‘The X Factor’ UK final: Saara Aalto performs ‘I Didn’t Know My Own Strength’

As we near the final results for tonight’s “X Factor” episode, we’re getting a chance to hear for the first time an original performance. Earlier, we touched on Matt Terry and his performance of “One Day I’ll Fly Away.” Now, we’re here to give you our take on Saara Aalto’s version of “I Didn’t Know My Own Strength.”

Aalto’s song was a cover of the Whitney Houston ballad, which is big and powerful and a contrast to the Bjork song she performed a little bit earlier in the show. We do have to admit that we don’t love the idea of this as a winner’s single, mostly because the song itself, like “Forever Young” last year, is rather dated. Why not give your artists a chance to work with something new? The same goes for Matt in this department, though we do think that his song was one we’ve heard at least a few times less on singing shows over the years.

Luckily, this isn’t the winner’s single as we first feared, and as it seemed on the show! That’s coming later and is something to look forward to.

Now that we’ve said that, we will say that Saara completely killed this vocally. She has the strongest range out of anyone we’ve heard all season, and her versatility is one of the reasons why her as a winner would be so remarkable. If nothing else, we know that she would stand out and we’d have a chance to see her tackle anything that she really wants to in her career.

Stay tuned — we’re going to be announcing the winner of this season of “The X Factor” soon over at the link here! Be sure to leave us a comment in the box below and tell us if you want to see Saara as the winner or if you want to see a Matt win. (Photo: ITV.)