In yesterday’s show, we said goodbye to Matt Linnen, who finished bottom of the vote after his rendition of ‘Gimme Shelter’. It was enough that he was put on second in the running order, with generally unhelpful staging, and a look of thunder on Sharon’s face as he performed.
Dermot said in-running there was only 2% between the bottom two. Consensus in the market and among our commenters was that The Cutkelvins were the ones scrapping for survival with Matt. That makes them strong elimination favourites to go tonight, though Dermot’s further announcement that it would be a double elimination was a surprise.
There were many theories put forward in our discussion thread. Had it been the plan all along? Is it Lloyd Macey’s illness that forced a rethink? Or was it to avoid someone else being in the final? It was certainly interesting that the reveal came once voting figures for last night’s show would have been known, but we can only deal in speculation.
The two highest profile acts of the series, Rak-Su and Grace, return to performing original material tonight. We know Rak-Su’s ‘I’m Feeling You’ from their room audition. Grace is singing ‘Wolves’ and hoping she’s not thrown to them. In the opposite direction, The Cutkelvins are going back to covers with dance classic ‘Show Me Love’. The tabloid stories about them this weekend continued in a less than flattering light.
The Sun That leaves Kevin Davy White whipping out his guitar again for ‘Voodoo Child’, while Lloyd Macey will be hoping he’s on the mend physically to give ‘Fix You’ his best shot. As always, let us know your thoughts below as the show progresses to revealing this year’s finalists. Will Dermot be banging the favoured battle bus once more? We can’t wait.
Wikipedia has them sorted as
Grace
Lloyd
Kevin
TCK
Rak-Su
not sure if sorted by category or the running order. Tellystats isn’t around to corroborate, either
Posted the RO now:
Lloyd Macey: 1
Rak-Su: 2
The Cutkelvins: 3
Kevin Davy White: 4
Grace Davies: 5
Lloyd Macey: 1
Rak-Su: 2
The Cutkelvins: 3
Kevin Davy White: 4
Grace Davies: 5
according to tellystats
Grace might’ve been close to the bottom, hence the pimp. Bye Lloyd. Rak-Su memoryholing Cutkelvins.
Rak-Su on 2nd… they’re the target 😉
Or more likely they’re so far ahead of the field now that it doesn’t matter where they sign from
Hmm they were still giving Ben Haenow and Louisa good pimp slots in the RO when they were far ahead
Maybe it’s a show of confidence. Last year Matt Terry never had a pimp slot and he was plan A weeks 1-7.
Louisa lost weeks 4 and 5 (finished 3rd that week)
Giving Grace the pimp slot in the semi so they can give RakSu it in the final.
Lloyd clearly the target then. Can hear Simon telling him “something’s missing tonight” or that he “didnt feel he connected with the song”. “Its not the illness though cos you were great last night”. Wonder if he knows it. Matt looked like he was very aware last night.
They do look to be ahead of the rest at this point and have been building week on week, but they only need to be ahead of TCK and one other.
Grace and Kevin could still finish above them tonight.
To me the running order is set out this way so Lloyd can be memory holed in the death slot, followed by Rak-Su to assist the memory holing with an upbeat number. We probably won’t have an ad break between the two.
TCK are third on because they are so far behind.
Then Kevin & Grace on at the top end to ensure they reach the final.
At least the cuttys should miss the strictly overlap for once. Was exepcting them in the 1st 2 slots so cant grumble too much.
Not sure, Slot 3 is probably going to be in Strictly Slot.
Maybe people switching over will catch the comments though.. Just! 🙂
Depends how much filler they have. Hour and half show. Id expect the 3rd performance to be around the half hour mark.
Lloyd got to perform in front of thousands. No need to send him to the final, he has got what he wanted.
Faint praise but call for votes by Louis and Sharon.
Know it’s unlikely, but was Simon’s cough to distract?
Expecting the Cutkelvins to go tonight. Not sure if TPTB care too much if it’s Lloyd or Kevin to join them.
No bus for Lloyd then. They must be confident they have his vote under control.
What the fuck are they doing during these comments. Deramp in disguise.
Lol. Sharron. Vote for everyone tonight.
Agreed with Tom. There was a real sense of journey’s end for Lloyd there.
“Did you ever dream you’d be performing Coldplay? No”
Anyone with that dream needs to dream bigger.
Ah Simon and Louis’ coughing fit through Nicole’s critique – that’s a new one. Sharon went for a ‘vote for everyone’, Simon aimed for ‘you should be there’ though Louis did go for an explicit call out to vote ‘everyone at home’. I have no idea what Nicole said due to the coughing though if they were looking to deramp him I think her critique was the most damning, something about being up against artists?
Dermot: Lloyd – there he goes.
If they get their way? That wasn’t an out and out kill for sure.
I see they brought on the glee club of the damned from Total Eclipse of the Heart for Lloyd
https://youtu.be/fsgWUq0fdKk
colour vomit. Lloyd, with dad dancing lol
This is the second night of colour vomit for Rak-Su. I only watched last night’s show this afternoon and it seemed that Nicole was about to comment on the colours in a negative way, then drew back from the brink.
I actually enjoyed this Rak-Su performance. Suprised they never got the pimp slot. Lloyd who?
Was Nicole going rogue but changed her mind half way through?
RakSu have killed it tonight. Game over.
Yet another food analogy, this time Rak-Su are pizza, everyone loves it.
Cuttys to get the strictly switch over slot. A 4 judge SO could really shake things up.
The Cutkelvins are gone. There is no way they will be in the top 3 unless they nuke Grace and Kevin.
The staging for Rak Su felt a bit tacky, I remember a car being on stage for Union J’s Sweet Dreams and they ended up in the bottom two with that. And Colour Vomit ahoy.
All three ‘neutral’ judges hit the complacency inducing “you’ll be in the final” comments and Nicole said it wasn’t their strongest performance. Interestingly, whilst Simon said it was important to get them there next week he didn’t explicitly call for votes. Also Dermot went with ‘Rak-what’ rather than ‘Rak Su’ at the end of it.
Very odd – that definitely wasn’t a ramp and, with two going, they seem to be playing a bit fast and lose with them.
They’re miles ahead and noone is going to be put off voting for them cos there’s a car on stage.
It was just an aside – I don’t think they’ll be the bottom two because of the car on stage. But colour vomit and compalcency inducing comments are known to be used they want out… as you say, maybe they are just miles ahead they’re now building an aura up of invincibility.
I always find it funny when a mum in her mid-30s likes a Rak-Su comment of mine on twitter…
I always used to talk about MEMs like I wasn’t that generation… but I actually am (I could be described as MED)… God I feel old
Anyway, is it game set match now?
How funny would it be if Raksu were miles ahead last night and the judges got complacent tonight throwing them on early during strictly and they crashed out. Would be my favourite ever reality tv moment.
But they didn’t hit all the ‘ramp’ moments – Nicole came out with some criticism, the three neutral judges all spoke as though it was a foregone conclusion that they’d be in the final and colour vomit was spread all over the stage. If they hadn’t been treated as Plan A from the off we’d be talking about them walking around with a target on their back.
I wouldn’t. Colour vomit is only a thing on sofabet. It means nothing in the real world. Same as red and black.
But isn’t that the point? The audience at large doesn’t know that colour vomit is off-putting; they just find it off-putting sub-conciously.
Look, I’m not saying Rak Su are going to go home – just it felt like the foot was taken off the accelerator for that performance.
Like red & black it really depends on how it’s used. I didn’t find it that off putting in Rak-Su’s performance. It didn’t really take attention away from them.
Agree with george. Context is everything. I don’t believe people always find colour vomit off-putting or that TPTB always use it to deramp acts. Its just some nonsense theory someone came up with on here. Same as red and black.
A bit late, I know, but I thought the Cutties’ performance yesterday was pretty good and I liked the song – some tuning issues but it was fun. The problem of being on first is that although they got good praise, everyone after them, bar Matt, got even better praise. It seemed good and fair at the time, but when you watch to the end, you realise it was actually faint praise in comparison with some of what came after. This means the judges look as if they are being fair and unbiased, but actually it is the same old nuking of acts – just in a very discreet way.
Sharon Nicole stay seated. Keeping the vote in check.
Haha the audacity of Simon mocking the production he is responsible for.
Major pimping of Kevin and Grace coming up just to bury Tck
Calling for votes for TCK. Doubt it will be enough.
They keep banging on about the Cutkelvins being out-classed by everyone else – “you are the underdogs”. I don’t see it motivating votes, to be honest. The song was perhaps not “cutting edge” enough to get them through. I would say they have a target on their back tonight. Faint praise without it being awful enough to inspire sympathy.
Reminder to vote for TCK and Lloyd.
The cutties know they r under fire even a call out for them by themselves. And their VT was horrible.
Every act i back is out in the semi finals
Lauren murray emily middlemas and now the cutkelvins.
Good VT for Kevin. Telling us he is a serious musician again.
Think Kevin could be in the final 2 after that. Unless Grace is amazing he will probably top the vote tonight and probably topped yesterday.
Kevin will put on a show – that’s why they’ve been pushing him week on week, because that was a show.
Finding it hard to believe someone just performed a Jimi Hendrix song on the X Factor and got such passionate praise…..Is there really a market for this sort of thing anymore or is it as Fudd says, all about putting on a show?
The 90s called, they’d like their Cutkelvins back…I think that’s it.
Early shout for pun options:
Cut off
Cut out
Cut down
Zero degrees Kelvin
Cutty snark
Kevin, Grace and RakSu is the most talented and relevant final line-up ever.
It’s a shame it has the lowest ratings of the lot – maybe they needed to switch direction sooner? Or maybe this direction means less viewers are enthused about the show.
I think a decline of this sort was inevitable since 2011. Less viewers means less media coverage/chatter, and then even fewer viewers. It’s a vicious circle.
I hate to buy into the shows propaganda but Kevin truly is outstanding, by this shows standards. To think, after his dreadful week one song and staging (sorry, no vancancies still makes me chuckle) could have had him out then.
To their credit, the top 5 are all decent and could make the final. We haven’t been able to say that for a while.
It seems the writing is on the wall for Cutkelvins. Lloyd is the obvious second candidate, anybody else would be a huge upset.
I still can’t believe Kevin got past 10th place never mind at least being 5th, I would never have called that before the lives
One of Grace’s songs playing in her VT.
Lloyd in the VT.
Probably discussed already, but has anyone noticed they already have their ‘branding’ sorted for everybody, should they win or get signed?
Like the font and style for Grace’s name in her VT.
Yes, it was looked at in Sofabet’s midweek article. 🙂
It’s not just for their post show careers it’s to stop you picking up the phone for the ones TPTB don’t like. Apparently.
Does this mean Rak Su and Grace have ‘released’ the same number of originals in the live stages? Rak Su have had Mamcita, Dimelo and Mona Lisa; Grace has had Too Young, Hesitate and Wolves.
They added their own lyrics to Faith and Flowers too though.
Best Grace performance for me… I liked that
If she’d wrote that for Carrie Underwood I’d have it on repeat
That would be a perfect winners single for Grace
Grace is back in the game. Very sympathetic VT, with a reminder of her audition song in the background, setting her up to sing it again next week. And best performance in the lives so far.
Perfectly timed for Grace – great song, nice staging, good performance. Her vocals sound a little strained but I enjoyed the promise of hearing Roots again next week after we heard it at the auditions.
Is it confirmed that we are having original winners singles, if it is indeed Grace and Rak Su? I’m Feelin You and Roots would be the obvious choices.
Isn’t Kevin a songwriter too or am I misremembering this from an earlier stage? They’ve certainly kept a lid on that with him if so.
No you’re right, he has performed an original song at some point before the lives if I remember correctly.
They haven’t let him perform his own material, but he is one of the only acts in the shows history to actually play an instrument each week, which is impressive.
I’ve a feeling we’ll get completely new songs for the winner’s singles – maybe co-written with somebody – now that I’m Feeling You was already done this week. Think it’d be a bit “oh not this one again” if they did it again in the final as their single.
I expect Rak-Su will do “Mamacita” for their best of the series song and Grace “Roots” obvs.
Surely Mona Lisa for Rak-Su
Dimelo seems to be their most successful based on iTunes/YouTube, so maybe that. But they did win the prize fight with Mona Lisa.
I hope they don’t make Rak Su do a wish wash X Factor winners ballad. The show would be foolish to not use one of the songs they’ve already done, and drop them out officially until the album is done with some new material.
Lloyd and Rak-Su were both quite ‘end of journey’, I would like Cutkalvins to make it through, but I stand by Rak-su, Grace, Kevin being the nailed on finalists regardless.
Everyone getting a mention from the judges except Cuttys and Lloyd. Looks like another direct hit coming up.
Well there we have it from the judges. Who should go through (excluding their own act/s)?
Louis: Rak Su
Sharon: Rak Su
Nicole: Rak Su
Simon: Kevin and Grace
Maybe they were just confident about Rak Su’s vote with the complacency inducing comments.
Pretty sure Louis said Kevin.
I thought he said Rak Su for some reason – was it Kevin? Either way the key is no mention of The Cut Kelvins or Lloyd.
Yeah, glaring omissions for both of them, as if the writing wasn’t already on the wall…
The only thing is I guess, if successful, they were quite kind kills; they weren’t ones which made it horrible or awkward to watch.
No mention for Lloyd or the Cutkelvins from the judges then.
Also chuckled earlier when Simon congratulated Rak-Su for doing their own thing and not being puppets, like so many other acts they’ve had. Cut to Lloyd.
TCK and Lloyd to go.
Bold call there!
I know. Get my trophy for best prediction ready.
Not a big fan of Ed’s new work but I still enjoy his live performances
Save Order:
Rak Su
Grace
Kevin
The order they want them to finish next week?
Definitely
The order they finished tonight as well i guess.
Like clockwork!
Is this the first final without the boys category in?
Series 1 was Steve (Over) v G4 (Group) though the category was Under 25s then.
Wow, even so – since series one is rather remarkable.
Yes. If you include the under 25s-era, I think the first series didn’t have one but that’s it. Fitting because this is the worst Boys category in my memory.
Leon/Rhydian
Eoghan Quigg
Joe
Matt C
Marcus
James/Jahmene
Nicholas/Luke
Andrea
Che
Matt T
Even series two had Shayne and series three had Ray. Series 7 had an elder ‘boy’ in Matt as they switched the age from 25 to 28. So no ‘Boy’ for the first time since Series One.
Direct hit.
Who would’ve thought Kevin would be in the final back in week 1?
Staying at the studios? Shows how much the show has fallen.
Oh, VOTE RAK-SU front and center, lol.
The final is at the London Excel Centre
https://www.google.co.uk/amp/metro.co.uk/2017/11/19/the-x-factor-2017-finals-will-be-held-at-the-excel-centre-for-the-first-time-7091303/amp/
tbf iirc peak XF never went to Wembley. The show’s needless desire to end unusually early left the stadium fully booked for them
So these buses, did they even have ones ready for Lloyd and TCK?
They showed their stickers so yeah they did.
they dont leave anything alone do they – even the order of the buses mirrors that finishing order
That Rak Su bus hahaha. At least we got a long shot of Kevin wandering on to his bus on his own as an afterthought.
Actually quite looking forward to next weeks final. Enjoyed Dermot referencing Helsinki last year. Saarabet, never forget.
Don’t worry, Saarabet will return again next year 😉
Do you think the final will have an overnight vote? Or just a quick vote for third place on Saturday and a quick vote for the winner on Sunday?
Probably depend on whether Rak Su are topping it or not
Flash for Saturday and overnight for Sunday. Can’t risk Kevin gaining momentum!
I think that was the most lacklustre X factor live show ever. Sharon sat there with the death mask look, only coming to life when she had to comment. Simon was unpleasant to Nicole. Last night Louis was effectively bullied with the booing. It has become a nasty cynical show.
The booing was an inside joke, instigated by Simon, as per someone in the audience (not me)
It was a joke during the ad break. I thonk the opposite. The show has became much more positive this year imo. Isn’t a good thing though, it has lost all of it’s tension.
Congratulations to Lloyd who can finally rest after having laryngitis! Please tell me they won’t bring back the “group songs”
Imo the show has been way to short this year, in one weekend we have lost half of the people left. 4 people left last week, that would take a month in usual years. If TPTB were desperate for a Rak-Su win, would they have shortened the shows to help Rak-Su?
Too*
Good luck to everyone next weekend. Im off to lick my wounds.
You don’t fancy trying your luck on the third place market?
No way mate. Rather invest it in strictly.
This series has been a painful watch.
Agreed Stoney. This series felt more artificial and irrelevant than ever. For me, the acts’ names inspired disinterest from the get go. There’s no one up there going to have a career, even at the Louisa Johnson level, maybe Raksu for one or two hits.
People complain about the show’s manipulation but the regime of light-touch nudging led American Idol, at one point, to several WGWG winners in a row. Only when the show became more heavy-handed (during the Nicki/Mariah year, they made the live show girls overwhelmingly good) did they break that curse.
They might have broken the curse, but they killed the show.
No subsequent winner (or finalist) did anything chartwise. The last winner who made any noticeable impact was the prior season’s winner, Phillip Phillips.
That span created the show’s first genuine flop winner, though, in Lee DeWyze. The subsequent revamp that brought in Steven Tyler, J-Lo, and Jimmy Iovine made the next two, Scotty McCreery and PP, modest successes. imho it wasn’t just the heavy-handedness that destroyed Idol since, it was also the wrecked dynamic caused by Nicki and Mariah’s bickering and the poor choice of female winner.
WGWG? What’s that ? Thanks!
just googled it White Guys With Guitars
I’m hoping we don’t get BGWG
Yeah, White Guy With Guitar. Imagine having 5 Haenows in a row. Suicide on both XF the show and XF the music act creator.
Has there been a single elimination that wasn’t favourite after the performances? Feels it’s been very clinical with no real upsets along the way to the final.
Alisah. Most betting people thought Sam was going (but Sofabet knew better)
Assuming Kevin finishes third, where does everyone think the bulk of his votes will go? The male rapping group or the female vocalist?
Vote transfer is what lost it for Saara Aalto last year, and I’m just wondering if something similar could happen again.
Think Kevin’s votes will go to Grace. Just can’t see them going to Rak-Su.
Enough of Kevin’s votes went to RakSu in their last prize fight with Grace for RakSu to win. Can’t see final being any different. Although on paper I agree that I would think they’d be more likely to vote for Grace. In practice though it doesn’t seem to happen.
Hesitate was probably Grace’s weakest original song though (definitely in the live shows). She beat them when her song Too Young was stronger, and she’s already confirmed she’s doing Roots at some point next weekend, nicely set up in the VT tonight.
Unlike Saara last year Rak-Su have won in a head-to-head. If they really want Rak-Su to win they will manage it (though I do think in a fair fight Grace would probably edge it). TPTB have been too on point this series to blow it in the final.
IF Rak-Su are ahead after the voting next Saturday night, and I do think they will be, it might depend on their margin of victory over Grace at that point. If it’s a Ben Haenow-type percentage (45%) or Louisa Johnson (44%), vote transfer will be largely irrelevant.
But if it’s more like a Saara Aalto percentage (35%), then it’s game on for Grace. Potentially.
There is also the idea of a “singer” with a ballad/emotional song(s) doing traditionally better in a final. There will be some first time voters and some that may not have voted since their favourite went out voting too. Are Rak Su gone too far ahead of Grace to win it?
Grace beat Raksu in week 1 when she was given good treatment and a good slot. Three weeks later after continued pimping for Raksu and so-so treatment for her she lost to Raksu. TPTB will just continue in the same vein. Praise for Grace, ridiculous praise for RakSu.
As a Grace backer I hope Im wrong but I just cant see it. The voters have followed TPTBs guidance every step of the way.
By the way, with all the talk of this year being the year of originals, does anyone think they could revamp the show to make it a singer-songwriter competition? As a last throw of the dice.
They are already fishing in a tiny pool to get enough contestants; to stipulate you must write your own songs would make that even smaller and require even more manipulation – there are already reports that they had assistance with the song writing this year, this would need full-on ghost writing…
iTunes chart (Saturday, Sunday; old songs)
Rak-Su (8, 4; 12-23-25-64)
Grace (17, 6; 37-48-57-211)
Kevin (24, 51; 125-150-155-250)
Lloyd (59, 42; 118-128-253-257)
TCK (120, . ; 334-1446-..)
Matt (203, n/a; 273-517-1226-.)
S&C (n/a, n/a; 864-…)
all i can say is: XF missed the boat with the original material/iTunes combo. could have been done 5+/- years ago
I’m slightly intrigued as to whether Kevin could actually win. Presumably they’ll Candy and colour vomit him up, but even so, his vote has been surprisingly robust so far, and he’s running away with the DS ‘who do you want to win of the top 3’ poll.
Well Rak-su are leading the Tellymix poll. On the basis that they’re both usually wrong it looks like Grace has this in the bag.
I’m certainly in the Kevin camp and believe he won’t be finishing third as most people seem to think. He was given nothing but praise at the weekend and was even bigged up by Ed Sheeran. He would be a worthy winner and give a bit of authenticity to a flagging brand. And should be get the full support of the show next weekend and go on to pull it out of the bag, the careers of Raksu and Grace could still be launched from second and third place. Of course, I’m biased having had a small each way bet at 66-1 after the first live show, but he’s brought his A-game every week, demonstrated he can actually put on a show rather than just sing a song and he’s incredibly likeable. He might be stitched up with a trip to the embassy, perhaps he’ll be stripped of his hat or his guitar, but i feel he’s gaining momentum all the time. Look at social media and people love him whereas there is a lot of split opinions over Grace, and I see Raksu as very mediocre and only a tiny bit better than the mess that were Rough Copy. Time will tell but at this stage I reckon Kev is being massively underrated.
The same arguments were made for Saara last year. I don’t think they will throw Kevin under a bus but TPTB will know exactly what buttons to press to dampen his support.
RakSu
Grace
Kevin
That’s the order for me. Probably about 3-1 on though if not shorter.
Fair point. But perhaps they don’t want to dampen his support. We saw all the signs last year throughout the series that Saara would not be wanted as a winner. I can’t recall anything like that for Kevin other than that ridiculous comment about his out-of-tune guitar. Other than that it’s all been particularly positive.
Kevin will not sell records. He is more of a The Voice kind of winner.
I agree. But no winner of the show has sold huge numbers of records for years. So why not push a real artist to the win, let him have an album but invest in Raksu and Grace?Everyone’s a winner then and the final has a feelgood vibe to it that might just bring some viewers back next year.
Because one of the main critisims of the show is that the winners never do anything
Kevin winning would not bring viewers back as it would likely be viewed as more of the same, guy wins… does nothing
at least if Rak-Su or Grace win there is a greater chance of them being able to say the show can still find people who will make hit records.
Also what is a ‘real’ artist?
would you not call Stormzy a ‘real’ artist, for example?
Art can come in many forms, one mans Tracey Emin is another mans Picasso, are you saying one of them isn’t ‘real’
I’m just saying Kevin comes across as more credible than Raksu. Perhaps it’s because he plays an instrument and Raksu jump around a lot singing about fajitas. Or perhaps I’m just getting old and don’t get the youngsters with their new-fangled music. We’ll see. Either way, Kev has been building up a head of steam and has done far better than pretty much everybody on here called.
The show brandished its new “original” image and the winner becomes this dude whose USP is playing the electric guitar. A bit like appointing David Moyes as Manchester United boss.
I think he was given a lot of room this weekend because TPTB were able to knock him down the week before, after two straight trips to the prize fight. Compare that to their treatment of Grace, positive yet tentative because she’s an actual threat to Project: Rak-Su
It sells, it always has, nothing newfangled about it
15 years ago The Ketchup Song was number 1 all over Europe https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ketchup_Song_(Aserej%C3%A9)
The Food Song reache number two in the UK charts a year later.
I’m sure you’re not that old to not rememeber liking those songs… going even further back there was The Macarena (ultimate cheese party anthem)
depending on what day Grace was planning on singing Roots, I think Kevin may be able to pip her to 2nd
if Grace sings Roots (a song I hate) on the Sunday, then it’s game on imo… as people seemed to like it. I don’t really get it, I know Blackburn is a dive but it’s hardly a struggle. When I think of a song called roots, i think about the struggle of black people, not a middle class girl from tut North
On the subject of RakSu I don’t really get all the negative comparisons to previous groups. They’re head and shoulders better than anything there’s been before including Little Mix and JLS.
I guess it’s down to personal opinion. Most people I know think they’re a bit naff.
betting book talk
On that, The Spice Girls weren’t very good either, yet they sold a lot of music
I’m sure most on here loved them 20+ years ago
Spice girls were awesome, after 20 years still have them posters on the wall.
I loved them… but lets be honest they’re the same ilk as Rak-Su
Commercial cheese… it’s great imo
Who doesn’t actually like that type of music… even the non-backers will be listening to a serious amoun tof cheese in the next month
Kevin’s homecoming starts in London and not in Paris where The Voice rejected him
What’s the chance they mention Voice rejection in his VT?
Kevin was on Lorraine on ITV this morning and either her or Dan Wootton mentioned his Voice rejection…A sign of something which will happen on the show itself?
Simon REALLY hates the Voice. If Kevin were even the slightest bit more commercially relevant, Simon would be pushing that angle mercilessly. However, his desire to make money will overcome his desire to embarrass a rival show.
Just caught up with last night’s show. Horribly predictable (unless you were betting at short odds on the outcome!).
I’m surprised no mention has been made on here of the comparison Nicole drew between Grace’s song and Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep” and One Republic’s “Counting Stars”. That sounded to me like TPTB wanted to put into the viewers’ thoughts that Grace was nicking her songs.
I heard the Counting Stars vibe during the performance, the animal in the background is also akin to OneRepublic’s album cover for Native. Surprised Nicole even pointed it out.
I thought it was a nod at how current-ish but slightly derivative she is. Compared to the “groundbreaking” Rak-Su
It sounded to me like it was one of those comments that on the face of it sounded helpful (as you say, current), but was made to plant a seed of doubt about her originality.
The same thing crossed my mind but I thought it was probably just clumsy. If they wanted to pour a little cold water on Grace why not just criticise the staging or something like that? I don’t think they would undermine everything they have told us about Grace’s originality just for the sake of a minor deramp.
In 2012, James Arthur had the pimp slot in the semi and then won the final.
In 2013, Sam Bailey had the pimp slot in the semi and then won the final.
In 2014, Ben Haenow had the pimp slot in the semi and then won the final.
In 2015, Louisa Johnson had the pimp slot in the semi and then won the final.
In 2016, Saara Aalto had the pimp slot in the semi and it sort of felt like they wanted her to win the final.
In 2017, Grace Davies had the pimp slot in the semi…is this a sign that they might be pushing her to win the final? as I’ve mentioned before, perhaps Grace’s winner’s single is more suitable as a charity record for December, or something like that.
Rak-Su were on second, which is very odd running order position for the semi if they are indeed The Chosen Ones. Maybe they are just miles ahead in the voting regardless…
….also Simon said last night Grace’s performance was like a winner returning 😉
But yes I think Rak are ahead on votes atm, unfortunately for us Grace backers.
Roots is a “beautiful, beautiful song”…as Simon said . Its her joker in the pack for the final.
Joker in the pack…or her (Donald) trump card? 😉
I just learned that CNCO, guest performers in the XF final and collaborators with Little Mix in Reggaeton Lento, won in a Simon Cowell talent show.
Was that not a widely known fact? Why else would they work with LM, if not to push them in the UK?
Fun fact: simon’s Co-producer on the Latin boyband show was Ricky Martin.
Perhaps Kevin’s week 4 treatment was to see how strong his vote was? If it wasn’t strong enough, he would go. If it was strong enough, then they would pimp him. It was strong enough.
I still think Kevin will be third but I think he topped the vote both nights. It won’t take a lot to get him over Grace.
So…anyone want to take a guess at the duet partners?
Kevin and Nicole?
Rak Su and Stormzy
Grace and James Arthur/Sam Smith
Kevin and Nicole
Kevin and Nicole would be a danger to grace and Rak-Su… but I can see it happening
Rak-Su and Craig David
Grace and James Blunt
Switched on my radio this morning.
Commercial radio in Gibraltar. They started talking about how everyone should vote for Grace. They didn’t give any context or any reason, just that people should vote for Grace. Weird.
Not saying it means anything, and even if the votes counted, the 3 or 4 thousand that came from here would be insignificant in the grand scheme of things.
But gib is voting for Grace… Apparently.
Gilbraltar isn’t allowed to vote on The X Factor. You can try, but it doesn’t work.
Strange one this, I also live in Gibraltar. I haven’t heard anything of the sort.
However what I do know is if anyone in Gibraltar opens the X Factor app, they get a notification when they click on vote saying “this app is for UK only.”
So strange anyone would go on radio saying that, since we assume they would have tried to vote for Grace already and got same message.
Buses: so they had the Rak Su bus on show, whose bus was first in line/was on show last year?
I don’t think the producers want Kevin winning? I think they wouldn’t mind Grace winning but may prefer Rak Su. Though Saara was the fave going into the final last year while Matt was about 2/1 then it quickly reversed and Matt won.
Grace’s weapon will be roots, duet partners will also be another booster depending on the pairing. Not sure if Rak Su have another original or what they could use as winners song?
Like I say, yeah weird. Most people do have UK VPNs around here so it’s easy enough to vote if you want to (of course I’ve franked my bets with a casual 5 votes here and there). I just thought it was weird as theyve never even mentioned Xfactor before and suddenly today they’re asking for people to vote for Grace.
GBC probably has an audience of 3-4k so it’s not an audience that could have any influence. But if several other independent radio stations called upon its listeners..
Rak Su have Dimelo
This was the song that turned them from challengers to front runners, and will be much more of a trigger than Grace’s Roots from her audition.
Oh… You got my heart beating rapido…
I wonder if the lesson TPTB have taken from Saara is that a foreigner can’t win in a final when the casual audience is more likely to watch and vote. Would that explain why they have pushed Kevin so strongly with the aim of him finishing second to Rak Su. If they keep the format the same as last year the ‘song of the series’ will only be between the top two so they wouldn’t have to worry about a surge of votes for the Roots reprise. This might be the best path to get the winner they want (even if it isn’t the best narrative ending for the show that been far more about Grace and Rak Su than Kevin.)