X Factor - Live Show, Week 3

Movie week hit the X Factor stage over the weekend with some major movie classics and a few lesser known gems. Dermot’s bulge was under wraps, Nicole was in dictionary corner, Sharon was almost making sense, Louis was ready to tell everyone they’re what the X Factor is all about and Gary, was, well, Gary.

Rough Copy

‘Everything I Do’

We have no shame in admitting this song is one of our guilty pleasures so we had high expectation for Rough Copy to work their magic. The odd pitching issue aside it was a fairly decent way to kick off the show. Skirt? Check. Shorts/tights type combo? Check. Heaps of charm? Check. Everything you’d expect from a Rough Copy performance, except something was missing, we just can’t work out what! Perhaps its time to bring back the cheeky, fun performances.

Sam Callahan

‘All I Want Is You’

After proving last week he’s not just a pretty face it would have been easy for Sam to choose a well known track, from a teenage rom com, with extra cheese to firmly bag himself the girls votes. However, he didn’t. He chose a song that again showed everyone his vocal ability, his performance was sincere, believable and full of genuine emotion. Another great week for Mr Callahan, we can’t wait to see him improve even more next weekend.

Hannah Barrett

‘Skyfall’

Last week Hannah stole the show, and this week she sure put up a fight to keep that crown (almost, but not quite) singing Skyfall comes with obvious comparisons and plenty of pressure but she certainly rose to the occasion. This week the styling was spot on, she looked beautiful and performed effortlessly. The judges were blown away along with the audience which makes what happened Sunday all the more shocking…

Nicholas McDonald

‘In The Arms Of An Angel’

The moment we saw Nicky was going to perform this song we just knew it was going to be a ‘moment’. His voice was perfect and he sang with real emotion, faultless. Half way through we uttered the sentence “he’d sound exactly the same live as he would on a CD” which is out version of “he’s got the perfect recording voice”. Impressing the judges again, who reminded us another 15 times he’s only 16, 16? Really? They should definitely play on that more, another corker of a week for 16 year old Nicholas.

Abi Alton

‘Moon River’

Another week where Abi didn’t really feel like Abi, these live shows seem to have sucked the spark right out of her. The song choice was incredibly well suited to her, just for some reason it lacked, well, anything. It was sleepy and haunting, but not in the spine tingling chilling way. We think it’d have breathed some live into the performance if Abi was playing the guitar, it would have felt more connected and intimate, drawing the audience in rather than sending them to put the kettle on as Sharon remarked. Hopefully next week Nicole can put up some missing person posters and find the Abi we had a soft spot for at bootcamp.

Miss Dynamix

‘Dreams’

After the drama of last week and the free pass we felt like Miss Dynamix had a lot to prove and the certainly went out there and gave it everything. There’s no denying the trio can sing, individually and together they have great voices but there’s just something that stops us from connecting to them on any level. They didn’t take the negative comments regarding the previous weekend too well and that definitely didn’t help them endear themselves to the voting public.

Sam Bailey

‘My Heart Will Go On’

If we were to try and describe how great this was we’d need to invent a whole bunch of new adjectives (where’s Nicole when you need her!). Titanic is one of those films we’ve seen 100’s of times its hard to imagine anyone else singing the featured song, but Sam blew us away. Her performance began, controlled and understated then as the song built naturally her emotion poured into every line we were mesmerised. The performance of the series so far.

Kingsland Rd.

‘Pretty Woman’

We’d been treated to a fair few ballads by this point so it was refreshing to have a bit of life and energy on the stage. After facing the sing off last weekend the boys had to dust themselves down and prove to everyone what a mistake that was, and they certainly didn’t let themselves down. The staging was great, the little dance routines were back and so were the lead vocals. The infamous hair was a little more tamed, loving the less in your face bushless Thompson. A great week for Kingsland Rd.

Luke Friend

‘Kiss From A Rose’

In past weeks we’ve not really ‘got’ the ‘it’ everyone said Luke had, but this week he’s managed to make us do an opinion 180. The power of shampoo! A perfect song choice for Luke, we felt genuine emotion from him this week, not a hint of shoutyness. Guitar in hand, he really shined. It felt authentic and honest, the surprise of the night for us.

Tamera Foster

‘Listen’

A movie classic by Beyonce, not exactly the easiest act to follow for newly blonde Tamera. The pressure certainly didn’t appear to get to her. Showing how powerful he voice is Tamera sang her heart out and gave her best performance in the competition so far. Gary commented it was all a little copy cat and we can kind of see where he was coming from, however if we were compared so closely to Beyonce we’d definitely switch that into a huge compliment, cheers Gaz.

Flash Vote

FLASH aaaah haaaaa…. That’s going to be stuck in our head every weekend isn’t it! No real surprise this week with Miss Dynamix receiving the fewest votes and therefore facing the sing off.

Sunday

After a fantastic performance from The Wanted who looked liked gents (who knew that was possible) is their suits and a well, whatever that was from Lady Gaga it was sing off time. As each person had their fate revealed Hannah was left to face the public vote, we’re not ashamed to say that outcome didn’t even cross our mind. Despite what can be considered Miss Dynamix best performance, of the series they were sent home by a unanimous decision from the judges. Having not been huge fans of the trio before the sing off we assumed this would be the outcome however in the sing off they showed such passion and ability it was a close call, they can be proud of the way they left that’s for sure.

Next week is Disco week… oh joy.