‘The X Factor’ UK rankings: Matt Terry, Emily Middlemas, 5 After Midnight lead the way
We’ve now made it to the point on this season of “The X Factor” where things are pretty firmly shaken up, and there are a number of different reasons for it. One of the biggest ones, at least for the time being, seems to be the looming specter of Honey G still upon the competition. Let’s try to frame the situation in this particular way: There are seven singers still left in the competition, only one four of them who have never been in danger of at least the Lifeline Vote. Honey G is one of those four.
Yet, here we are, ranking her low on the list again in hopes that things will change! We’ve said all along that top 6 would be her ceiling, so we suppose we’re about to find out if that is really the case.
7. Ryan Lawrie (last week: 7) – Sure, we know that he was really able to improve his footing by not being in danger last week, but this is still a guy who’s been aided significantly as of late by the Lifeline Vote and needs a little bit of help to push him back over the top in terms of being a viable contender. He also needs a stronger performance quality.
6. Honey G (6) – In Britain we trust, right? We feel like sooner or later, we gotta think that the joke isn’t funny anymore — but that may be a dangerous thing to say given the events of the past few months away from the show. She’s not necessarily terrible — we’ve heard far worse on the show — but should we really be rewarding her for not being the worst act when there are so many better options?
5. Saara Aalto (4) – Of course, we have reservations about someone being ranked at #5 given that they’ve needed to be saved three times from elimination already, but we do just think that Saara made a gross miscalculation with her last performance. The costuming was too random, and the song not altogether melodic. We’ve heard a few times now of precisely how good of a singer she can really be, so stick to that with some fun flourishes thrown in.
4. Sam Lavery (3) – Sam’s first appearance in the bottom three came this past week, and while we don’t necessary think that she’s in terrible shape moving forward, she does need to be cognizant of the songs she’s choosing and the sort of performer she wants to position herself as after the show. Right now, we don’t feel like she is doing that.
3. 5 After Midnight (5) – They’ve recovered nicely now from a rough stretch in the competition, and most of the rumors about friction within the group now seem to be behind them. They can now move forward in hopes of being the best group that they possibly can. While we’d say that they definitely still have some issues that need to be worked out in terms of song choice, they’re the most current act still there.
2. Emily Middlemas (2) – These past two shows have given us precisely the Emily we first expected when we saw her enter the live shows. We know that she can sing, but they’ve stripped things back and really focused on her connection to the lyrics and the intimate vibe. This is the sort of performer who can make it all the way to the end of the season.
1. Matt Terry (1) – Matt didn’t have his best performance this past week, but he seems to still have all of the quiet momentum. His run right now is very reminiscent of a Matt Cardle or a Ben Haenow, where they just do their thing every week and build up fans on the way to winning the whole thing. We’ll find out if that turns out to be the case.
Is Matt your #1, or do you have someone else in mind? Vote now in the attached poll! Meanwhile, head over here to read some other “X Factor” news right away. (Photo: Fox.)