‘The X Factor’ UK review: Did Tamera Foster, Rough Copy, and Hannah Barrett own ‘love’ week?
“The X Factor” UK had its second live performance show this week, and it was certainly one that had its fair share of drama, to say the least. There were some great moments, a group that was not able to perform due to an illness, Nicole Scherzinger waking up on the wrong side of the bed, and so much more.
Of course, there is also a flash-vote result still to come. We suggest that you bookmark this page, as we are going to update this article with the results as soon as they are available. Here’s our take on what everyone chose to perform this week.
Sam Bailey, “Make You Feel My Love” – This is the sort of performance that we want to shake a finger at Nicole Scherzinger over. Seriously, this wasn’t a good performance? It was stripped-down and different from her usual “sing your face off” power ballad. If she did that, then we would be bored of her by around week 5. So hats off to Sam for at least trying to bring something a little bit different to the table.
Kingsland Road, “Marry You” – Nicole was actually right this week. What in the world was with these boys singing in unison the entire time? That just made the performance devoid of standout moments. While we did like the choreography and the personalities of the people in the group, that is not enough to actually make up for the flaws in a performance.
Nicholas McDonald, “She’s the One” – Okay, this was all kinds of cute / awkward. Louis Walsh used Nicholas’ love of Nicole to turn this Robbie Williams song into something emotional for him, since he’s 16 and really has no clue about what love even is. But who in their right mind thought that it was going to be a good idea to have that random woman wander on stage to perform with Nicholas? This wins the award for “weirdest moment of the week.”
Abi Alton, “Can’t Get You Out of My Head” – Simply awful. Whoever thought it was a good idea to take Abi away from her instruments and surround her with some awkward people with umbrellas needs to give themselves a smack. The biggest problem with the performance is that there were some high notes in this song that she just couldn’t hit, and we openly laughed when Nicole said that she preferred this to the original.
Shelley Smith, “Single Ladies” – Oh boy. We will say this: The only direction that Shelley had to go with this performance was a silly one, since it was clear last week that viewers are not going to connect to her if she is being serious. She just has to embrace the camp if she wants to have a shot, and this was beyond camp. Not the best arrangement, but the audience seemed to love it in the studio.
Miss Dynamix – Click here for the full update on why the group was unable to perform tonight.
Sam Callahan, “I Won’t Give Up” – This was a questionable song choice, only because it has been performed on the show this season. The truth is that he actually performed it pretty well. The vocals were pretty meaningful, and you could at least tell that there was a ton of improvement made over last week. Now, if only Louis would work this hard at finding better things to say.
Tamera Foster, “Beneath Your Beautiful” – A great job by Tamera all around here. The vocals were great, and we really liked the arrangement, the wardrobe, and the staging. A great job here by Nicole in setting all of this up. Tamera is doing a rare thing here in that we didn’t like her very much going into the live rounds, but she is winning us over based solely on her ability to perform.
Luke Friend, “Let Her Go” – Luke looks like a singing pirate, so it’s only appropriate that he performed this week from a boat. The problem with this is that there’s not a lot that he can do when it comes to movement around the stage, but he climbed out? Did Luke drown on the “X Factor” stage?! Next to the random woman in Nicholas’ performance, this was the strangest thing to happen on the show this week.
Rough Copy, “I Want It That Way” – Does production love this group? It feels like it, since they are consistently getting an opportunity to perform late in the show. But these guys deserve extra credit for being great on a song from the Backstreet Boys, who are generally known for being masters of cheesy performances rather than something that you can take altogether seriously. This was the perfect example of what happens when you have a great act: Anything can sound great.
Hannah Barrett, “Beautiful” – We would be lying if we said that we always love Nicole and her over-the-top personality, but we do love how she manages to really spend some time with her contestants. Hannah’s biggest issue is confidence rather than her voice, and she is finding it slowly and surely. The biggest thing that we can say about this performance is that it took us someplace else, and for the first time all night, we got lost in it. Absolutely stellar, and the most professional-sounding out of everyone tonight.
Who was your favorite tonight? We want to hear your pick in the poll below! Read the shocking result of this week here!
Photo: ITV