‘The X Factor’ UK week 5 rankings: Luke Friend surges, fights Sam Bailey, Rough Copy for #1
This weekend’s “X Factor” UK episode is all about standards, and for now, we ask you this: Who of the remaining singers actually is the gold standard? There can only be one winner, but we hope that the two other people that make it to the finale all deserve to be there. With this being such a strange season given that there are probably only two or three singers with real potential to sell records after the fact, the race to get enough exposure to make a career happen is almost as important as winning.
We’re basing these primarily on performance, but we do have to consider to a certain extent the voting patterns of the British public so far and even what the general sentiment about each person online.
8. Sam Callahan (last week: 9) – Last week was the first time this season where the act we ranked last was actually saved, and that’s a testament to Sam’s fans. Unfortunately, Sam not being a great singer is a testament to being in trouble every week. He’s a nice enough guy, but eventually the amount of popular people will make it hard for him to carry on. That time is coming soon.
7. Tamera Foster (3) – We’ve never been high on Tamera or her personality, but we were starting to at least believe that she could be getting votes from somewhere. Well, it turns out that she’s not as safe as we once thought. While we don’t believe the media reports about the show scrambling to save her all of a sudden (they’ve known her results for weeks), we do think that she is trying way too hard to be a carbon-copy pop star on stage. If she’s going to have an edge, have an edge. It’s far more interesting than seeing one thing on TV and reading about something else.
6. Abi Alton (7) – She has been lucky to avoid danger the past few weeks, but she’s too inconsistent right now to really be a major contender. The one thing that she may have going for her right now is that if she ends up being Nicole Scherzinger’s last girl standing, she could get a whole heap of votes from Nicole’s fans in addition to her own.
5. Hannah Barrett (5) – We have a hard time ranking anyone in the top four at this point who has seen the bottom two, since they are obviously doing something wrong. But, we have to at least give Hannah props for listening to feedback, and proving to us that she can smile and have a good time on stage. This is the sort of Hannah we like! She’s always had the talent.
4. Nicholas McDonald (4) – Despite the fact that he really hasn’t delivered a knockout performance at all in the live shows, he’s still very good. This placement is a testament to being consistent, and clearly having a legion of fans behind you, but he’s not going to win without an iconic moment.
3. Luke Friend (6) – He is the big gainer of the week following that super-awesome performance of “Play That Funky Music.” While we don’t always get the impression that Luke knows for sure what kind of artist he wants to be, he’s got more charisma than almost anyone in the competition. With the right music, the kid can rock.
2. Rough Copy (2) – Speaking of charisma, we go with the only remaining group in the mix. Rough Copy are always great, and the only worry with that is a night where people for whatever reason forget to vote. But we just can’t see that happening for a while, and just based on the entertainment that they bring along, we imagine that Gary Barlow will have an act in the finale for the third straight year.
1. Sam Bailey (1) – There’s no other way in which to place this after Sam showed a more energetic side this week, and still rocked at it. We have no idea how she would do selling records after the show, but we also don’t feel like this show should always be judged by that. It’s about who is legitimately performing the best now and deserves to have that title, and Sam does. It’s not even close.
Of course, we want to hear your own picks in the poll below! Stay tuned, as we’re going to have our full review of “The X Factor” UK after it airs Saturday.
Photo: ITV