Producers haven’t been subtle in their use of the running order this series: last night’s show saw the acts appear in ascending order of apparent favour. Rak-Su were on last and won the night; Sam Black along with Sean & Conor were the first to appear and duly eliminated. #3 is the latest slot for an eliminated act so far this season. Three vote-toppers have performed last, three second-last, and one third-from-last.
The most intriguing treatment tonight will be second favourite Grace Davies, who returns to her comfort zone of self-penned songs with ‘Hesitate’. It hasn’t been plain sailing for the 20-year-old during the live shows, but she still looks like the most favoured girl. Holly Tandy hasn’t been given a moment yet, and ‘Love Me Harder’ suggests that may continue. Rai-Elle’s ‘Mr Big Stuff’ is a more leftfield choice.
Kevin Davy White comes off the back of two prize fight appearances with the iconic ‘I Will Always Love You’, while fellow remaining over, Matt Linnen, performs ‘Fallin’. Both songs have recent form with men that went on to win the show: Ben Haenow performed the Dolly Parton classic in Week 7 of 2014; while James Arthur used his guitar to good effect for the Alicia Keys number during his dramatic singoff with Ella in Week 7 of 2012.
Last night confirmed that either we misunderstood what the terms and conditions said about the double elimination format, or producers don’t feel bound by them – it’s clear from how Dermot handled the reveal that it would be possible for two acts from one category to leave tonight. Let us know your thoughts on the choices and how the show progresses below.
A quick note to our commenters – often at this stage of an XF season, we observe the comments starting to get more tetchy than usual as people get emotionally as well as financially invested in their favourites.
That means it’s time for my annual plea to maintain civility, good humour and mutual respect as we get towards the business end of the competition. No matter how our betting books currently look, we all still share the same interest in trying to work out what producers are trying to achieve and their chances of success. We should all be trying to avoid confirmation bias and groupthink, challenging as it is.
A reminder that we don’t like to moderate comments and rarely feel the need to. We reserve the right to delete ad hominems or anything else we feel is making the comments section unpleasant when we become aware of it, but please bear in mind that we’re not watching the comments section constantly and we don’t want to become police.
Without wanting to repoen a can of worms, a quick note after last night’s discussion.
In general, we always try to bear in mind that how the show presents acts may or may not resemble how they actually are as human beings. They have no control over how their VTs are edited. They may or may not have input into song choice, staging, styling etc – but we think it would generally be wise to assume that they’re taking advice.
For that reason we always try to remember to critique the persona the show presents, not the actual person – and from a position of sympathy, as we assume many won’t have fully realised what they were getting themselves into. We think it’s always fair to critique what the show may be trying to achieve by presenting acts in a certain way – indeed, it’s the purpose of this site – as long as it is done with sensitivity to the act concerned.
Good luck to all of you with your punting tonight and over the next few weeks.
Thanks for you appeal for calm, the comments section was becoming a bit of a no go zone.
Onto tonight, I would normally have some semblance of tissue prices ready by now for the contestant receiving the fewest votes, and the show winner. However, given that a) they didn’t let us know yesterday who finished bottom of the vote, and b) that prices will be wildly different dependent on running order, I don’t think I will bother!
Back to the show, the bottom 2 is tricky tonight. My first take was Rai-Elle/Matt to go but upon reflection, it could be Holly/Matt or even Holly/Rai-Elle. I am not putting much money on the elimination front now because RO + treatment tells all. One thing I noticed is that kills this year have not been subtle.
As for the winner, surely it’s Grace. Can’t see it going any other way, even without seeing the running order.
You’d be confident of Grace still topping the vote tonight from slot 2? If she can do that, then Sharon needs to throw her hands up, and her pens away once more.
After a rewatch of last night, tptb got who they wanted and did it with ease.
A few things to note:
– the first signs of the ott “frenching” of Kevin has begun with the flag and French used on a vt, I wonder if he’ll be at the embassy this week
– a lot of footage of Matt in the house with other contestants, strange to consider that grace or others didn’t feature
– the treatment of Shereen- I agree with stoney and Nicole even used the word ‘a bit hooky’
– Lloyd and raksu in that order, with yet another pimp slot for raksu
In terms of the ck, I stick by what I said that the momentum is building. The strange thing is that they have not been given a pimp a lot yet (Rai-Elle the only other act not to as well), so surely this will come next week on the semi final night or in the final… TPTB have to give them one.
Further, they have done everything to dampen the vote, literally every trick but can’t kill them off if they are trying to. The poor slots, awful staging, non support from Simon of their own decision to do an original.
If they go from the pimp slot then they win. If they don’t then they won’t.
The same applies to Rak-Su if they don’t go from the pimp slot then they don’t win and at evens almost, that price is far too short.
For tonight, I can see holly and Kevin going to leave a semi final of:
Lloyd
Raksu
Cutkelvins
Matt
Grace
Rai-Elle
As stoney said, raksu aren’t going well in prize fights. So, to get through and win both nights of the final weekend is a tough ask. Plus, who do they duet with?
I would be looking elsewhere for a winner.
Rai-Elle has had a continual association with Stormzy throughout and wouldn’t be surprised to see that duet of his new song happening in the final.
Matt could duet with Nicole.
Also, as mentioned above, I think the cks vote is being controlled with a view to releasing it at the right time. If it doesn’t happen then it doesn’t.
If I was going to switch now, at these odds, I’d be looking at Rai-Elle or Matt.
on the notes
– Kevin advertising his home country to teenage boys asking about love hardly counts as “ott Frenching”
– tpfkar has a point below about how this is simlar to Ben Haenow in 2014. Maybe the VTs of previous weeks are worth a look
– Not to betray my age, but her outfit wasn’t Kandy Rain in 2009 week 1 or even Tracyleanne at JH. Given the motif, it fits her pretty well and I didn’t notice until the hubbub yesterday.
on TCK
– I agree that TCK’s momentum is *rebuilding* after losing steam a few weeks back, but what this week shows their momentum won’t be at the detriment of more preferred acts.
– Historically, TPTB don’t have to give anyone anything. I take this as fact.
– If the show has tried dampening their vote, I’m clearly not seeing it. The worst they’ve gotten was being compartmentalised on several occasions.
on Rak-Su
– I don’t think losing in the prize fights is particularly damning. In the final, where there are several eliminations, votes carry over from the previous elimination. Moreover, there are *new* performances between eliminations. These are opportunities for more plaudits/deramps that the prize fight does not have.
Entirely endorse Daniel’s comment above. His site, his rules. We are all guests here.
Did both of the eliminated acts last night feature Matt in the VT? Reminds me of when an act was doomed after bonding with Ben Haenow in the VT, with votes then being encouraged to go Ben’s way. Bit surprised they are doing that with .Matt though, unless it’s a push to get him through this week.
Agree with Rose L…..
“I don’t find myself liking any of the changes they have made. Never thought I would find myself missing the bottom two sing-off and the judges tactically voting and making everyone furious. At least that was quite fun ”
Surely this (in some form ) will be back next year.
Still a big fan of Grace….if she’s last on tonight, 3/1 wont last,
“if she’s last on tonight, 3/1 wont last,”
and if she’s on 2nd, what price?
Just dont think she will be in the bottom half of the draw ;-)…if so Rak Su are surely the winners wanted ,
Latest ; Grace 7/2 on betfair and 7/2 (price boost) on skybet
A few bets laid on the outright in the last few minutes suggesting that Grace has a favourable draw tonight.
Grace from slot one or two would be seen as an attempted take down.
Grace from third with a strong original could be that they want to protect others with lower historic votes and see Grace as having a strong enough vote to keep her out of trouble.
e.g putting Kevin 4th & Holly 5th should ensure Rai-Elle & Matt are eliminated.
Grace from 5th with the original would be a big pimping into the semis.
She could be on 2nd and still be Plan A. A risky plan by TPTB but they seem to be confident they can control the vote and so far have been able to do just that.
Who knows what Grace polled week one. She might’ve been miles clear. They might feel that they can hold her back til the last two weeks and still get her the win.
Like the cutkelvins?
Two options for Simon’s comments on Kévin Davy White…
“…that, for me, was a bit of a step backwards. What I loved about last week was that you were so cool, you put your own stamp on a classic, this seemed a bit karaoke and if I were Nicole I’d be worried”
Or
“…what I like about you is that you’ve taken a great song that everyone’s heard 100s of times and you made it your own [etc]”
My figurative money is on the latter. Whitney should be a safe bet to delight le demo.
I was wondering about the eliminations in regards to the Terms & Conditions that seem to suggest it would be an act per category leaving. Well, that still happened last night, so technically they are not in breach. The fact they didn’t state it outright must have a reason behind it, though.
So either they are confident they can manage to fulfil that without enforcing it (like last night), or they have changed their minds and actually want more than one act leaving from the same category. So either Kevin AND Matt or Rai-Elle AND Holly are toast. My head hurts now.
If Grace tops the vote tonight, can anyone see Rak Su beating her in the prize fight?
I don’t see Rak-Su necessarily beating Grace tonight, but I have a feeling the show have been building up to Rak-Su losing the prize fights as an excuse/sob story to them “deserving” to win overall.
Exactly my feeling – I am getting ‘always the bridesmaid’ vibes there…
Interesting, I think that would make them look a bit rubbish. I think they might try to give them an easier opponent tonight – Holly perhaps – to get them a win.
At the very least, it will be easier than it was on Week 1. No guarantees though
Really? In week 1, Rak Su had the advantage of having performed on the Sunday.
Yes, but in week 1, Grace wasn’t sandbagged with tabloid rumours of being a diva who hits other people and gets it on with a fellow contestant that has kids.
Did last nights Prawn cocktail reappearance remind anybody of the Skips rabbit hole?!
I stand by my post from yesterday.
With it being 2/5 going, they will do everything they can to protect their chosen one (Grace). If she’s not pimp spot I’ll be surprised.
All guns on Matt. They’ve already laid the groundwork last night with a couple of VT’s with him given, um questionable dating advice to other contestants or where there were references to womanizing. Will they give him the opening spot?
So 1 pimped/protected/safe (Grace) and 1 in the cross hairs (Matt).
Then 2 of the remaining 3.
Given Kevin’s previous wins, I’d think the producers will assume he’s safe and he’ll get a soft de ramping a la Lloyd last night.
Rai Elle and Holly is interesting, I’m leaning towards Holly getting the boot. I get the feeling the producers are probably leaning towards Rai Elle as a potential finalist given the ease of getting a duet partner (Stormzy) and she’s an all-round better performer than Holly.
Speaking of finalist duets, Camila Cabello (SyCo connections) would be an easy solution for rak-su. They could sing Dimelo (it references her) mixed with Havana. If I could put money on that being the duet partner and that being the duet song I’d be lumping on right now.
That was the cutkelvins judges House performance…. an easy duet for them in the final?
If I was TPTB, a black rapping upbeat act would be the last thing I would want in the final, given TCO is exactly that.
I actually get the feeling that Rak-Su will Be duetting with Stormzy in the Final. I could see it happening anyway.
A collaboration with Major Lazer must surely be on the cards, either on the show or shortly after.
iTunes previews are up. I’m hearing that Holly could be in trouble while Grace will shine
Grace on last :-))
Running order:
Rai Elle – 1
Kevin Davy White – 2
Matt Linnen – 3
Holly Tandy – 4
Grace Davies – 5
Holly and Kevin?
No slip up from Peter Dickson tonight!
Rae Elle getting the Gifty memorial “sassy black girl” VT. her staging looks like a Rick and Morty adventure too. Very odd.
It’s an assassination for poor Rai Elle tonight with that VT and colour vomit staging. Still sounds great though…!
Paris Klaxon!
Is that the first time eliminated contetsants have popped up in a pre-song VT outside of the sing off survivor’s?
Interested how the audience will take that VT – a teenager having fun or troublemaker? Colour vomit abound with the backing dancers looking like a cheap Doctor Who villain. But FJSO, Louis asking Croydon to vote (not London), Nicole compares her to Lauryn Hill, Simon gives fair critique but calls for her to be in the semis (but he said that about the Price’s)… and Rai Elle took advantage to plead for votes in the Dermot interview, where he turned her into a MP.
Think they’d prefer her to stay but they have bigger fish to fry in terms of keeping singers safe.
My feeling about the VT was that she was an annoying kid who shouldn’t be there.
I think it was a positive spin on the whole “attitude” association we’ve had with Rae Elle. the song choice fed into that. A natural end for Rae Elle.
Heavily subtitled VT alert!
Lol. All Kevin needs is Anton’s graveyard setting. Truly horrible version.
Pure textbook on Kevin tonight.
Kevin, there, standing in Area 51 waiting to be beamed up to the mothership.
Oh I liked that, but it’s a definite dampener on Kevin this week.
Curious VT, Would have been perfect to have a romantic VT with his British girlfriend but instead we get him talking to his parents entirely in French.
Some decent support from the audience. Not sure that was in the script.
Kevin in trouble. A definite Amber.
Ah cue the foreign speaking VT for Kevin – haven’t quite reached the embassy yet, though, and Nicole called him a true artist.
Camera angles were a positive – they kept the shots slow and focused. Louis did say he didn’t like it as much as last week but still made a call for votes, Sharon also followed that route by saying good but not his best but the crowd immediately reacted by chanting his name. Simon criticised the guitar, said that Nicole was ‘trying to cry’ to immediately kill the emotion and made the ‘will be there next week’ comment.
That was a targeting for me; not as harsh as Leon’s but not as soft as the Price’s.
Kevin’s purpose has been well and truly served.
Ah, Kevin’s ambition of meeting Fergie is fulfilled.
At least Kevin got to meet Fergie if he does go tonight!
Is Red and Black still a thing?
Judges lying through their teeth there about Kevin. Great performance and he’s so likeable. The only place he’s going tonight is through to the semi final
They’re trying to use Matt to memory hole Kevin. Not sure it will work, but solid effort.
I wonder if, in the attempts to dampen Kevin, they have taken their eyes off the ball with Matt. I mean, the VT was mildly subversive, with making him say he is single when they have been hinting at his thing with Grace for the last few weeks, but that performance was good, and he is just so much in the MOR mold of previous winners that they will have to proper kill him next week to prevent him hoovering up votes, methinks…
I don’t think they planned on Matt almost throwing himself off balance in the opening bars of the song. VT touched on his love life but mainly focused with his mother which was interesting juxtaposition with Kevin (no subtitles required).
Standing ovation from Nicole and Simon. Louis went for the complacent inducing “you have to be safe”. Sharon touched on emotion and soul whilst Simon said he’s seen the biggest improvement. Nicole touched ‘boxing ring’ which also started his VT. Only thing is no ad break after his performance, the only act (presumably) not to be given this priviledge tonight.
If Kevin survives, it means he probably has a sizeable fanbase and will need to be absolutely destroyed next week. Or risks being like Maloney and getting to the final.
Holly got to meet Harry Styles. Time for her to go?
Holly the target. This is terrible.
Anyone going to discuss what Holly is wearing.. i joke I joke
That’s become a no-go area on this site. Shame, because it is relevant to how the competition, and therefore the betting, goes. BTW she looked lovely, nothing like a hooker. Nothing like the hookers that hang around my gaff here in Cheetham Hill anyway.
Ouch. Simon not even applauding.
Oh no. Poor Holly. They hung her out to dry with that arrangement and staging. It was very Kiera Weathers.
I know we shouldn’t get sentimental about acts, but I really like her. I think she’ll be fine in whatever she does after the X Factor.
I feel the same, she’s been my favourite this year but I accepted she was a no hoper from the start.
Holly and Rai Elle heading home I’d have thought
Seeing a 16 year old dressed like that makes me feel a bit uncomfortable – they’re aging her up before her time. Her whole VT made her look a bit like a bunny boiler towards Harry Styles which is hardly going to endear her to the Directoners. The song was a nothing one, went nowhere, nothing memorable about it. Louis was surpising blunt by saying ‘I think she may go home’ but he said it in a way not to motivate votes.
I think we’ve found target number two. Dermot phrasing it as ‘wants to be in the Prize Fight’ rather than ‘wants to get through’ was complacency inducing again, offsetting Louis.
OK, so Holly doesn’t get an ad break either – three acts in a row without an ad.
Yeah, her styling was horrid and I’m not sure the song choice was terribly appropriate, given her age but it wasn’t mentioned. The stage swallowed her up, she looked and sounded lost the whole time and I don’t think there will be much sympathy from her comments.
Another Millennial Whoop.
I am so sorry about what i said about Shereen – I can now see that the stylists clearly just took advantage of the 3-for-1 offer of bra/jacket combos that was on at Primark this week…
Plinkiplonk – don’t wind them up. Naughty, but made me laugh.
Grace was like a shit Eurovision entry that doesn’t qualify from the semis.
“Please don’t play no more sad songs” was the line of the background song heard just as Grace’s VT finished. Genius.
I suppose that was uptempo for Grace. Positive comments from all, Simon saying they’ve got Grace back, Nicole calling her relevant, Louis saying she’s way ahead of the game and will have an amazing career and Sharon praising the song and makes an explicit call for votes… but she doesn’t feel so hyped as Rak Su?
Not quite the full on pimping for Grace. They’re hoping RakSu win the prize fight I think.
I still think it’s a tossup though. A possibility that voters run back to Grace now she’s doing originals again.
Perhaps it being more uptempo (different from what people loved) will help Rak-Su.
I just asked the person I’m watching the show with who I should vote for on the app tonight – she said Rai Elle, Matt and Grace even though she’s usually a big Kevin fan. She likes him but “he didn’t connect tonight”. I haven’t explained The X Factor’s machinations to her so… if everyone’s like her the producers have executed their plan perfectly.
Just voted on the App for the first time. The order in which the contestants were presented were:
Grace
Holly
Kevin
Matt
Rai-Elle
Interesting that it’s in reverse order but with Kevin and Matt switched around.
Alphabetical no?
It’s just sorted in alphabetical order.
I see, is it like that for every vote? They say that being top of the ballot in a political election is worth 4 pp!
That was as subtle as a brick wall on the M25.
Well that was better than last night but not much. Rai-elle, Holly and Kevin under threat in that order I think.
Matt Linnen will be easy to drag down next week with some dad-rock to make him look dated.
Textbook deramping for Holly- negative critique from Louis, overarching feel of not being deserving/culmination of journey, bad staging, dire song choice, distracting argument. Job well done, Simon. You have to feel bad for her though, poor love.
Holly & Rai-elle to go? whoever Sofabet pictured in the article during elimination day went (Tracey, Leon, J&J, Alisah & Sam).
well congrats Sofabet (Daniel!), spot on again! thanks, made a bit of money following ur articles.
Always alphabetical on the voting app.
Either I’m getting old or Rak Su are completely appalling.
You liked Kevin. You’re definitely getting old.
Haha you might be right. I’d much rather listen to Kevin on my gramaphone than Rak Su though!
Best get yourself booked in for your blue rinse.
It’s nice they’ve dressed Grace as Nikki French from Eurovision 2000.
Don’t play that song again!
Just out of interest why do Betfair suspend the markets towards the end of the show?
Off on a tangent but the staging for Fergie is stunning. They’ve done a great job with the set this year.
Wow. TPTB can do no wrong.
It did feel like it was Rak Su’s strongest song versus Grace’s weakest.
Save Order:
Grace (winner)
Kevin
Matt
Overdid the criticism? I’m not sure if that went exactly to plan. Though Rai-Elle did go on first with colour vomit and spacemen backing dancers so…
All targets hit. What a series for TPTB.
Rak-What? Third time’s the charm and clearly, the tabloid rumours worked
Confirmed by Dermot that all the acts are performing together next week – presumably two songs, one on Saturday and one on Sunday?
Next week’s Sunday show is 90 minutes so you’re probably right. One going each night leaves a four person final.
There’s only one theme though. Will it be the return of the flash vote elimination + overnight vote?
So anyone still thinking that Rak-Su can’t poll well… they should have this in the bag now
Thinking of next week… can they get The CutKelvins above Matt?
Kevin is done for I think
No dear, Project: Cutkelvin is about to shake up the semis. Secret plan A
Seriously though, it looked like the final four was set last week but now it seems like only Rak-Grace are a sure thing. Good job TPTB!
I haven’t really been into Holly at all, but that was tough to watch.
Agree with you there. I’ve not been a fan either but I didn’t enjoy seeing that. 16 does seem such a young age to go through this gruelling process
Really? If you cant handle rejection then you shouldn’t enter. Chances are at some point you’re going to be going home.
Who would have predicted 2 overs and only 1 girl standing at the start of the series? I wonder if they could be in OfCom trouble though? Those terms and conditions at the start of the series really did imply it should have been 1 each from each category.
Someone look at that spreadsheet from the start of the series. I had Kevin out Week 1 so definitely not me!
As pointed out yesterday, the T&C has a clause giving them room to change it
What a dull series. I feel sorry for the two younger girls.
It’s not hard betting, this series, but it feels more obviously than ever like blatant promo for acts they want to sign without hardly an attempt to pretend it’s actually a competition any more. And this is following the Louisa Johnson year (how did her career work out again, by the way?).
They tried to make it look like a competition for the first three weeks but now it’s the business end, subtlety be damned
I have to say I’ve found this series thoroughly boring.
Just to veer off topic for a second is anyone here going to the UK Eurovision NF in Brighton in Feb?
Will probably be heading down, it’s on during ICE in London
Cool, should try and sort a Sofabet meetup. With Mans hosting and Edward Af Sillen from Melfest and SVT’s two shows this decade writing it should be good.
Some parallels in treatment this weekend
Grace : Rak-Su
Kevin : Lloyd
Matt : TCK
Rai-Elle : S&C
Holly : Sam
I didnt think Hollie got especially bad treatment. Bad song choice, poor staging, average comments. She wouldve been polling low anyway. They knew thats all they needed to do to kill her off. There have been so many much more brutal take-downs in the past she got off quite lightly Id say.
I thought she got off easy compared to Sam, but others in the forum thought otherwise.
My idea is that for the two eliminations, one got the “nice” treatment where their dignity looks intact while the other got the “naughty” treatment where they look like a mess.
Its totally Grace Vs RakSu now. Was obvious they would feel the need to ramp up the pimping this weekend to get them through to the final. They definitely held back with Grace though. Was this just to try and get RakSu the prize-fight win or are the boys the clear preference of TPTB for the overall win?
Given a boy group has never won I think they’ll try and push them for the win. Will be signing both acts though I think whoever wins.
I’m feelin’ you on this one. The big question mark I had about Rak-Su coming into the Lives how the public will take them. Four shows later, they’re clearly a smash hit so no reason for TPTB to put their foot off the gas
I also feel its Rak Su and Grace that are being favoured and also the favourites of the public right now. Rak Su will have momentum due to the prize fight win over Grace though it’s very hard to call between the two…
They actually described next weeks show as a “head to head” didnt they? That usually means 1 vs 1 ie Rak-Su Vs Kevin, Grace Vs TCK etc etc. Not suggesting this is what they’re going to do although they could pretty much guarantee the final they wanted that way. Just a strange way to describe it.
The four youngest acts this year (Conor, Holly, Rai-Elle, Sean) were eliminated on the weekend. Not allowed in the next week’s adults table.
TPTB manipulations aside you could argue a very strong case that they were the weakest four acts left in the competition. And definitely the least popular as proven by the vote.
Not where I was going but you should know that preceived strength and result in the vote cannot be uncoupled from TPTB manipulations.
My main point is, at the business end, the show has zero time for development projects. Hence the top 6 are all nearly fully formed as singers/artists.
I don’t think Holly was treated particularly badly, but it made for uncomfortable watching because she’s so young and likeable. I get the impression she’s done everything that was asked of her, and now there’s no use for her, so it feels more brutal than it actually was. Serves me right for liking a contestant!
I found Holly extremely likeable, but her takedown reminded me a bit of Lauren Murray from a couple of years ago when she got stiched up like a kipper at the semis.
Skipped the judges comments and most of the VTs tonight, but based on the performances and stagings I was expecting Matt and Holly to go. Both were pitchy and had the good ol’ Red and Black going on. But Rai-Elle’s performance was also first and quite dull, so her and Holly wasn’t that much of a surprise. I’m not still not convinced Holly wasn’t just Emily from last year with a new accent but the same inability to find a key and stick with it.
Rak-Su are currently number 1 (and 9, 13 and 28) on iTunes
Regardless of your feelings towards them, or your book… has any other X Factor contestant done something like that (even if the iTunes chart is a small sample)
Also Dermot didn’t mention anything about the voting being close, so I’d guess they won tonight by a decent %
What it does show is that they are capable of selling records, and better at it than Grace… comments a few laughed at me for making when I said urban/grime/r’n’b acts will do will at the moment
RakSu aren’t grime though are they? They are at the cheesiest end of urban music. In a two horse race RakSu appear to have the greater producer favour on their side but I wouldn’t count your chickens just yet. They won’t throw Grace under the bus and I’d say she’s the closer of the two acts to middle of the road vote-friendlyness so in a two show final who knows.
I wouldn’t underestimate raksu’s broad appeal. Their style is a dumbed-down-saccharine-sweet-made-for-tv version of what is actually considered cool right now amongst the music buying public.
I would include in this demographic a large portion of the ‘dad vote’, mums watching with their children, the early teen voters who are more used to radio edits than the more hard-core stuff and the casual viewer who has seen hundreds of Grace Davieses come and go throughout chart history.
Rak-Su are basically the credible, chart-worthy, JLS’d version of Reggie & Bollie, who were beyond crap and were still successfully pushed to 2nd.
*for ‘music buying public’ read ‘voting public’ in my above post
I would have them at the softer end of the ‘grime’ scale, appropriate for a Saturday night TV audience… they can’t really sing about gun crime, drug dealing and degrading women. If you think about Stromzy, the song that made him big had lyrics, or as the young say ‘bars’, about Eastenders and David Moyes.
It’s a world away from More Fire Crew performing on TOTP in a song glorifying gun crime, there’d be mass outrage if songs like that were played on prime time now.
Their ‘dumbed-down’ lyrics (as Yolanda puts it) and the appeal they have towards the people of this country, who appear to be getting dumber every hour, go perfectly hand in hand.
Your middle England mum of 10 years ago, isn’t your MEM of today. 10 years ago they were listening to So Solid Crew, necking WKDs in Croydon nightclubs, singing along to easy to remover lyrics such as 21 seconds tut tut tut. Whereas the Ines from 10 years ago are now child free and enjoying their life. (Imo)
Never counting my chickens..
Rak-Su doing this during XF’s low point is amazing. It’s also unprecedented because having performance recordings on iTunes is relatively new for the show (it was a standard in American Idol and The Voice; XF abandoned this last year in lieu of a Spotify playlist, no one cared about those).
I had backed Grace to win Sunday night quite heavily, but found myself covering on Matt after Grace had performed. I thought she was a bit off, it was an underwhelming performance from the pimp slot compared to what she is capable of. She did a much better job during the Prize Fight as she was more relaxed, but does anyone else think Matt would’ve had a better chance of beating Rak-Su last night?
I mean, Grace is clearly more popular than Matt, but also more divisive…
I think if they’d put Matt on last and Grace 2nd/3rd yesterday… Matt would’ve won the night (just), also if there was no Kevin and say Alisah was the token foreigner in the Overs category, I think Matt would’ve beaten her
That middle of the road pond is going to be pretty full of rods next weekend, Grace, Kevin, Lloyd, Matt all going for the same votes.
I think TPTB will pimp Lloyd for the top three. He and Grace can then split the ballad vote, allowing the chosen ones to triumph.
Also, I think Kevin is so distinctive, his votes are less likely to transfer
I’m looking forward to seeing if Simon is kind or brutal as he dispatches the glasgow siblings on saturday.