‘The X Factor’ UK review: Lauren Murray, Reggie ‘n Bollie, Max Stone close live show #2

Tonight on “The X Factor,” the name of the game is “reinvention.” That means doing something to make a song identify strictly to them … which in theory really should be something that all of them are doing week in and week out to begin with. That’s at least our take on it. Anyway, here’s to hoping that over the course of the show the acts do something to make these songs memorable to them, and are not just karaoke covers that we’ve heard so many times before.

Just as we’ve done with many other reviews in the past, check back throughout the night for more updates!

4th Impact, “Sound of the Underground” / “Boom Clap” – Apparently, the “Boom Clap” part of the arrangement was scrapped for just the Girls Aloud cover. Not sure what to think there, but we’re saying that as an American who never listened to Girls Aloud. It was energetic and fun, though; our next challenge for the ladies would be to see them do a ballad.

Mason Noise, “Teardrops” – It’s a chance for Mason to try something different. This was a slower, more soulful song that we’ve heard from him, and it did show some more of his vocal limitations. (He hit the notes, but they weren’t that challenging.) Yet, he’s also so charismatic and confident on the stage. He’s almost reminiscent of pop stars who come and perform on the show. No matter when he gets eliminated (which will probably be sooner than later — he’s controversial), he’ll have a chance at a career.

Anton Stephans, “All About that Bass” / “Bang Bang” – What in the world was Simon Cowell thinking? The second part of this was a lot of fun. The first part was a complete mess. He had no business singing these songs.

Kiera Weathers, “Return of the Mack” – This was almost a reinvention for Kiera. She’s not the best singer left, but she really tried to come out and do something very different. We appreciated the energy and the performance quality. This was something we did enjoy watching.

Che Chesterman, “You Can’t Hurry Love” – We were wrong to say this was a bad song choice. The best vocal of the night, and maybe one of the best of the season. Che’s voice is really something special.

Louisa Johnson, “Billie Jean” – We’re not entirely sure that this was all that much of a reinvention of the original song, but Louisa’s vocals are pretty stellar. This showed us mostly that she’s really comfortable with hitting the big notes, but she has to work a little on the stage presence.

Seann Miley Moore, “California Dreamin” – This was really dramatic, and maybe a little too much since we’d like to see him do something a little more upbeat. The vocals were still there, as was the production. Another overall-strong performance from Seann.

Monica Michael, “Crazy in Love” – Simon created a conspiracy theory here about Rita not giving her enough attention. This was a little off, not really a reinvention, and just off the mark.

Max Stone, “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” / “What a Wonderful World” – At this point on the show, the judges were really going at it over various artists who were previously criticized. We almost felt bad for Max. Yes, the staging was completely off and it was a distraction, but his voice here was really nice and we don’t think the song choice was bad.

Reggie ‘n Bollie, “What Makes You Beautiful” – There is no reason why this should have been as entertaining as it was, but that doesn’t change just how much fun it was to watch. It had great energy to it, and we think that this could propel them at least another couple of weeks this season.

Lauren Murray, “Hold Back the River” – This was a really strong way to end the show. Admittedly, Reggie ‘n Bollie may have the performance tonight we could see ourselves going back and watching again after the fact, but that is no slight on Lauren or what she brought to the table.

Want to get some other news when it comes to the show? Head over here to read our rankings going into this episode! Also, you can sign up here to get some more news worth singing about via our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: ITV.)