‘The X Factor’ UK rankings: Looking at Josh Daniel, Simon Lynch, Mason Noise as contenders
Since “The X Factor” UK is officially beginning the Judges’ Houses phase of the competition this weekend, we figured that now was the best time to come through with what is a long-standing tradition here at CarterMatt: Conducting contestant rankings! We’re taking a quick glance at every category over the next two days, and determining of the group who are the most likely to advance to live shows. We believe that it will be three singers / groups per category, unless there is a wild-card component to be introduced later.
Still with us? Then let’s go ahead and dive in first with Nick Grimshaw and a group of Boys who are probably better than they were presented during the Six Chair Challenge. We’re basing our rankings on performance quality, edit, and ability to get votes from the British public in the next round.
6. Mason Noise – It’s great for drama that Mason is back, but we just don’t see the scenario where he makes the live shows. He’s talented enough, but if everyone at the Six Chair Challenge turned against him, why would you run the risk of putting him in front of viewers and hoping that they’d vote for him? He just seems destined to be an early boot if he stays.
5. Ben Clark – For Ben, it’s mostly an issue of screen time. Rita Ora in particular loves his voice, but we haven’t seen anything to suggest that he is a serious contender to win the whole contest this year. Maybe next year he’ll come back with a little more experience.
4. Seann Miley Moore – This is where things start to get a little more interesting to us, since Seann is super-gifted, and could get a lot of votes if he advances. He’s not going to be everyone’s cup of tea, but we personally feel like if you’re wanting someone who is going to really stand out in the music business after the show, he’s your guy.
3. Ché Chesterman – We go back and forth constantly on Che versus Seann as the right person in third place. They both bring very different things. Seann is the better performer and personality of the two, but Chesterman may have the best voice of any of the guys. The risk with bringing him to the live shows is that it’s yet another guy who just comes out and does familiar ballads every week.
2. Simon Lynch – Simon is probably not the singer of either Seann or Che, but he has a down-home charm to him that makes him an easy person to hold onto. He can get a lot of votes with the right mentoring behind him. Young women are going to love him, and he could shine in some stripped-down, emotional numbers.
1. Josh Daniel – We don’t foresee any situation where Josh is not brought on, unless he just outright bombs at Judges’ Houses. He has the most popular audition of the season regardless of the category, and that’s the sort of press that could carry him really far in the competition. If you’re a new judge like Nick, you want a sure thing that is going to keep you in the contest for a while. Josh is the closest thing that you ultimately have to that.
Who do you like the best of the Boys? Vote in the poll below, and head over here to get some other news when it comes to “The X Factor”! Also, you can sign up here to get some further TV news worth singing about via our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: ITV.)