest guy around, having several women parading but it didn’t distract him one bit.  The final boy, Craig Colton, was labelled by Barlow as his ‘secret weapon.’  Christina Perri’s ‘Jar of Hearts’ is a difficult song to conquer, but Craig nailed it and wiped away pre-show criticism that he wasn’t up to the challenge.

     All in all, it was a night of surprises and expectant performances.  The judges had 24 hours to decide which of their acts they had to axe in the twist.  All the acts could do now was sleep and wait.

The Result

THE public must have felt completely powerless on Sunday as they had to wait with baited breath to see whether the judges would save their favourites.  It wasn’t going to be easy at all.

     Louis was the first judge to choose on Sunday.  He expectantly saved Sami and then, despite the criticism from the people, put Kitty through.  His decision to save Johnny seemed to really shock his act, but it was the right decision.  Jonjo screwed up his performance the previous evening and deserved his exit.

     Next was the Boys and again no shocks were in order with Gary opting to keep Marcus, Craig and Frankie and send home James.  His exit again wasn’t unexpected as he had underperformed massively in his song.  Then it was the turn of the Groups and Rhythmix, The Risk and Nu Vibe were saved to sing another week.  2 Shoes were sent packing, in some ways, a bit surprising considering Tulisa’s strong affection for them.  Indeed, she struggled to compose herself together to eliminate them.

CONSOLED: Amelia struggles to deal with Kelly's decision to axe her

     The hardest decision though had to come to Kelly and her Girls.  One of them had to go despite all four delivering great performances.  Firstly, both Janet and Misha B were deservedly put through, leaving Amelia and Sophie in the running for the final place.  It was made clear already that Kelly had adored Sophie from the beginning but the feeling was Amelia would be given the nod.  Ultimately, Kelly went for Sophie, axing one of the favourites from the competition.  She burst into tears, with the audience looking on.  Whatever you thought of her, you just had to feel terribly sorry for the Teeside lass.

    The X-Factor always has a secret sub-motto, expect the unexpected!  I don’t think anyone expected one of the pre-contest favourites to fall at the first hurdle.  I felt Amelia deserved to stay in the competition, but there are those who also thought Kelly got the decision spot on.  However, Amelia was the victim of a stupid twist from the producers.  Even Dermot O’Leary has had his say on the twist.  I didn’t like it, I don’t think many did and with one million viewers not bothering with Sunday night’s viewers show, it looked like some of the audience voted with their TV sets.  I hope this attempted format of mixing up the show is put into the ditch and doesn’t return.  No act has gone out on week one and has gone onto enjoy a successful career, so unfortunately, I don’t think Amelia will make the grade, which is a real shame.

     Kelly will have to deal with criticism from the Amelia obsessed fans, but it is the producers of the show who should probably accept that this was a bad move, rather than calling for the head of a new judge.  The public vote begins this weekend; wonder if our heads will be turned by the daft performances or the special singers.  However, X-Factor 2011 promises what is says on the tin; plenty of drama and controversy ahead.