‘The X Factor’ UK review: Tamera Foster, Sam Bailey, Alejandro Fernandez-Holt hit the stage
One day after “The X Factor” aired its first audition episode of the season featuring the rooms, we moved on to what is something we’ve become a little more accustomed to over the years: The performances in front of a live audience. We had some concerns about this beforehand, but it turned out to be something that we rather liked. Basically, we had two opportunities to see possible contenders early in the game, before they get lost in the sea of bootcamp. We’re all about being able to remember people down the road.
For the contenders, it gave them an opportunity to go home after the audition, and work things out for the auditions here. It made for better performances, and also opportunities to see who is really talented, and who may have just gotten lucky.
Advancing
Sam Bailey – She ended yesterday’s show and took Britain by storm, but the audience is a very different beast. If we are talking about song choice, it wasn’t as powerful as “Listen,” but she is a killer singer who has come completely out of nowhere, and she’s a lock in our mind to make it to the live shows given that the Overs are typically a weaker category.
Hannah Barrett – Another popular contestant from last night, as her take on “Read All About It” made us care about a vastly-overplayed song. So did lightning strike twice? Definitely, but what she needs to work on is having a little bit more star power, and owning the stage beyond just being a great singer. This is where the judges will come into play, and we still think she’s a lock to move into the live rounds.
Alejandro Fernandez-Holt – First of all, the man needs to drop the “Holt” part of the name for performing purposes. He’s a case of a guy who we didn’t really care for in the rooms, but won us over here with a song that basically made every woman in the crowd love him: “Hero” by Enrique Iglesias. It’s impressive that he can sing in Spanish and English, but that’s not what makes him special. He’s a good singer, and a contender.
Tamera Foster – The first few notes of her “I Have Nothing” were great, and we say that as someone who wants to see “I Have Nothing” banned from singing competitions forever, but then, she broke down and went off the stage. We would have hesitations about putting someone who has this sort of trouble through, but we understand her going on based on talent alone. It’s not like she’s taking a spot in the live show yet. She certainly fared better than her other former Silver Rock member (who we will have more on soon).
Now, somebody just needs to teach her how to actually memorize words. If she wasn’t an awesome singer, there’s no chance she would be in boot camp.
Rejected
Luke Britnell – The Justin Bieber tribute guy was fun in his first audition, but we worried about his vocal range. Then, he proved our fears tragically correct here with a cover of “Get Lucky.” The first verse of it was awesome, but the vocals on the chorus were just so shaky and off that it didn’t feel like a part of the same song. If he does come back next year with some vocal lessons, watch out.
Fil Henley – Well, that advice to turn Fil into a rock god didn’t quite work out, now did it? He did take their advice, but he just can’t pull off being mean and edgy. In a way, we almost feel like the judges just pushed him down the wrong path just to get some entertainment out of it.
Jerrie Dila – We knew Fil was going to be bad, but this was an interesting example of why the stage performances are so important. We were so caught up in the story and a big performance last week, but this was dreadful. Notes all over the place, off-key, and it almost gave us an inside look into why she auditioned as a duo. Hats of to Sharon Osbourne for being the voice of reason here, whereas Louis Walsh and Nicole Scherzinger are far too kind.
If you want to read some more news from “The X Factor” all around the world, just be sure to visit the link here! We’ll have some more news from here and other versions soon.
Photo: ITV