In the second part of our review of week 2, we look at what Louisa’s ‘Billie Jean’ suggested about how producers are handling her, and ask what they might have been trying to achieve with Anton’s treatment. When we saw him blinged up and slouched in his throne in the establishing shot, we reckoned it made him look like some kind of louche drugs kingpin from the 1980s.
On Sunday, the usually-reliable Daily Star reported that Anton had comfortably topped the vote in week 1. Did Anton’s moment in the throne, like Tony Montana’s, represent his high point before being mercilessly gunned down?
Star Trust
If the Star is to be believed – and last year’s pre-final leak of the semi-final vote blotted their copybook in terms of getting the percentages right, even though they had the order correct – Louisa was second with 13% in the week 1 vote. That’s just what Ella Henderson scored in week 1, from a similar position in the running order, with a similarly full-on pimping, after having similarly been pushed more than any other act through the auditions edit. Ella never bettered it. Will Louisa?
“Last week it was vocally incredible but I was like, who is she?”, said Grimmy this week. That’s a pretty damning admission about an act that producers had had five chances – arena auditions, two bootcamp episodes, a six-chair challenge and judges’ houses – to define. The sense is that the Syco A&R people want her pushed, but the Syco TV people haven’t had much of a clue how to go about it.
This week’s VT started with vocal coach Annabel dutifully asking Louisa “what are your ideas?”, and we cut to Louisa wearing glasses.
Nicely done – this portrays her as smart, and respected by the backstage team; the dressed-down look here also accentuates the contrast with her later makeover. We see her talking to her friends Ella and Megan on an iPad, before getting glammed up for a photoshoot. This all makes sense: we see she’s a normal, grounded girl, living the dream. After last week put to bed the never-convincing nerves storyline regarding her vocals, this week transfers that storyline onto her dance moves. Good thinking, it’s wise to give her a vulnerable side.
Then there are a couple of less sure-footed moves from the VT editors. She says “this is me” about the song choice; but she’d also said that last week, about a type of song that was completely different, as Rita implicitly reminds us by saying that this week Louisa is “acting her age”. Louisa concludes the VT with “I don’t want to rehearse till my feet bleed, I want my life ahead of me to be doing this every single night”, which risks making her sound like she’s hungry for fame without wanting to put in the hard work.
The choice of Billie Jean was a curious one, and not just because it did Amelia Lily no favours in 2011 – although thankfully for Louisa, they didn’t raunch her up or dye her hair pink. One of Louisa’s main problems is telling the story of a song, as week 1 made clear – the lyrics were about putting a brave face on dependence (“if you should ever leave me – though life would go on, believe me – the world would show nothing to me”), but she just belted them out with a winning smile. They need to find lyrics that a 17 year old girl can connect to and make us believe in, so what do they give her? “The kid is not my son”.
We reckon the big picture message from week 2’s show is consistent with the Star leak – that week 1’s vote made producers doubt their ability to get Louisa to the win, hence the slamming on of brakes with Anton while giving Che and Lauren a chance to shine. What will they have concluded from week 2’s vote? We eagerly await the clues in week 3 – the week in which Ella Henderson, having dipped to 9.5% in week 2, was given her first pimp slot.
The World Is Yours, Anton
Given the truncated live show schedule due to the rugby, if you count backwards from the final then we’re effectively already in week 6 of a normal year. Producers must be starting to think about who they might ideally like in the final, and making plans accordingly.
If we were them, we’d be thinking Louisa, Che and Anton as our ideal line-up. It would offer diversity of gender, ethnicity and age, and three mentors still in the game. Plus all three are great vocalists, which is good for the brand, to the extent they still care about that.
Of those three, Anton gives the best television and has the biggest personality, and the final needs talking points to drum up media interest. Admittedly, sometimes you can go very wrong trying to second-guess producers’ longer-term intentions – but if we were them, we’d want Anton in the final, without winning it. Much like Chris Maloney in 2012, or Andrea Faustini last year.
That’s the prism through which we interpreted Anton’s treatment on Saturday: not as an attempt to get him out, but as an attempt to get his vote under control. It reminded us of the Andrea Faun-stini treatment in week 4 last year after he’d topped the vote in weeks 1-3, when they gold spray-painted the likeable Italian and stuck a pig’s tail and horns on him.
That successfully dislodged Andrea from top of the vote. Confident that they had his measure, producers were then relaxed enough to give him the pimp slot the following week. If last week’s car crash had the desired effect, perhaps Anton will likewise be allowed back in his comfort zone this week – and he has already tweeted happiness with his song choice.
That said, Anton appears to be able to see the bright side of anything. In his VT on Saturday he gamely insisted “this week has been incredible fun”, just after we’d seen him repeatedly looking terrified as he messed up his lines with vocal coach Annabel. Hideous though many aspects of his treatment were, he was at least portrayed throughout as being a good sport.
So when Annabel tells him that he’s being done up like a kipper – sorry, that he’s being given ‘All About That Bass’, the song with which he struggled so much at bootcamp – we see him laughing slightly nervously and saying “that song is going to haunt me”, rather than glaring at her, arching an eyebrow and saying “oh, am I now?”
We also can’t ever remember an act responding to overly harsh criticism from the panel with such self-deprecating good grace. As Nick slams him with “like watching a really bad musical… it was bad”, Anton doesn’t – as other acts might have – give him a look that suggests he wishes he could react like Tony Montana whipping out the big gun.
Instead, he says “I’m sorry, I’m sorry for that”, looking genuinely saddened to learn that he didn’t bring joy. As he apologises to Nick and Rita calls for his attention, he turns to her with a polite “yes, my love”. By the time Cheryl critiques him, he’s cracking jokes about himself again – as he does in the post-performance interview with Caroline, gingerly pecking her on the cheek with a quip about “no headbutt”.
From Annabel’s revelation of the song choice, through the other judges blaming Simon, to Anton’s “I have to do what I have to do” to Caroline, the whole segment leaves viewers in no doubt that Anton bears no responsibility for his treatment. Indeed, as Cowell says, it shows he has “guts” and “a sense of humour”. In short, this felt like a treatment primarily designed to tease apart Anton’s diehard fans from those who voted for him in week 1 only because they liked his performance. It wasn’t a character assassination.
Were RnB RnBed?
Sofabet traffic is up this year by roughly as much as X Factor ratings are down. It’s interesting to wonder if these are facets of the same phenomenon – that cynicism about the show is going more mainstream, and producers haven’t yet figured out how to make the show for a more cynical audience. There were some intriguing hints in the audition shows of a more knowing and meta tone this year, but that’s been lost in the lives as the manipulation has felt as shameless as ever.
As for the cynicism going more mainstream, we have, for example, the Telegraph’s Isabel Mohan writing about acts being “stitched up”; Dermot tweeting sardonically about Lauren’s “pyro curtain and fake gospel choir” (how we miss you, Dermot); TellyMix linking the Star vote leak with Anton’s terrible treatment; and Kitty Brucknell’s always-entertaining blog in The Mirror.
While Kitty’s year, 2011, was arguably the most brutal of all in terms of acts being nuked, she writes on her personal blog that she’s even more horrified with the show this year. Sofabet diehards will also remember 2011 as the year when our friend Richard Betsfactor floated the theory that a red-and-black colour scheme might be used unhelpfully, sparking heated debate in the comments. Four years on, here’s Kitty introducing Mirror readers to Richard’s red-and-black theory apropos Reggie N Bollie.
The question of whether Reggie N Bollie were red-and-blacked also came up in the Sofabet comments over the weekend, so perhaps it’s worth revisiting the debate for the benefit of newer readers. Broadly, there are three schools of thought. One, as Kitty mentions, is that red and black is always a worry. Another is that any link between red-and-black staging and elimination is coincidental. Ours is a middle view – that red and black is sometimes bad, but not always. It depends on context.
We reckon red and black staging can be negative when it evokes certain connotations of those colours – darkness, night, blood, fire, anger, danger, the underworld, the devil, and so on. Hitting several of those subliminal motifs, Sophie Habibis’s arachnid hellscape staging from the 2011 series remains the classic example:
In overall vibe, that’s about as far away as it’s possible to get from the connotations evoked by the red and black backdrop to Reggie N Bollie’s cheerleaders this week.
This was the red and black of the sports team – and studies suggest that in sports, red is a winning colour – or maybe of the casino, with the spinning wheel imagery, and that has connotations of excitement and possible life-changing gain.
The colour scheme is leavened by white, and the black later turns into blue; more importantly, there’s a sense of fun and movement. Staging always has to be seen in context, and Reggie N Bollie’s treatment was about as positive as it’s possible to get. From the heartwarming VT with telegenic children; through Nick, Rita and Cheryl on their feet and dancing, before Simon also rose to complete a four-judge standing ovation; to making sure viewers noticed the Liam Payne benediction; producers could hardly have done more to help.
There has been a sustained plunge on Reggie N Bollie in the win market this week, with debate in the Sofabet comments about whether the hugely likeable but vocally limited Ghanaian duo have realistic prospects of winning. Who’s been backing them so heavily that they’re now as short as 9/1 in places? We can only quote the pair themselves: ‘It Wasn’t Me’.
Murray On The Move
Also attracting money this week has been Lauren in the next elimination market, with this morning’s papers revealing she has moved out of the X Factor house – the reason given being that she’s upset about Kiera and Seann’s departures, but who knows if there are other issues at play. For punters, the doubt it raises is whether it indicates any possibility that Lauren might be flirting with the idea of quitting the show altogether – the Craig Colton experience in 2011 suggests that in such situations, producers may prefer to push an act before they can jump.
As we look forward to tonight’s Xtra Factor and the first reveals of songs for movie week, do keep the conversation going below.
X Factor images ©SYCO/THAMES TV/PA
The story about Louisa getting a contract regardless of the result could also be an indication that tptb are unsure they can get her across the line. If not her, why not Reggie & Bollie? They’re great fun, have drawn a lot of attention, have celebrity fans, would be a fantastic feel-good winner. I also think they have commercial potential, particularly in the childrens and young teens market which can be incredibly lucrative (ask JK Rowling).
It’s very tptb dependent though. The week they don’t get a big show is probably the week they go. Similar to Wagner.
“in the childrens and young teens market”
So next year (if X Factor returns) the winner will be looking to follow in Reggie N Bollies footsteps? the winners that are on Nickelodeon or whatever childrens market is.
5 weeks now of uptempo songs from RnB, will get very boring and same/same.
I just cant see it, show loses more credibility if they push RnB to that final, let alone allow them to be called the Winners
I’m offering possible justifications for them. I’m not saying it’s going to happen. I’m not sure it will get boring in 5 weeks though. It’s only 2-2.5 minutes once a week. That’s not enough to get bored of.
Also I don’t think following in people’s footsteps is what any sensible artist does. They try to carve out their own niche and their own identity.
With regard to red and blacking, I made the exact same comparison between Reggie N Bollie and Sophie Habibis on the night of the show. I’m glad you put the two images together here, because I think that it beautifully illustrated the difference between a bad red and black and a fine one. It’s the menacing look of a properly done red and black that is key I think. There are plenty of examples, but another memorable one for me was Craig Colton singing License to Kill.
Maybe its the difference between red-and-black – red with a bit of black – and black-and-red – which is more what Sophie was shot with.
Regarding your thoughts on Louisa’s normal girl being transformed thoughts it’s worth noting that Olly has mentioned several times about X Factor being the show that changes lives.
And the way the show is right now everything he says is most definitely on the script and on the autocue.
I think Louisa’s treatment was exemplary again, particularly that VT. I do sort of hope she’s been sitting on one hell of a sob story this whole time though, she may need it.
I said last week that the performance reminded me of an early Britney Spears with her dancing and staging etc. and it made me think that her perfect song this week, message wise, would be “I’m Not A Girl, Not Yet A Woman” for Movie Week.
Love your thoughts of Reggie N Bollie’s staging. The show couldn’t have done more for them on Saturday. I’m sitting out of betting for now – I’m not going to be able to catch the show in real time for a few weeks, and I only just broke even the last two weekends anyway.
Louisa has that aspect of appearing not only older than her years but somehow more worldly than them. They can tell us she’s vulnerable as much as they like. She doesn’t appear to be.
Well yes, there is that. Despite being “only 17” – Ella Henderson looked it, Louisa looks about 22. I actually thinks she’s come across as pretty vacant, to be honest. Personally I think they’d be better off going full popstar with her. Give her staging and productions somewhere between Little Mix and Fleur East. If she could pull it off, she’s blow people away.
Instead, she’ll probably be lumbered with “Listen” this week.
She’s not a dancer so she could easily end up looking daft if they do that.
And yes, she is a bit vacant. I’d say a bit dead behind the eyes. That she couldn’t express the lyrics in the song quoted in the article tells us a lot. She’s either emotionally immature or, even worse for her, she’ll never quite get it. Let’s face it, the meaning isn’t exactly hidden.
I’ve said it before, to me she sings like someone who wants to show you how good she is, not like someone who wants to show you how good the song is.
For me it’s quite easy to imagine that Reggie and Bollie topped the vote last week. We’ll see through their treatment if the producers are really happy with that.
Why have their odds been tumbling all week though? It seems quite unusual for there to be so much change mid-week.
When the novelty acts (or “fun” acts if you don’t want to call RNB novelty) do too well in the votes, they’re usually very swiftly dealt with – see Johnny Robinson. Given how late it is in the competition considering how few live shows there are this years, the producers might be even more spooked by RNB topping the votes. Their treatment will be interesting this weekend.
Poor Monica and Max having to phone home from the bottom bunk this weekend in their VT’s
Shame Max’s has a poor cracked iPhone screen, fortunately the successful Louisa has as lovely fresh and clean iPad.
http://s15.postimg.org/6rgr4i1vf/Max_v_Louisa.jpg
Interesting thoughts on R&B, I’m sure you can pretty much Afrobeat up any song, however at some point they will actually have to sing rather than shout, it might be too early this week but a 9/1 shot on elimination looks tempting for a side show.
As for Lauren, I’m not sure it’s quite game over, a lot of Dads and lets be honest single lonely men love the show, and look forward to the weekly view of her cleavage. Where as before they probably wouldn’t be bothered to ring up to vote, the app might make them more likely to.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-3315766/X-Factor-s-Anton-Stephans-spotted-arm-arm-blonde-female-friend.html
An Anton story in the DM. Comments from Seann at the end about him.
More from Seann on Anton from the Express.
http://www.express.co.uk/showbiz/tv-radio/618146/The-X-Factor-2015-Seann-Miley-Moore-Anton-Stephans-feud-Kiera-Weathers-Mason-Noise
Very interesting semantics here. The actual quote was he’s playing “the” game. Not flattering, but most readers/viewers understand that the contestants have to do what it takes. However, the headline is that he’s playing “a” game. That really changes the implication, making it sound like Anton has some nefarious master plan.
Am I being thick or is Anton gay? He is somewhat camp but I hadnt really made the connection. Or is the “not my cup fo tea” quote supposed to imply some sort of homophobia?
Seann appears to struggle to string a coherent sentence together. What does “that’s queens being ‘new fresh meat” mean?
I would be astonished if Anton isn’t gay.
Lauren has a bullseye painted on her and doesn’t even know it. This “joke” of her last weeks performance is horrendous. License To Kill is a rubbish song. The only half decent James Bond song is Nobody Does It Better. She’ll be very lucky to survive this week.
Does anyone else get the impression that Louisa really doesn’t like her.
I get that impression too. I think Louisa comes across as a bit chilly anyway.
I found this article regarding Lauren and her reasons for leaving the house. You’d think that being in the same category Louisa would be supportive but interestingly, she’s not even mentioned.
It does look like Lauren is a bit fragile and is struggling with the pressure. It will be interesting to see how she is portrayed on Saturday.
http://www.kilburntimes.co.uk/news/cricklewood_x_factor_finalist_lauren_murray_i_never_expected_to_get_this_far_1_4309708
I agree about Louisa. She comes across as cold to me too. It’s no wonder she can’t connect with songs and it’s no wonder Cowell likes her. He’s not the world’s greatest empath either.
Thanks for this article. I like Lauren even more now.
In other news Mason is a bad boy who aint going nowhere. Hmmmm. We’ll see about that.
The Titanic spoof came off as just a bit weird and out of context.
Off topic: What the hell is going on with Ben Haenow’s hair? That quiff is truly horrendous.
Bloody hell. How shameless can they be with the dogglebox?
Not impressed by Monica’s vibrato in her closing unaccompanied bit.
Any word on the songs? I missed the show tonight. What’s Louisa singing?
John Lewis version of The Vengabus Is Coming.
hahahaha! I bow down to you eurovicious!
http://www.tellymix.co.uk/reality-tv/the-x-factor/239208-x-factor-2015-song-list-movie-week-song-choices-spoilers.html
Here’s what Tellymix are saying about the song choices.
Wow! Lauren’s elimination price just dropped again.
Meanwhile Who Let The Dogs Out for Reggie & Bollie is going to be a total crowd pleaser.
Sophie Habibis did Bang Bang – and look what happened to her!
Monica singing the song they used on Sophie Habibis… You couldn’t make this up!
Oh snap rose!
Really!!!???!!! How low can they go? Now they’re going to copy the staging and job done! Keep the picture to compare!
Ouch! Not one, but TWO girls singing a song that killed off an act in 2011! Do you reckon they’re targeting both Lauren and Monica or just one? Think it bodes poorly for Monica in particular; Bang Bang has another sultry sleazy vibe which really bodes poorly given last week.
I don’t think they’ll mind if both go. I think Mason could end up bottom though. X factor audiences tend to be unforgiving. Ask Tamera. It looks like they’re trying to avoid that and it’ll be interesting to find out what he’s doing. Max may well be targetted too. He was “predicted” on the dogglebox feature.
Bang Bang for Anton last week, another Bang Bang for Monica this week…Cowell has forgotten the greatest Bang Bang of them all. The synth pop classic by mullet headed Scots rock god BA Robertson
Max singing purple rain will be good and could be like when luke friend sang kiss from a rose and came 3rd after the first couple of weeks of barely being above the bottom two. Purple rain will sound like this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6x-FVQNZSI4 but if he sings secret garden it will be boring. It all depends if they want him out or not. I think Lauren will be bottom three with mason and Max/monica.
Max singing Purple Rain with better sound quality: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBOGDzY1fT4
It’s a good song for him.
great spot – no way he is going home with that – he knows the song and arrangement inside out as well.
I’d be amazed if Max gets to sing Purple Rain. I think he’s getting Secret Garden.
I agree. On Xtra Factor he said they are “trying to get Purple Rain” – why would they not be able to perform that song? It’s been done plenty of times before hasn’t it?
Seems like an excuse to me. I’ve never heard Secret Garden.
Argh, “Purple Rain”, Prince’s worst song!! Can they not give Max a mashup of Computer Blue and Darling Nikki??! ; )
Or Pussy Control? Or Head? 😉
But I think it’s generally best to stick to songs that the viewers know.
As far as permission goes they did Uptown Funk before it had been released and when Ronson amd Mars didn’t want them to. That it was public domain in the US was enough. I suspect they’re just making excuses to control the song choice.
Music clearance is hugely complex. There are some mass pre-clearances and also specific artists/writers/publishers/record labels you need to pre-clear. Given Princes movements online of late it wouldn’t surprise me if you needed clearance in advance to use one of his songs.
It also wouldn’t surprise me if it was just an excuse though!
The public domain point you make is pure poppycock, Uptown Funk is not public domain.
I thought once it was out there anyone could perform it as long as a fee is paid to PRS unless they had exceptional arrangements. That’s what I meant by public domain.
Songs on XFactor are covered by both PRS and MCPS. Royalty to the first (if the song is performed live in Fountain Studios/SSE Wembley and broadcast on ITV) and to the second if reproduced (iTunes download). I can’t see any legal reason why any particular number would be blocked. The TPTB simply have sh*te taste.
Sadly for Monica, that song choice seems to scream “assassination”. Not quite so sure what it means for Lauren, only as they didn’t target her really last week….Honestly can they not come up with something new?
Mason due a bounce. Should get enough to stay off bottom spot anyway. I’ve jumped on Monica for bottom spot 2/1 hopefully second time lucky. I’m guessing her little snipes last weekend will come back to haunt her. She’s a goner just hoping she’s bottom of the vote
If it’s anything like Keira then Mason will bounce straight to the bottom of the pile. They seem to want to help him though. That’s the difference.
Exactly. Gigantic difference. Wouldn’t rule out a big energetic performance resulting in a 4 way standing ovation
Men In Black is not an energetic song. It’s very understated. It’s a bad choice for him imo. Easily forgotten.
Listen to it on youtube before you commit your money, and remember he won’t even be doing it all.
Of course they might give him an amazing production with foam rubber aliens and special effects but the song itself is meh.
The chorus even goes something like
Here come the Men In Black
They won’t let you remember
And Mason will almost certainly be dressed as in the black suit.
Mind you, if he gets a late slot that will help him.
I think they’re targeting Lauren this week with the aim to take her down next week. Although they probably wouldn’t mind if she did fall into the bottom two. I’m seeing Monica’s downfall this week and the week they finally catch Max. Based on song choices, I think Reggie N Bollie’s song choice ‘novelty’ fun could be undermined by Mason also doing a bit of a novelty track. I wouldn’t be surprised to see one of those two down there, Men in Black doesn’t seem to motivate much of a bounce either but performance wise, he could tear it up. 4th Impact’s song will suit them to the ground, but is it well known enough to bring in the votes? It is arguably Beyonce’s worst single.
Don’t forget Reggie & Bollie have been doing their thing for years and have performed to big crowds. If that becomes a battle imo Mason will lose. Who Let The Dogs Out is also a bigger tune, more singalong, more catchy. Men In Black doesn’t have any peak moments. It’s a rap and a modified chorus from Forget Me Nots by Patrice Rushen. It’s a nice tune but it’s not a showstopper like Who Let The Dogs Out.
Yeah I agree with that. Men in Black stays on one level and has no hype moment in there. Mason can dance, and has a potential bounce but I’m not sure this song works with it.
May just be my love for Reggie n Bollie talking, but this song choice is genius for them. Also potentially stealing the kids away from voting for 4th Impact.
Speaking of which, is it likely that children stay up on a Saturday night to watch X factor, and more importantly, vote in it?!
I know I’ve mentioned children in reference to R&B but I don’t think they are an act for kids, more that they are family friendly. Imo they’re a serious dancehall crew that will get any place rocking. I just think kids will like them too. The Spice Girls had a similar effect (not that I’m comparing them to The Spice Girls musically for all that they did have some pretty good songs).
They’re just such good fun everyone will want a slice. If they catch on you’ll end up with pencil cases and rucsacs and lunchboxes as well as records and downloads and gigs.
I don’t have kids so you’ll need to ask a parent, but I’d guess it depends on age range.
Oh no, I’m not saying they are specifically for kids. I agree that they’re an infectious, fun act that will appeal to all the family (particularly singing 1D/Cheerleader and now Who Let The Dogs Out?). Interesting that Simon pointed out they needed to address the slightly raunchy choreography in week one, too. It would be very easy to take them down a sleazy, sexy route (Vybz Kartel style) but at the minute, they’ve avoided it. My point was that it may be stepping on the toes of 4th Impact’s vote. Would anybody be surprised if we found out that Reggie n Bollie are polling better than them? Particularly with 4th Impact’s naff song choice this wee (IMO).
I just discovered this blog and spent the whole day reading old post since I fell in love with the X Factor back in 2008 since I read a Spanish girl (Ruth), was entering the contest (Im from Barcelona). Anyway now that I’m older I see things with a different perspective and I’ve loved reviewing all the past seasons seeing this things.
This year I think the level of the contestants is way much better from other seasons, hated to see Alien go in favour or 4th Impact I think.
I also agree on Louisa having no clear direction, I’d love her to win so I hope the producers go that way. And R&B I think they are gonna get old, and by that time they’re gonna be gone. I think that the fact that Cheryl is her mentor is making them cool, imagine if they had Louis. They’d be a reggae version of Jedward.
I’ve said it before but the solutions to 17 year olds not yet being interesting enough to the general public are either to accept a midtable finish and sign them to a development contract or to group them. Nothing’s going to suddenly age them up to 20-22 where pop stars tend to be able to reach across demographics and really start shining.
With more and more of the show’s facade crumbling, what if they openly signed young prospects and developed them for a year, including learning to make music videos, working on technique, crafting an image, etc, before sending them out to the showcase lives at the end? That would make some fascinating viewing, at least for me.
This is looking just like series 9 again…we’ll have all the girls out by midtable, Louisa hanging on as last girl standing, but her percentage slipping week on week.
Che as James Arthur, Max/Mason as Jahmene and Anton as Maloney? Does that make Reggie and Bollie Rylan?
Kinda, but it’s better than the dirgetastic 2012 series. Che is 10 times more likeable and talented than James Arthur, ditto Reggie & Bollie vs Rylan and to a certain extent Anton vs Chris. I don’t think there’s a Jahmene equivalent though, unless a bee in a tin is entering as a wildcard contestant this week.
Monica Michael Habibis and Lauren Murray Colton.
I’d actually like to suggest Che as Jahmene, Mason as a one-man MK1 and I think Max is as close to James Arthur as we will ever get again.
Fourth Impact as Union J? They’re already a second-rate version of Little Mix.
From the picture in the article, I don’t read R ‘n’ B as red and black at all; rather their treatment screams red/white/blue, which just so happen to be the colours of the Union Flag. Combined with all the harping on about ‘Britishness’, I don’t think that’s a coincidence. Which is laughable, seeing how certain acts got the FOREIGNER VTs already while R ‘n’ B being from Ghana is not really stressed. (although it’s kinda obvious from their accents)
I am a bit baffled that they gave Monica the full on Bond girl treatment last week (title sequence-esque backdrop, guys in white tuxes, slutty dress), and then they make her sing an actual Bond song this week. And one of the lesser know ones at that. Not exactly redemption arc, methinks…
Anyway, movie week looks like the hot mess it is every year, either the songs are painfully obvious or only very obscurely linked to movies.
Sorry, just checked and I mixed up Monica and Lauren’s songs. Anyway, both their songs are quite toxic for X factor contestants, aren’t they ?
All the song choices have been announced except Louisa’s. Given that both Monica and Lauren have been given deramp songs I believe this is intended to be Louisa’s “moment” week and tptb hope that all the votes which Monica and Lauren are expected to drop transfer to Louisa.
I don’t really want to watch it. I already know pretty much what is going to happen. Mason is clearly going to get a late slot too. My only question is whether it will be a sort of double pimp slot, as it was last week, with Reggie & Bollie then an ad break then Lauren, only this time with Mason’s mediocre r&b wailing and Louisa clubbing a song to death as if it were a baby seal.
It’s going to be the nastiest sort of assassination and manipulation they can come up with and I hope the public sees through it and votes Monica and Lauren just to spite the bastards.
http://www.itv.com/xfactor/news/popcorn-at-the-ready-this-weeks-theme-songs-revealed
Thanks Boki.
Such a surprise that Max couldn’t get Purple Rain.
Meanwhile Louisa can get away with giving an entirely emotion free rendition of that since it sounds like something for church anyway. It will suit her botoxed singing style right down to the roots.
Couldn’t get = they wouldn’t give it to him
Bye Max! 🙂
He’s going to be under the cosh with that, fo sho. We could see Monica and Lauren survive and Mason and Max go out!!!!
It seems Louisa is doing Everybody’s Free. Will it be John Lewised?
If she says this is me again she clearly has Katie Waissel syndrome.
There are two versions on youtube. This is the shorter one. It is perfect for her moment song. She can copy all the trills and inflections in the original and it will make her sound good. I’m going to the pictures on Saturday. I’m not going to watch this shit. I’ll follow it on sofabet.
http://youtu.be/_qO_0ceE4Kw
My mistake. The long version is this on a loop so it plays 3 times. Once is enough. It’s a great performance but 3 in a row is like being drowned in treacle.
Can we start a “vote for Lauren/Monica” campaign? Like Jess said “just to spite the bastards”. I’m in!!!!
Let’s hope enough lurkers and sofabetters have a sense of injustice (or mischief) and make it so!
Monica will be brilliant with that song. She has a look of a Tarantino heroine in the “Grindhouse” vein. I still think she’s in trouble though.
Convinced that their approach is to weaken every act apart from Louisa, so that no clear fanbases remain by the final. In theory, Louisa is then so solid every week that she snatches the title a la Alexandra or Little Mix. Except I suspect she’s a bit too boring to do that, no matter how much help she receives…
Seems that the alleged Top 5 from Week 1 (Louisa aside) were all deramped in Week 2??? Anton, Monica, 4th Impact, Seann.
They’re obviously happy to have Che around as he couldn’t make Top 5 in the first week, so is unlikely to make the final without their support?
Their planned attempt to nuke Monica again may just rally her voters even more? Unless they will let her do that dance remix version (Audio Bullys?)
Instinct tells me that Lauren has a strong core vote (that Week 1 opening performance was all kinds of “Kimberly doing It’s Raining Men to open Series 4” and yet she missed the bottom 3).
Most importantly, how many weeks can 4th Impact be objectively ‘a bit ropey vocally’ and still survive?
I thought I was the only one who got flashbacks to Kimberley’s It’s Raining Men during Lauren’s week 1 performance! Great minds. 😉
Thinking about Mason’s VT yesterday it was a lovely bit of reverse psychology. A backing track which was pretty much the words “he’s staying” on a loop while Mason acts the prima donna and drums the mike dropping incident into the viewers heads over and over again. That, coupled with a bland song and a lingering sense of injustice over Seann must mean he’s in danger, or certainly not a priority for tptb to keep.
Max has a bland and unmemorable song.
Louisa and Monica both have known contestant killers. Not only that but both songs are about killing and are an invitation for dark staging and an edge of sleaze. Louisa, by contrast, is singing something that sounds like it could be sung in church and invites staging that makes her look like an angel or a saint.
I think they’ll be happy to lose any two from those four and have the other two deramped for next week. I’ve a feeling Max will stay clear of b3 but it’s tough to call before the show.
If there’s a surprise b3 this week I’d expect it to be Fourth Impact.
Secret Garden is a really nice and emotional song though – introverted and introspective… catnip for people who vote for Max?
Monica surely has a large portion of viewers who –
a) Recognized that she was done over last week
b) Remember that Bang Bang was poison the last time it was performed
It will be interesting this week – the judges’ reactions to Monica will dictate how she fares, in my opinion – I predict a shower of “this is you, Monica, amazing, you’re back on form” to trigger voter apathy…
Always tough to predict before the show – I’m calling 4th Impact (personally love the song, but it will expose every vocal flaw), Lauren and Monica/Max…
Fourth Impact’s song is funky though and will give them a chance to perform in the same style they did in their first (Bang Bang) audition. Let’s hope they aren’t dressed like kids while they gyrate. That would be too weird.
Looks like another really poor week incoming. Song choices seem favourable to Louisa, 4th Impact, RNB. Unfavourable for Monica, Lauren, Max, Anton. Mixed for Ché and Mason.
Are they just going to try and eliminate Louisa’s rivals in her category? I think it’s likely.
One final thing – the ‘glory years’ of the show in terms of ratings (Alexandra, Matt, Little Mix) all had female-heavy, diverse latter-stages of the competition.
If they keep destroying their female contestants (bar Louisa), it will be far from a vintage year. You’d think that they might realise this?
Salient point.
Great point. Female acts definitely make the show more diverse. It’s very rare to get a male act like Mason or Seann on the show and with Seann gone and Mason looking to be gone soon, there will mainly be typical “boring” male acts left (Anton, Max, Che). I think the main reason why 2012 was incredibly dull was because it was very male-heavy and the few female acts weren’t exactly interesting. Killing off Monica and Lauren (and 4th Impact if the producers wish to) may be good for Louisa but it’d be terrible for the show.
Right, it all seems to point to a desired Louisa/Che/R’B final, with Louisa the designated winner and Che a Plan B if necessary. As for the others, I believe they are simply happy for them to leave in any given order, as soon as they can guarantee the final as above.
With all the mess going on and possibly The Voice moving to ITV, I am getting a distinct sense of ‘let’s get this over with and start afresh next year’ from the whole production team, including Simon.
Once they have Anton’s vote under control I would think they would keep him until the final, in the same way they did with Andrea last year. Anton’s vote would mostly transfer to Che whereas RnB being younger and less about ballads would transfer to Louisa.
I think you need to see Lauren’s performance before you can say it’s a de-ramp. Vocally she should be able to pull this off very well, the range is perfect for her. There’s no reason it can’t sound more contemporary either. If anything I might just be concerned that it may end up sounding too similar to her previous performances.
The song didn’t really suit Craig Colton (in fact it was awful) plus the staging and the negative comments really nailed it for him. Even so he effectively only flat lined in the vote as he’d done for the previous couple of weeks anyway.
If they do similar to Lauren then OK – but wait and see first.
On the other hand Bang Bang never does anyone any favors.
It’s a difficult song to sing. Even Gladys Knight’s original version rarely gets played for listening pleasure and she had to work hard to make it coherent.
Lauren is very musical and she’ll put everything she can into it, maybe even find something new in it, but it’s still a bugger of a song.
I am not very musical so I cant explain really well why I perceive it that way… But this is the only version I found that had some sort of ´moment´to it, both sound and performance wise.
Gladys and cover versions alike the song is a snooze-fest. A great movie soundtrack, good for background music but can hardly hold an audience in a state of attention.
You left out the link to the version. 😀
As I’ve always said, “red and black” is contextual – no way were Reggie and Bollie red-and-blacked, they got the most ridiculously OTT pimping of all time. Note though that Seann had what looked like huge clouds of flame behind him at the start of his performance.
The cynicism has definitely gone very mainstream, loads of ordinary folk on Twitter were saying Anton had been stitched up last week.
I don’t see Louisa doing even as well as Ella in the vote – whereas Ella was bland but with vulnerability, warmth, humility and ordinariness, Louisa is blandly polished and comes over very stage-school. I warm to Lauren so much more and also prefer her voice – one notes that she has been given the song Craig had in the week he left in 2011, but that wasn’t really a nuking; he’d been bobbing along at 5th/6th in the vote throughout the series and they just gently eased him out in 6th place by putting him on first with a good but not amazing song and performance, his time had come and as a fan of his I wasn’t angry at his treatment. I hope Lauren’s time hasn’t come yet.
License to Kill is one of the original nuking songs though. I still remember this from the original Pop Idol series! And what’s that I see? Red and black AND fire! Ouch!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5b0CoZj0s7c
The thing is, they can very easily get away with using a great deal of fire for any Bond theme. It is heavily associated with Bond themes for sure. Just last night I went to see Spectre at the cinema and I noticed there was fire used in the Writing’s On The Wall opening sequence.
As a general point I think it might be worth remembering that staging being offputting to the audience might not always be intended to have that effect. It seems like fire is one of those things that seems to be offputting to voters (I think this blog mentioned spiders as another example), but as manipulative as the show can be, it might not be there purely to deramp somebody, rather it could be an unfortunate side effect.
When Hannah Barrett did ‘Skyfall’ is series 10 and ended up in the sing-off, the staging included fire, but I don’t think on that occasion it was intentionally done as a deramp, I think they probably used it because ‘Skyfall’ is a James Bond theme, which as you say often have fire motifs in the title sequence.
As a contrast though, there’s Conchita Wurst’s ‘Rise Like A Pheonix’ in Eurovision. The staging there also included fire, and I think again it was because that song was taking some cues from James Bond themes. But that might have been a case where fire effects seemed positive. Unlike on The X Factor, the fire was a more yellow/white colour rather orange/red (so maybe suggesting “heaven” rather than “hell”), and also with the song the fire is referring to a pheonix, which is referring to Conchita herself shining brightly. So fire effects can potentially create a more positive message if used in a certain way.
Should note that I’d like to see Lauren stay around, but “License to Kill” in my view is one of the most damning song choices there is, up there with That’s Life and The Winner Takes It All.
Don’t stop her now!
I see Che is being kept in his soul lane. For the third week in a row now, his songs have been in a similar genre. I think whoever said that he didn’t get into the top five voting in week one nailed it, and so they’re happy for him to carry on with what he’s been doing, and not pick anymore votes up due to song choices not diversifying him (in the same way they did with Jahemene).
I don’t think Lauren’s song choice is an all out nuking – it’s a dampener for sure. You’re telling me there aren’t any other songs from films that are a million times more suitable for her?! That’s by the by – targets are aimed at Max and Monica this week, with Lauren being dampened ready for the kill next weekend.
Lauren’s an interesting one – I can see 3 options
1. They think it’s going to be massive, with a huge moment in there
2. It’s a dampening of support because she got too close to or beat Louisa last week
3. It’s a dampening of support because she did badly last week so it’s time for her to move on and out
Truth is we don’t know but feel free to discuss!!!
It’s not a moment song. The instrumental is spectacular but the vocal gets lost. It’s a horrid competition song. If it comes out spectacular that will NOT be a part of their plan.
Did you see xtra factor? The played a video of her performance from last week with a rubbish vocal over the top. Oh how we all laughed. Then at the end they had a dog “predicting” who was leaving this weekend. It picked Lauren and Max. Can’t remember who it picked last week but one of them was Keira.
I’m astonished that so many of you are in any doubt that this is a deramp. The song is shit. Go listen to it on youtube. There’s a reason why it’s never played. even on radio 2 or the various Gold and Oldie stations. It’s pants. Noone is going to be motivated to vote by it.
The dog didn’t pick Kiera last week. It chose 4th Impact & Monica.
Ok. Still doesn’t change the fact that it’s a godawful song and a deramp.
I’ve had two wines followed by two JDs so have the Dutch courage to say alarm bells sounded when I heard RnB were singing Who Let the Dogs Out. Strikes me as less of a moment for them and more of a bookend for Monica and Lauren to squeeze them out. Can’t wait to see the running order.
I have no doubt this week is going to see an attempt to drag down Lauren’s vote and maybe it will be enough to get her into B3 and be this week’s “shock” But I’m not quite tempted to out my money where my mouth is here. I don’t see Licence to Kill as apocryphally bad, certainly not the nuking others see it as, just a dampener. The song is open to being sung well (Curtis, the Pop Idol contestant you linked to above just didn’t seem to have a rich enough vocal tone to make it work, whereas ‘rich’ is what Lauren has in spades) and the song does have a moment, if it is included in the performance – a change of tune and tempo followed by an ascending key change near the end – which is usually enough to get people clapping. I think she is likely to survive this week whatever happens. As for MandMandM, poor Depurpled Max, Mason, the Bad Boy who is worrying about the price of chewing gum and Shot Her Down Monica, the prognosis seems a bit clearer. I think they may not be able to get Max to the very bottom this week and may need two weeks to work on him so my final call is Monica and Mason to leave, Max to live another day, which isn’t a Bond film or song but maybe should be!
I’m thinking Monica to prop up the vote, with 2 of Lauren, Max and Mason in the sing off. What producers decide to do from there depends on whether they’ve resolved to just rid of Louisa’s rival girls as quickly as possible. If that’s true, then Lauren is off. If they’re happy to keep her around for a week or two more, then they may save her over either of them. Mason would be saved over Max.
Of course, the show itself may throw a spanner in the works.
I watched Xtra Factor late last night and was dozing off by the end but still managed to sit up straight when Monica started singing at the end. They may as well have pulled a lever and sent her through a trapdoor at the end of the show.
Lauren isn’t much better off but her persona may pull her through this week. Mason’s song has bland written all over it unless they put a stunning routine around him and it feels like they’re trying to limit the bounce – eliminating the wildcard and the supposedly controversial act in one go? Sums up the series in general I suppose. Max is certainly be lined up as an alternative and, if he falls into the bottom two with either of them could they take the opportunity to eliminate and prevent the chance of a bounce? If so, surely that would result in pushing Anton later into the competition – they wouldn’t want Simon to lose all his acts before the halfway stage.
it’s true that in losing Alien and Seann they’ve lost two of the more colorful acts in the show. Mason hasn’t entertained me much so far and I don’t think he’s going to do much tomorrow either – it’ll all be down to visuals – so as far as I’m concerned if he and Max go it’ll be a good thing. They’re both a bit dull.
I would think with the events in Paris, Monica might find herself learning a new song tomorrow.
Lauren too.
I hope she can pick Let The River Run from Working Girl.
It will not be fair on them though. There probably won’t even be time to create a new backing track.
I wouldn’t be surprised if they perform as planned and the panel accuse them of having poor taste and insulting the Paris dead.
They’ll have to get something out of the archive or their save me songs. There’s no way they can do them without a huge backlash against the show.
Agreed. Wonder how tptb are going to like them apples.
The best laid plans of mice and men….
I think it’s going to be a very difficult show to do. It’ll test everyone. If I was Scowell I’d make an announcement at the beginning acknowledging the attacks and say that the show is dedicated to everyone who suffered in them and that although it’s a competition, tonight it’s about the power of music to bring us together and that he hopes that it can bring us together at this difficult time.
Then I’d introduce the acts and the other judges.
I doubt if they can, but if they could (and if I was in charge) I’d say no eliminations this week.
And I tell you what – it would be a hell of a show.
Could this be? A spanner in the works… hmmm…
Simon makes an announcement acknowledging the events in Paris and saying the show is in respect of those who died before sending Monica out to sing ‘Bang Bang’ and Lauren ‘A License To Kill’? It’d be less tasteless if they ignored it completely.
They could scrap the theme all together and let them all sing their Save Me songs except they all tend to be slow numbers which would make the show drag even more than normal. Maybe it’s a risk they would have to take though. The issue is they’ll only have time to run two(?) rehearsals tomorrow and at least one would be a camera run.
I personally think they’ll try and ignore it’s happened, enter the Saturday Night TV Bubble and hope people will want some light relief after the horrors of tonight. There will be complaints but they can submit an explanation to OFCOM prior to the show.
No. They change their songs as well as the announcement. I doubt it’s going to happen though.
Y’all know they’re John-Lewising this as the group song on Sunday to a backdrop of candles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gG_dA32oH44
They change the songs or leave them and then have a massive argument among the judges, being careful to not criticise the singer, about how inappropriate the songs were. Thus distracting and spreading vote destroying negativity.
Disgusting of course but very Cowellian.
Personally I think it will be brushed under the carpet. Some sort of reference will probably be made but I don’t see any changes being made so late in the game.
This is what today’s Times newspaper says in its preview of the show tonight. “The X Factor is on mightily choppy waters. Even ITV’s director of comedy and entertainment, Elaine Bedell, has admitted that some changes to this series have gone too far. The ratings linger at just above seven million. Plus, the channel has bought the rights to The Voice, which will move from the BBC after the next series, with The X Factor yet to be renewed beyond next year. Simon Cowell has suggested they’ll axe two acts a week, to get to the high end quickly, but double eliminations feel like another tired gimmick. Are we watching a beast stumble around a bit before it dies? Louis Walsh, and many others could well be rubbing their hands with glee.”
While The Times has never, at least in my memory, been a friend of the show, this does sound very much like a loud death knell tolling. While I hadn’t realised the show was renewed for next year, it seems like it may not make it that far with this level of criticism flying about.
The X Factor tends to be renewed for three series at a time; the last renewal covered last year, this year and next year obviously with the hope that Simon and Cheryl’s return would, at the very least stabilise the show.
One thing to note is the show is doing exceptionally well still with the 16-34s and, on that, ITV will not be prepared to let go of it quickly. The question is will Simon’s ego get in the way? Or, of course, the decline the show suffers from now to the final.
I think changing the show in light of Paris would be wrong. People are too easily offended these days. Someone singing Bang Bang or License to Kill doesnt make what happened any less tragic. The two events are completely unconnected. People are killed in wars around the world every day. Should these songs never be sung in case someone takes offence?
Yeah but they know the media will massively pile on. Sending on a girl to sing “bang bang, my baby shot me down” for primetime Saturday night TV entertainment less than 24 hours after something like this is a great way to get yourself fired and ruin (what’s left of) the show’s brand. They have to change those songs.
licence to kill isn’t any better…
Exactly.
Absolutely spot on. In the grand scheme of things this is happening daily. Some are saying that it will be brushed under the carpet. I don’t understand. This tragedy happened in France. What has that got to do with the UK. Apart from the fact that we are close to France for me this is no more tragic than what’s taking place on the other side of the world
Wow. People are actually discussing how the events in Paris will affect the X Factor.
Hi EM, I’m sure we can all agree that events in Paris put this crappy entertainment show in its proper perspective, but unless we feel it’s inappropriate for us to be discussing the show at all, I don’t think it’s unreasonable for people to be debating whether or not the show will feel the need to respond to those events in some way, and what the implications might be. As shown by the widely varied instincts from different commenters about what they should do, it’s not at all obvious what they will do.
Hi Andrew – yes our freedom to discuss anything we please is to celebrated given the stated rational behind what happened.
However the immaturity displayed in some comments is not admirable and an underlying theme of what do the Paris attacks mean to an ability of making a profit out of a tv show are not edifying.
I dont reckon too many French people tune in to the XFactor. Anyone in this country that takes offence to those lyrics needs to get a life.
Regardless of any logic as to if it’s relevant or not, or worse than other things, I can’t see XF just ignoring it. They’ll either change the songs or do what I said above.
Louisa Johnson @louisa 7m7 minutes ago
Tonights song is going to be even more emotional. #prayforparis #worldpeace xxx
Where do you draw the line though? Suicide bombers were dressed in black weren’t they? Is Mason going to have to change songs too? No need to pander to idiots in the media. A singing contest in the UK has nothing to do with the events in Paris.
It’s considered good taste. Many UK tourists will have been caught up in the events in Paris and returned home today. You can’t send then send on a girl singing “bang bang, my baby shot me down”. It’s to do with the scale of the attack and its proximity to the UK.
Songs changed:
Lauren Murray: One Last Time
Monica Michael: What Is Love
Thanks Phil. Official confirmation here: http://www.itv.com/xfactor/news/popcorn-at-the-ready-this-weeks-theme-songs-revealed
Given the changes, please bear with us for a later-than-usual preview post on tonight’s show.
A rather bizzare story on Tellymix today about Sinitta also being Anton’s ex?! I know it’s already been discussed about him being linked with women but I thought he was clearly gay.
Loads of noise on Twitter about how Louisa’s song tonight is especially emotional considering the Paris events. Shameless really.
It is shocking that someone would attempt to link the events in Paris with their performance on a talent show. By all means display sympathy but leave it at that. Everyone on tonight will be highly emotional. Who the hell does she think she is?
My first thought is that in order to get Monika (or Lauren…) loose tonight they would really have to be last in public vote and be automatically eliminated. It would be so hard to justify voting either of them of when they only had a few hours to learn the song…
Taking it that when you say “voting either of them” you mean “judges voting them out” then no problem as they’ll have been given songs they know and are happy with. Monica we know but I’m sure also with Lauren.
But although the judges have less cause to go easy I think they may go easier on all tonight. These girls have been given a lifeline. As inadvertent as Anton’s lifeline.
Wow, this changes everything. Honestly no idea what this means now, but will have to watch the show to see how it pans out. Do we think these are their save me songs? Their save me songs are probably songs they can nail – that’s usually the way because they like to let acts go out on a high. Could the last minute change generate sympathy too? Or will they try and brush it under the carpet because they don’t want to address yesterday’s events.
It throws up a lot of questions – but it might open up some big opportunities in the betting market if we can read the runes of the show correctly tonight.
Monica now goes on to win.
Incidentally do we know the version of either of these songs that they’ll be singing? Because both “One More Time” and “What Is Love” could refer to multiple different songs.
Monica will sing the same version she sang to great applause at 6CC. Grimmy: “You’re the most exciting girl in the competition for me”.
Well that’s got to be good news for her then! Not always great for contestants to recycle what they’ve done before but in this instance it’s understandable, and clearly a whole lot better than her previous choice.
So we have the following remaining: Anton, Max, Che, Mason, 4th Impact, RnB, Lauren, Monica and Louisa.
I think we can all assume Louisa will be safe from elimination this week. She allegedly came 2nd in the week 1 vote and she’s only got more and more praise from the judges and favourable treatment ever since. There are no signs of switching horses at the moment.
I can see Anton being “redeemed” this weekend after the disastrous performance last week. A lot of people thought he was stitched up thanks to the producers’ blatant manipulation so I’m sure he’ll recover this week even if it is with such a predictable song choice. I’m sure I Have Nothing is a vote-magnet of a song. Plus Anton’s “heart on sleeve” persona will fit with the lyrics.
Che’s performance last week, along with the follow-up judge’s comments, makes me think his fan base is only going to get stronger. Even if the producers decided to sabotage him this week (very unlikely), it’ll just be seen as an “off week” and his Reinvention Week performance will likely see him through.
I think the fact Lauren managed to dodge the bottom two in week 1 when performing first suggests she’s got a decent fan base. Last week’s pimp slot suggests that she is a priority for the producers. I’d say that is probably more due to her personality than her talent since she isn’t that commercial – I think she’s definitely the Stacey Solomon of this year but I doubt she’d make it as far as third place. That said, I do think she’ll have enough fans of both her talent and her personality to see her not poll 7th, 8th or 9th.
I think Max’s days (or should I say weeks?) are numbered but for some reason I think it’ll be quite difficult to get him into the danger zone immediately. He’s got the underdog story on lock, Simon being rude to him at 6CC is probably still fresh in viewers’ minds and there’s no other act quite like him in the competition.
Reggie N Bollie, if last week is anything to go by, will get as much help as possible from the producers. I doubt they were anywhere near the top of vote last weekend but I can see there fan base growing even more. Their song choice screams novelty but it’s still a classic cheesy party tune. Although isn’t the song about ugly women?…
That leaves my bottom three prediction of Monica, Mason and 4th Impact.
I think Monica had such a blatant attempted assassination last week which caused a wave of sympathy coming her way. But I think last week has set her up for “nice” praise with no vote-motivating comments. The song is a killer, as we all know, and I think this might just make her sink to the bottom of the vote.
As much as I personally love Mason and his type of artist, I just don’t know if he’ll be able to rebound out of the bottom three of the vote. Sure, I can certainly imagine him being pimped to high heavens this week but I just don’t think he appeals to most of the XF viewers who vote. Although I guess if Danyl Johnson can bounce, maybe Mason could?
Again, as much as I’d hate to see 4th Impact in the bottom three, I don’t think the song choice (as much as I love it) will encourage lots of votes. It’s a song that very much stays in one place without any vocal “wow” moments but has very suggestive lyrics. If their vocal is shaky on this song, I think it will show a lot!
My bet would be Monica straight out, Mason out via judges/deadlock and 4th Impact saved.
There’s a Strictly bus coming for someone. Lauren’s been on first so it could well be Monica.
There is a song called What Is Love by Haddaway. It’s not a very good song. It was used in Saturday Night Live sketches and which were eventually expanded into a film called A Night At The Roxy which I’ve neither seen nor heard of.
I’m not sure which One Last Time they’re referring to but I bet it won’t be the Arianna Grande song, which hasn’t been in any films as far as i know.
Still an obvious attack in my opinion. I hope voters support Lauren and Monica to stick 2 fingers up to this blatant manipulation.
Oh I’ve only just found out that Monica and Lauren’s song choices have been changed in light of the Paris attacks. I’m sure both could benefit from the song change.
There is a Janelle Monae song called What is Love from the Rio2 soudtrack. Is it that one?
I can’t find any other One Last Time but the Ariana Grande one.