Semi-final songs have been revealed. Do continue to discuss below.
Andrea Faustini
O Holy Night by Mariah Carey
Wrecking Ball by Miley Cyrus
Lauren Platt
Stay Another Day by East 17/Girls Aloud
Story Of My Life by One Direction
Ben Haenow
Please Come Home For Christmas by The Eagles
Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen
Fleur East
All I Want For Christmas by Mariah Carey
Uptown Funk by Bruno Mars & Mark Ronson
Very tough Mariah song for Fleur. Hm.
I think Ben might be Plan A now considering the songs?
Very strong songs for Andrea too, they could do a very messy performance for Wrecking Ball though so who knows.
Lauren’s songs are ok, fit her.
I suspect now Lauren could leave.
Two songs for Lauren both with a fairly easy “goodbye” theme.
Wrecking Ball. Brilliant! And look… http://www.itv.com/xfactor/finalists/final-four-song-choice-week-nine – what colour is that on Andrea’s dickie bow?
Lauren with a 1D song. Could go either way.
For people who like the ‘red’ (or red/black) theory:
http://www.openculture.com/2014/11/stanley-kubricks-obsession-with-the-color-red-a-supercut.html
Lauren has the weakest set. The East 17 song is an Xmas song, but I would say the others are much more Xmas classic than that, and I bet that is mentioned.
Story Of My life, was this the song that the public did not choose for her? Unless she has a brilliant rendition of it up her sleeve, why choose a song the public decided they did not want her to sing just last week?
I can see this as a week to ensure Lauren does not bounce beyond the first 2. However the song choice does not always tell the full story.
Andrea could delight his demo, but we will see how it goes, especially wrecking ball could be a danger sign for him. Ben and Fleur for me have positive choices.
Is it confirmed that one of the rounds will be acoustic? I guess the other one is christmas-themed, although Lauren’s song doesn’t really follow that.
Also, do we know which theme will go first?
Thanks!
I have never heard Uptown Funk before, had to Youtube it. It’s not a very well known song?
I think if there is a bottom 2 this week it’ll be Fleur and Lauren
This will be used to demonstrate how current she is. Shes going nowhere as the next elimination odds predict
Yeh it’s current but not well known at all. She/they could have chose a more known current song…………………………
It’s not even out til January!
i think Fleur may no longer be doing Uptown Funk…
just been on UK iTunes… as many of you will know the songs are available for pre-order (you cant preview/listen till about 7pm)…
interestingly for 7 of the 8 songs it shows (as it normally does) the cover picture, title of song and artist name… i.e. pic of Lauren looking girly in pink, with her name in large font for ‘Story of my life’… same deal for her other song, both Ben’s, both Andrea’s and Fleur’s ‘All I want for Christmas’…
however no sign of ‘uptown funk’… instead, we get a pic of the XF logo, Fleur’s name and rather than the song title we get ‘Saturday 6th December – Second Performance’…
does that mean the song has been changed last minute?!
Andrea doing yet another Mariah song? Surely that will lead to some “predictable” claims from Simon. Wrecking Ball could do very well for Andrea though. I think the producers might **** it up this week judging by the song choices.
Ben’s definitely got a great set of songs but at this stage the producers can’t really “nobble” him by giving him ridiculous song choices. If my memory serves me correctly, I don’t think Hallelujah did well for Hannah last year. Although she suffered from the direct comparison to Alexandra in both the VT and the outfit.
A pretty dull song choice for Lauren. Stay Another Day is dull in general so I don’t know how even the most charismatic act could make the song interesting let alone one who has previously been branded boring. Story Of My Life could be the song that saves Lauren though (if she properly belts the final chorus).
Fleur’s song choices could go either way. Definitely the riskiest ones. I think the Mariah classic could work for her. Obviously she’s no Mariah in terms of vocals but she has the fact that it is an up-tempo – therefore suitable for a performance – on her side. Also she’s shown that her falsetto is strong so could actually pull it off. Uptown Funk is an inspired song choice.
The thing is, looking at the song choices, Fleur is the only one with up-tempos. Will this help or hinder her? Are ballads the songs that bag contestants the votes or will Fleur stand out by performing up-tempos and therefore receive votes?
Bore everyone to tears and let Fleur liven the night up on her own is the topic for tomorrow’s show
I love All I Want For Christmas Is You, and while Fleur will make sure it’s a fun performance, a lot of the song is in a high register which is where her voice really strains and struggles.
I don’t think Lauren’s choices are a good match for her. Certainly the other 3 all have songs that suit them better. Andrea’s choices are good, right up his strada. Ben has Hallelujah, enough said – he’ll bellow it but people will vote for him anyway. Wonder if Andrea will do this version of Wrecking Ball? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfMMONUFWZM
Song choice is always subjective and depends on performance and arrangement but I have to say I’ve never known an X Factor contestant do a song that isn’t released yet (apart from the famous week when Mr Cowell wanted to take down the man behind The Wanted).
So Fleur doing Uptown Funk is risky – could be inspired but still risky.
I remember Danyl sang ‘I Didn’t Know My Own Strength’ by Whitney in 2009, before its release. I recall the judges making a fairly big fuss of it, though I may be mistaken.
How did it poll?
I’ll answer my own question: he went from 1st the week before to seventh the week he did the unreleased Whitney song.
Don’t discount he was given the song as he was first the week before and they has some kind of deal to promote the Whitney song but it shows the danger of doing an unfamiliar song.
Whitney and Clive Davis were very unimpressed with Danyl performing the song before Whitney released it, according to Simon. If I recall correctly, it echoed around the press prior to his performance.
This is the pre-song VT/performance/judges comments (albeit poor quality):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HxkXzSWbMw
Nothing cries out from that VT of an attempted de-ramp (except I thought Danyl struggled with the song) bar the cockiness/arrogance angle and I guess that was left hanging by Cheryl as she didn’t make reference to it.
Sorry, slightly off topic. *blushes*
Very poorly from what I remember. I think he went from 1st in the vote in Week 1 to 9th in the vote in Week 2, just avoiding the B2.
I agree that how the songs are performed will be key, but I think Ben has been given some safe choices that should see how cruise through to the final. On the basis of that, and the fact Andrea and Fleur both have risky songs in my opinion , I have decided to hedge my long held Lauren bet and back Ben. Hopefully some trading opportunities will arise over the wkd. Its getting interesting…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eycO9FZ1pgA
Melanie Amaro.
They clearly see this as a winners song then.
Fleur 100% has the best xmas song choice. Isn’t this song the most downloaded xmas song year after year these days? And if she can pull off an up tempo Whitney song she’ll be just fine with this song.
‘All I want for Christmas’ was given to three X Factor US finalists , Melanie Amaro and Alex & Sierra both won. The other, Carly Rose Sonenclar, was a runner up to a genre singer (in this case country) singing ‘Please come home for Christmas.’
Hallelujah used a couple of times in XF USA
Semi final Season 1, Josh Krajcik, Runner up.
Semi final Season 3, Jeff Gutt, Runner up.
Semi final season 11, Ben Haenow, ???????
Josh Krajcik – Rock voice – Overs category.
Jeff Gutt – Rock Voice – Overs category.
Ben Haenow – Rock voice – Overs category
Pattern emerging.
I think Carly Rose also sang Hallelujah. Not an over or a rock voice, but also a runner up.
Many viewers will surely associate ‘All I want for Christmas’ with Love Actually…. nice and feelgood.
If Ben does the Jon Bon Jovi version of ‘Please come home for Christmas’ that will be just right for him,
Uptown Funk is pretty new here in the US, but it’s already been covered by one Voice contestant (male) about a week and a half ago.
http://youtu.be/DmLifjOfAc8
The song is beyond uptempo. If it doesn’t get you moving, you’re probably dead!
Ben Haenow sneak peek:
http://goo.gl/EUqOio
It’s being reported that Little Mix are backing Fleur. Did Simon tell them to say this or is it their own opinion?
Backing her where?
Ladbrokes?
Type in “Little Mix Fleur” into google and it’ll show you. I can’t remember the site.
I’ve seen something but its pretty low key backing. Shame there not due on the show this weekend. Maybe there booked in for the final
Looks like Little Mix met Fleur during her rehearsals. This will probably be in her VT.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2862782/Practice-makes-perfect-Fleur-East-Ben-Haenow-rock-stage-rehersals-ahead-X-Factor-semi-finals-Saturday-night.html
All I Want For Christmas Is You is an exceptionally popular Christmas song, but will Fleur pull it off?
Ben looks set for more deramping I think.
It’s between Lauren and Andrea for the elimination, and looking at those choices, either is plausible. I do think Lauren’s bounce plus a nice demo delighting One Direction song should see her to the final though.
Very difficult to call from the song choices – I don’t think the intentions are clear at all – indeed there seems to be some mixed messages.
I really expected the bus to be aimed at Andrea this week. Yet the song choices strangely replicate last week’s, where I suspect Andrea did very well. A boring and predictable Mariah Carey song which Andrea will chew up with his over singing much as he did with ‘Hero’ – it’s what you would expect if they wanted to bore people with Andrea. However I did think that they let the genie out of the bottle with Chandelier, giving Andrea a contemporary song, which he sang very well and without going OTT. This week we get ‘Wrecking Ball’, another big hit, another contemporary song, and it even shares a very similar song structure and style to Chandelier. What’s going on?
Fleur’s song choices have the potential to go either way. The Mariah Carey song is up tempo so should allow a performance, but I’m not sure how well she’ll sing it (as others have said a lot of the song is in the range where Fleur’s voice is weaker). It’s ‘Uptown Funk’ that I think might cause problems. I suspect that like me, the majority of the audience will not have a clue what this is. The style of the song may well delight the core vote, but at this stage in the competition it’s as much about picking up transfer votes and odd votes based on songs on the night (from voters who share their votes around). I’m really not sure if this is a good choice in that respect.
Lauren and Ben both seem to have fairly safe choices. I would question if that’s going to be enough for Lauren after last weeks B2. Is the 1D song aimed at picking up transfer votes from SK?
It looks like another night where VT’s, staging, performances and comments are going to be key.
Ben choices seem fine but the BIG but is do they leave him open for bad comments, The Eagles track is bit middle of the road and the panel could easily rebel against Hallelujah, gives them the option to love or hate it.
Lauren choices seem okay, One Direction song should suit the demo (if they watching) Stay Another Day is a mainstream radio popular Christmas song.
Early release song for Fleur but it is a dam good track, this type of track has not worked before though. All I Want For Christmas could easily be pimp slot again for Fleur with big production. That wouldn’t surprise.
Andrea choice does not look inspiring but he will mange and do O Holy Night well, what comments he gets another days work. Wrecking Ball gives them a chance to wreck him though. What an odd choice, are they going to put him on a swinging Christmas pudding or something daft? It has de-ramp production opportunity written all over it if they want to or is it to get him younger voters??
So if I was to pick weakest song choices would say Andrea and he is coming down from bounce.
Hard to know what they will do with Ben. Fleur will need serious pimping again, Lauren will be down to performance etc. and are they out to really wreck Andrea. Wait for show weekend but it does look like they could be going for Andrea.
Swinging donut. Obviously, lol 🙂
I’m going to call a Lauren vs Fleur bottom two – if there is one at all.
I think the possible reason for Andrea’s decent song choices and last week’s pimping is because Ben may have not only topped the vote but was pulling away from the pack.The producers may not need to worry about an Andrea win. However, I think Andrea could have done far better than most people expect in the vote last week. Not only would his fans have been satisfied with both his performances, singing Chandelier could have easily gained him a lot of extra votes. He also has the advantage of his fans knowing he’s not entirely safe – the same with Lauren.
If there is a bottom two, I just can’t see Ben falling into it (especially with those song choices) and I do think, as David Cook has put it, the producers have let the genie out the bottle with Andrea. His songs – while tediously predictable – should see him safe.
I guess we’ll have to see on the night how it goes but a Lauren vs Fleur bottom two is my prediction at the moment. But who knows? Fleur could really pull a truly fantastic performance out of the bag and Lauren could have a belated moment with Story Of My Life.
I think the 1D song for Lauren could be damaging? She has been linked with Niall from 1D and has received a lot of abuse from jealous fans on twitter because of it
I think giving fleur uptown funk will guarantee fleur a high iTunes position could be number one as the original isn’t released till January so people will buy it.
Ben has got perfect song choices and will no doubt top the votes this week with Andrea in second Lauren third close to fleur at 4th and will save fleur
There is 0% chance of Fleur being #1 on iTunes next week.
0% is impossible
My sentiments exactly. Her voice isn’t strong enough. If she makes the top 50 I’d be shocked
Have you heard some of the tribute versions of these songs that are on iTunes the vocal is awful but still people buy them because the original isn’t out yet.
As much as I disagree that it will do well on iTunes, I think the last point made is a valid one. Fleur hasn’t done amazingly well on iTunes so far – could the best way to test whether people will actually part with their cash for a fleur track to get her doing something that isn’t available on iTunes in it’s original form yet? Could be an experiment.
Currently number 1 on itunes
Just a thought: do producers really need to do much from here on? They’ve got rid of the performers who they perceive to be troublemakers and the ones who could not be relied on to provide a decent vocal in the final. Whichever way it goes, the last four can all sing and you’ve got two solid performers and two dull but good singers.
From here Andrea and Lauren could probably do perfectly competent Mother’s Day CDs, Ben could do some average MOR and they could try to push Fleur as a British Rihanna if they felt like it.
To get the maximum from who remains I suppose Ben would need the push of a winners’ single most as there isn’t really a clear Radio 1 demographic for him, and credibility isn’t a factor in his soft-rock style. If Fleur was to be a British Rihanna you’d have to take her away from the “more tea vicar” image needed to win the show, so not winning, going away and falling out of nightclubs may be the way forward. The other two are Sam Bailey/Nicholas McDonald stuff. Hard to see Lauren being ready to do mainstream pop after the dance debacle and Andrea is not a mainstream pop artist in a million years. He could have been a feel-good winner but we had one of those last year.
Basically, I’m trying to talk it out to make it clearer in my head what’s going on but I’m not certain. The impression I get is they would prefer Andrea to go but a full-on nuking may not be worth it. If they really want rid of him they know what to do and it should be quickly obvious.
Firstly, massive wtf at “Uptown Funk” for Fleur?!?! If that were given to anybody else it would be considered a massive red flag. Pro – it’s fun and uptempo in a sea of miserable ballads for the other acts. She will perform it well in terms of dancing and staging. It will probably suit her voice.
Con – it’s not even out yet. It’s not even made it onto the Radio One playlist yet it’s that new. 90% of the audience won’t know what it is. Songs this recent don’t tend to go down well with viewers unless they’ve been massive hits. The song is very very fast – there’s no real message, it’s hard to keep up with as well as being unfamilar. Very risky for this stage in the competition, particularly after last week wasn’t as clear cut for Fleur.
Otherwise, the Mariah song is the most popular festive song of recent years so she could pull it back.
And christ, what a boring show otherwise. Fobbing Lauren back off with “Story Of My Life” will delight what I am assuming is her demo, and “Stay Another Day” is a nice enough song. I don’t see this as a deramp for her to be honest, but very safe choices and could easily be fashioned into a goodbye-style package.
Andrea’s festive song is boring as hell – surely it’s nobody’s favourite?! “Wrecking Ball” is a great pop song though and very similar to “Chandelier” from last week. Could go either way.
Ben is just another yawn-fest. “Hallelujah” is a nice song but I always am wary of acts performing a previous winners single. “Please Come Home” isn’t the most popular of Christmas songs, either.
An open field IMO – obviously song choice isn’t everything but I think Lauren’s play to her strengths in terms of demographic.
Interesting how they are listing Stay Another Day as the Girls Aloud version. I had no idea there *was* a Girls Aloud version. Youtubed it and it’s a horrible emotionless and ploddy cover – so it should suit her down to the ground.
Just re-watched Andrea’s performance of Chandelier and he IMO he did a really good job. I have no doubt he will pull of Wrecking ball very well, unless of course they have him swinging across the stage on a giant ball!! Interested to see the production for this one
I have no clue how this is going tonight and tomorrow, but just one question: If the themes are staying as they are, then surely ‘uptown funk’ is Fleur’s acoustic song ??? How is that supposed to work ?
I may be wrong but I think they changed a theme to Christmas songs and the other was a free choice?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2863295/X-Factor-s-Fleur-East-guaranteed-win-competition-contestants-accuse-judges-favouritism.html
Merry Christmas Stoney.
Not sure how to read into this one…
Odd to see article like that in Daily Mail online, not really Fleur target market. I am not sure about all this high end styling for Fleur either. Article is typical click bait for Mail Online on social media, search etc. They will have to be going some to be better SEO that Sofabet. Daniel and Andrew have serious good SEO on this site 🙂 I searched something vague last night re Andrew wrecking ball rehearsal and there was Sofabet at the top!
Not mentioned much on here but Fleur is managed by good mate of Simon but then they all have connections one way or another nowadays. They do have an interesting varied talented final four this year from Sony A&R roster point of view. I still think Lauren has the most potential and Fleur ticks allot of boxes visually but unfortunately not Beyoncé in the vocal department. Without all the pimping or if she had got Lauren slots would she be still here? Not drawing the votes in big volume yet.
I would say ben will be doing this version and will be his moment
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxardTOk-M8
No direct quotes in there but they must be very native if they don’t know the way the show works. They have all had various amounts of producer help to get them to this stage in the competition.