‘The X Factor’ UK rankings: Are Matt Terry, Gifty Louise, Emily Middlemas early contenders?

Come Saturday, the final 12 acts (presuming that some wild card does not get added between now and then) are going to take to the stage on “The X Factor” with one goal and one goal in mind: Trying to see if they can get the British public on their side. Some will succeed, while it feels pretty darn clear some others are going to fail miserable.

So where do these people stack up now? That’s what our official rankings are for! We’re taking these singers and putting them through our personal lens, judging them on vocal quality, perceived popularity, and also how similar acts have fared over the years. We could be wrong, but here’s our assessment of where they stand right now.

12. Bratavio – Sure, it may be easy to stick Honey G in this spot, but you’re forgetting that we’ve seen solo acts far worse than her even make it a few weeks. Groups for whatever reason just don’t have that same resonance, even when it comes to humor. Therefore, we gotta believe that Ottavio and Bradley are going to be in for a little bit of trouble.

11. Honey G – Now, we get to the point where we can’t rank her any higher out of good conscience. We do think she has final 8 or so upside just because she’s memorable and there are some people who could be voting for her ironically. We do understand every argument out there about her not deserving to be here on a talent level, but this is a show about entertainment and clearly, someone, whether it be Sharon Osbourne or the producers, thought that a week or two of Honey G entertainment was better than someone who, while slightly entertaining, probably would not win.

10. Brooks Way – There’s a pretty huge divide here between #11 and #10. To us, Louis Walsh made a mistake not picking 4 of Diamonds over these boys if he was going to keep his camp act. They’ve got decent voices, but we’ve yet to hear anything that necessarily blows us across the room.

9. Ryan Lawrie – He was a wild-card who made it to the live shows, and while he’s fun, he’s to the Boys what the Brooks are to the Groups. We’re not sure his voice is going to hold up well in the live-show environment.

8. Saara Aalto – To us, Saara is one of the biggest wild-cards on the show in that we’ve almost found her a little too perfect and a little too polished for the competition, and other than where she’s from, we don’t have a good sense of who she is. Yet, at the same time we do think that she is a good singer, and she will have fans from Finland.

7. Relley C – This could be a tough year for Sharon and the groups. Relley does have upside to be like a Fleur East, and make it really far in the season despite not getting a whole lot of airtime in the early going this season. On the flip side, she could be completely forgotten and eliminated

6. Samantha Lavery – Before Simon started to go on and on about her image, we were going to say that she was a potential winner pick for us. Our fear now is that in one way or another, her mentor’s comments have found their way via inception into the minds of voters everywhere. Here’s to hoping that is not the case.

5. 5 After Midnight – By far the best group, and they arguably have some of the most talent out of anyone this season. The one thing holding them back is that to date, a male group has never won the show, and it’s just that much harder for viewers to get attached to them as opposed to a single person. (It was purely coincidental that we happened to have them ranked #5 entering the live shows.)

4. Freddy Parker – We don’t think that he is a perfect singer by any means, but he’s a young, stylish guy with a sense of artistry and plenty of fans already. You have to consider going into the live shows who fans are going to pick, and in turn you have to put him relatively high on the list.

3. Matt Terry – We hope that he doesn’t talk about the breakup anymore because it’s uncomfortable. Beyond that, he’s got everything you want in a contestant: A great talent, fun personality, and he’s memorable. That will suit him well with this group.

2. Emily Middlemas – Probably our favorite personally, and we have cheered for her since the first time she was around. Part of this is due to the tone of her voice, but there’s also a sort of musical preference here given that she plays the sort of songs we enjoy hearing and we think they’ll connect with mainstream British viewers.

1. Gifty Louise – Based on Simon telling her that keeping her around was an “easy decision,” it feels fairly clear to him that she is someone he views as a favorite — and understandably so. Obviously, she’s got a ton of talent, but she’s also memorable, can perform modern songs, and could be marketed well after the show. Odds are, Gifty’s going to be around this season for a long time.

Who tops your ranking at present? Vote below, and head over here to check out some other news on “The X Factor,” including discussions on some of the recent name changes!

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