X Factor Blog – Week Five September 21, 2009

Posted by Ruth in : Music, TV , trackback

So with the auditions finally coming to a close, it looks like Boot Camp will be something to look forward to, doesn’t it? You can guarantee there will be a couple we thought would sail through who might not get any further, if the predictability of the show is already anything to go by.

Saturday night saw me going against the decision of my long time fave judge Simon when he didn’t think 31 year old Nichole had the potential to make it to the top of the ladder. In the words of the ultimate Mariah Carey impersonator Fouad Djaoublia    “You wrong Simon, you wrong.”

Granted Nichole has picked up a slew of bad habits singing on the bar and club circuit but she can easily put those right don’t you think? I would be lying if I didn’t say I was upset with the fact that me and ‘my’ judge faced our first disagreement, what with that and the emergence of the 80 year old Eileen Chapman vying for Simon’s attention, I felt all was lost.

And looking at some of Saturdays offerings it was. Even seeing Ashley join ‘our’ Cheryl on set for her birthday wasn’t enough to save me from sinking further into a mood. And talking of Ashley Cole, was it just me or did anyone see how anti-blonde ‘our’ Cheryl got when Prison teacher Faye walked on in her lace and silk? Obviously having Ashley (who we know likes a bit a blonde) in the audience while the River Deep Mountain High singing temptress got up on stage brought out a side of ‘our’ Cheryl we have never really seen before.

Lots of disasters on the show over the weekend, nothing unusual there, but have to give a mention to Mr. Wigan. What was up with that and the various others that took to the stage and thought that getting their kit off would get them all the way to Boot Camp. Like Mr. Wigan realized, it takes a lot more than a decent set of abs to warm the hearts of that panel.

But as quickly as I got mad at Simon on Saturday night, he walked straight back into my good books when he gave us a little wordplay after the debut performance of C.A.S.Y.R (Care and Support Your Relatives.) You could tell the two cousins who performed a terrible version of Jordin Sparks and Chris Brown’s No Air were full of pish when they said in their pre-performance interview that there was no other duet in musical history that could match up to them. YEAH RIGHT!!

Simon renamed them, causing me and many millions of others to LOL, C.R.A.P (Caring Relatives are Problematic.) You know they really thought they were the coolest coming up with a name like that, bless them. But it wasn’t meant to be for them and many others like them.

The Heartfelt story of the weekend though was to do with the autistic Scott James who blew the judges and the audience away with his version of You Raise Me Up. Having been confined to his house for a third of his life, even if he hadn’t been able to sing like he did he had overcame a huge personal battle standing on that stage in front of thousands and you can’t knock that. But where there is joy there is tears and boy oh boy did we have our fair share of those this weekend.

Closing out the show on Saturday was a duo, as clichéd as it may be, called It Takes Two. Made up of an actual couple – Russell and Katy. The two have entertained on the UK resort circuit and have ended up at Alton Towers, where Katy drives a train and I think Russ is a waiter or bartender. Anyhow was it me or was he just a lil OTT?

After their performance you could see that the talent of the two was Katy, which was probably the reason why Russ had a hysterical crying fit on the shoulder of his family member and sobbed to his girlfriend that he had let her down. Come on, man up and get a grip son as you know there will be more tears ahead when the judges split the two of you up at Boot Camp and Katy ends up as a soloist with the potential to make the final 24. Just keeping it as real as I can.

Then Teardrops Part Deux came from the Cheryl Cole wannabe who failed to hit the notes of her first song, Amy from Gateshead. Yes she looked the pop star, but was she worthy of a shot at the title after forgetting the words of the second song the Pretenders I’ll Stand By You, which many think is an original of our Cheryl’s Girls Aloud.

Even though Amy is from my neck of the woods and I am all for home town heroes/heroines she is really going to have to sing her boots off to make me believe that she deserves to be up there.

Not afraid to be proven wrong I still say it is a man’s competition and with the emergence of 19 year old US export Ethan outta Illinois and the highly strung 16 year old Curtis who I wanted to put in time out for his cheek I think a man it will be.

BootCamp here we come!

Melanie Cornish.
xx