‘The X Factor’ UK review: Matt Terry, 5 After Midnight, Saara Aalto tight to make final 2
Tonight, “The X Factor” began the first part of the final, and with that, we had our first substantial opportunity to see precisely what was going to happen. This article is going to focus entirely on the final solo performances of the night; we’ll focus a little bit later on some of the duets, and we’re going to share a link to some of those performances once we get to them!
Once we get through these performances, we’ll rank them in order from best to worst to give you a further sense as to who we think are the acts most worthy of making it through to the final two show on Sunday — where the ultimate winner is going to be revealed! More than anything else, we really just hope that these performances are artistic, unique, and different from anything we’ve heard from them so far.
3. Matt Terry, “Take Me Home” – If the competition for this season was person we’d most like to hang out with,” we’d claim that it is Matt by a large margin. He just seems like a pretty cool dude! Unfortunately, we’re not sure that we can say that this performance surpassed 5 After Midnight, who hit the stage before him. Much of trying to perform on this show and be successful is about finding an angle, and there wasn’t as much that was unique about this performance — even if the vocals were very good. We wouldn’t be mad if he wins, but at this point in the final, we want to see someone do even more to stand out from the crowd.
2. 5 After Midnight, “Crazy in Love” – After a lengthy segment showing the guys back home and feeling some of the love from their fans, they came out with a high-energy and pretty-electrifying Beyonce cover. We think these sort of performances play better at the larger Wembley crowd than they to the studio that is used for most of the other live shows. This was really a lot of fun to to watch, and while we’ve never said that they are perfect vocalists, they take these performances seriously and recognize that they are so much more than that. These are chances for them to hit the stage and show a complete range of everything that they can do.
1. Saara Aalto, “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” – It’s easy to be cynical sometimes when you watch a show like this thinking that it means nothing, but just look at the audience who showed up to support Saara in Finland! All you have to do is look at that crowd in order to realize precisely what it meant to some of those people for her to be there, and how her winning would be such a boost for the country overall. Still, this is no charity case; while she does have a sensational voice, she also knows how to perform and command a stage like nobody’s business. She is fearless, and in many ways that is what being a pop star is all about.
If you want to get some other news when it comes to “The X Factor,” be sure to head over to the link here. (Photo: ITV.)