19th and 20th November 2011
With Amelia's return to the show last week, the remaining acts were put on notice. Up your game, or watch her walk away with the winner's crown. She has come to win, and my god does she have every chance in the world.
Week 7 saw movie week rear its (often ugly) head, with the remaining acts having to choose songs from movies to perform.
Craig opened the night with a rather dull performance of Licence to Kill from the Bond film of the same name. All the judges apart from Gary agreed that it was the wrong song choice, and although he was on first, you did fear for his safety after such a song. It was pretty uninspiring, and very forgettable.
Returning at long last to a more up tempo sound, Janet sang Kiss Me (Sixpence None The Richer) from How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days. It was a genius song choice for her, and it worked really well, with her thankfully remembering all the words after her slip up the last time she went up tempo. She's back in the race after this outing, after an awful couple of weeks.
The retuning hero Amelia was completely sold out this week by Kelly, who asked her to sing Think from the Bridget Jones movie franchise. Apparently it's an Aretha Franklin song, but it was particularly obscure, and I was concerned that the choice of song would have been entirely lost on the audience. It certainly was with me. As it stood, she knocked it clean out of the park with a big production, great styling, and a huge vocal performance. I did fear for her though after Kelly's song choice really did her no favours at all. What a performance though from Ms Lily.
Misha went to epic Whitney territory for I Have Nothing (The Bodyguard) with a big vocal, which sealed her passage into the next round of live performances with ease, and was followed by a huge performance by Little Mix, singing En Vogue's (Don't ) Let Go from the film Set It Off. One of their best performances to date, and totally the type of record this band would make post-Factor, which saw them come together with another solid outing.
Marcus had another perfect song choice this week, taking on Jackie Wilson's (Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher from Ghostbusters, yet again making that retro pop/swing style shine through. With the right marketing, this guy could be the British Bruno Mars, and what a voice. Yet another brilliant performance from Mr Consistency. This kid is going nowhere.
It was another solid week from the remaining contestants as a whole, and Sunday's results show saw Rebecca Ferguson returning with that incredible voice after coming second last year, with her new single Nothing's Real But Love. It won't top the charts, but this girl is going to sell a lot of albums with that beautiful, soulful voice. So shy, so unassuming, and with talent to burn, she will have no trouble having a successful career, and will surely sell more records long term than 2010 winner Matt Cardle ever will.
Rihanna also popped up for a blistering performance of her latest track, which is still EVERYWHERE, We Found Love. It's a big song, and admittedly a little over played now, but what a huge anthem for her. A big performance too, with a full production, befitting of a bona fide pop superstar.
The best group performance of the series saw Bryan Adams make an appearance with the finalists for his classic When You're Gone. He even picked Amelia for the crown, and my god could he be right. She looked a class act stood side him, and on the whole, this was (by far) the most enjoyable group offering to date.
My fears came true though as Amelia found herself in the bottom two (song choice Kelly!) up against Craig. She cracked out a stirring You and I (Gaga) while he took on The Shirelles' Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow? Two solid performances, but Craig was always going to bow out whilst up against the phenomenal Amelia.
He has had a good run to be fair, but Amelia is storming towards the final at this rate.
With only three weeks left until the final, it's all still very much to play for.
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