‘The X Factor’ UK rankings: 5 After Midnight surge; Sam Lavery, Matt Terry in contention
This season of “The X Factor” remains an interesting one for a variety of reasons, with one of the biggest ones being that this time around, we’re not sure there is one consensus favorite to take home the grand prize. We’ve got an interesting array of contenders out there still.
As per usual with our contestant rankings, we’re basing these off of performance quality, edit, and of course whether or not we feel as though they’ve got the backing necessary to make it all the way to the end of the show.
10. Saara Aalto (last week: 11) – Saara has talent, but her live-show performance this past week was a little bit of a mess, and she was aided by being in deadlock against someone in Freddy Parker who performed early in the show and therefore was likely forgotten by many viewers. We don’t envision a whole lot of situations in which she lasts another than another couple of weeks.
9. Honey G (10) – Hey, she’s clearly got some sort of a following given that she hasn’t been in the bottom two yet. She’ll likely be gone before final six, but there are a few performers she could finish in front of just because they’re not altogether memorable.
8. Ryan Lawrie (8) – He needed the Lifeline Vote to say alive, and we could see him gone soon unless he finds a way to improve his vocals. The personality is there, but the singing leaves something still to be desired.
7. Relley C (4) – Maybe her being almost put into the Lifeline Vote was just a ruse by production to make us think she was facing jeopardy, but as good as Relley may be, we really don’t see many people talking about her.
6. Four of Diamonds (7) – Their debut performance is a good one, and we do think they’ve got a lot of talent. What they’re missing right now is a distinctive personality and edge, and they don’t really have a lot of time over the coming weeks to find it.
5. Emily Middlemas (3) – We’ve noted a few times over that she has our personal favorite voice this season. Therefore, we don’t quite understand why in the world we’re not getting more of it in her signature style. We just don’t think she’s the sort of singer to go up there without a guitar and do big ballads; she’s more folk, and she’s better in that direction.
4. Gifty Louise (6) – On the flip side, we haven’t loved all of Gifty’s choices so far, but recognize her potential and that the judges seem to completely love her. Sooner or later, their opinions will ultimately trump those of our own since we don’t have much of a stake in influencing votes.
3. Sam Lavery (2) – The funny thing is that we’ve got Sam a spot lower even though we actually don’t think she did anything wrong. She’s supremely talented and should be around for a good while this season.
2. 5 After Midnight (5) – The truth is that this is all about what these guys managed to do that was amazing on this past episode, where they gave what was in our mind the performance of the live shows to date. They’ve got everything that you need to be stars after the competition ends.
1. Matt Terry (1) – The main reason we’ve got Matt #1 has to do with voting history as much as his talent. He’s great, but voters also tend to favor young male singers in his style more than almost any other archetype.We’ll see if that pattern holds.
Now, let’s turn this over to you! Vote for your favorite below.
If you do want to get some other news related to “The X Factor,” including some more of the latest when it comes to Honey G controversy, head over to the link here. (Photo: ITV.)