Live Shows: Week One – The Claws Are Out!
This weekend saw the start of everyone’s favourite part of The X Factor – the live shows! In previous shows, the judges have said that they feel this will be the best year yet and, if the events of the weekend were anything to go by, they weren’t far wrong.
Rachel Adedeji had the daunting task of opening the show. She sang ‘Let Me Entertain You’, which was originally sang by this week’s special guest and mentor – Robbie Williams. Simon said he thought that Rachel gave “a great performance”, which was confident and had good vocals. However, he then morphed into Trinny and Susannah for a second and started criticising Rachel’s make-up! Maybe he could branch out into fashion? I can see it now – Cowell’s Clothes!
Kandy Rain were up next with their take on Tina Turner’s version of ‘Addicted To Love’. Those contraversial black outfits that the girls performed in caused quite a stir. Cheryl said later that her comments about the ladies’ attire were only meant as constructive critism, but I can see where she was coming from. Simon was left to play the nice guy for once, saying that he thought their performance was fun and he wished them the best of luck.
Next to perform was (the rather lovely) Olly Murs, who sang another of Robbie’s classics – ‘She’s The One’. The Cockney Sparrow seemed a bit shakey at the start, but then he seemed to get into it and by the end, he had the performance in the bag. Louis said: “You made the song your own, and I think you’re a talent”. Here, here, Mr Walsh!
Rikki Loney sang ‘Back To Black’ next. Having failed to impress the judges in previous years of The X Factor, Rikki’s confidence had obviously been knocked, and this didn’t go unnoticed by the judges. Dannii said she felt that his confidence was at level one, but he could go to ten.
Everyone’s favourite Essex girl, Stacey Solomon followed and belted out her version of Coldplay’s ‘The Scientist’. I’m a big Coldplay fan, and thought this was a risky song choice for the first week, but the gamble seemed to pay off. Simon said: “What I love about you, Stacey, is that you have no idea how good you potentially could be”. I think I’m going to be bold here and say that I’ll be suprised if Stacey doesn’t end up in the final stages.
Then it was the turn of judge-made band, Miss Frank, who sang ‘Who’s Loving You’ by The Jackson Five. I really like these girls too and hope they’ll go far. It seems Mrs Cole has a simillar view as she said: “I’ve got no qualms in saying you’re my favourite group”.
Jamie Archer was next singing ‘Get It On’. He certainly put his own twist on the anthem, but Louis hoped that Jamie would show more versatility in the coming weeks.
Lloyd Daniels was next to perform and he came to the stage with Justin Timberlake’s ‘Cry Me A River’. Not one of my favourite performances, but who am I to judge? Simon thought he came across as “an authentic popstar”. See, that’s why he’s a judge and I’m not!
Then it was the turn of my dad’s favourite, Lucie Jones. The Welsh Songbird sang ‘Footprints In The Sand’, a Leona Lewis track. Louis declared: “I love Lucie! We’ve found another great female singer from Wales. You’re a natural born performer”.
John and Edward were next, with another of Mr Williams’ hits, ‘Rock DJ’. These guys are like Marmite – you either love them, or hate them! We knew what side of the fence Cheryl was on when she said: “You can’t sing – Fact!”
Then (thankfully), we were brought back to reality with Joe McElderry who sang ‘No Regrets’. Simon thought the performance was “absolutely brilliant” and I for one have to agree.
Danyl Johnson closed the show with a contraversial song choice – Jennifer Hudson’s ‘And I Am Telling You’. Dannii said: “If we’re to believe everything we read in the paper, maybe you didn’t need to change the gender referencing”. She later apologised for these comments, saying no offence was meant by them and that Danyl knew they were meant in jest.
The Results
After amazing performances from Alexandra Burke…
…and the return of Robbie Williams…
…the results were in. Rachel and Kandy Rain were in the bottom two and the vote ended up going to deadlock. Kandy Rain had the lowest amount of public votes, meaning that they were sent home.
Wow – what a first week! Hopefully next week will be even better. Comments and views on this weeks show would be much appreciated.
Ciao for now!
