7th and 8th December 2011
With only one week to go until the semi-final, and with emotions running sky high as Drew was eliminated last week, the pressure was turned up another notch with the remaining acts having to perform two songs this week, as they fight to make the penultimate showcase of the series.
With two songs came two themes; Dance music hits, and “Save me” songs.
Originally, the second song was going to be chosen by the public as part of the Pepsi Challenge, however, due to technical problems that happened with the Pepsi Challenge the night before the performance show, that feature was tdelayed until next week with the contestants given only 24 hours to choose another song.
Melanie raised the roof to open the show with a breathtaking dance remix of Adele’s Someone Like You. That song shouldn’t work as a dance hit, but my god it sounded timeless, Cowell accurately retorting that Amaro would have a hit with that record if she released it. He was right too. Her vocals were huge, and with that dance beat behind a track that has been everywhere this year, it was a wonderful version of the song. She looked the epitome of the disco diva, and she slayed this one all across the X Factor stage. Gauntlet, well and truly thrown down to the rest.
Marcus’ take on Rufus and Chaka Khan’s Ain’t Nobody was good, but Melanie had set the bar so high moments before he took to the stage, that he really didn’t stand a chance. Rachel’s version of B.O.B/Bruno Mars’ Nothin’ On You also failed to hit the mark, the lyrical content clearly not applicable to a 13 year old girl, and she struggled. This was a poor choice, and hardly a dancefloor filler in any event.
Josh Krajcik taking on one of the biggest hits of the year, We Found Love by Rihanna, on paper at least, shouldn’t have worked. The guy can sing anything with that voice though, and he put in yet another fantastic shift, even managing to make it sound his own. He didn’t look happy at tackling the number, but he was phenomenal regardless.
Rene rounded off the first set of songs with a great choice in T.I.’s Live Your Life, which was the perfect fit for his vocal, and yet another inspired choice by him and his mentor Reid. He has really picked up momentum in the past few weeks after flying relatively below the radar early on. He is picking up a head of steam at just the right time though.
Melanie chose the Mariah/Whitney head to head of When You Believe to start the second round off, and with another belting vocal, outlined her star quality once again. Taking on Mariah and Whitney is never easy, but she did it competently with some style. What a voice.
Marcus’ A Song For You (Leon Russell) was pretty forgettable, as was Rachel’s take on an obscure Michael Jackson number in Music and Me. Josh was reliable once again on The Beatles’ Something, but Chris Rene followed, and stole the plaudits with an original song.
Taking a massive risk, relying on an original composition to take him through to the semi’s, Chris Rene won hearts and blew minds in equal fashion with a fantastically laid back and stripped version of a track which saw him plucking on an acoustic guitar, and using those silky undertones to his voice. Simply magical, and a pass straight through to the semi’s as a result was his reward. Where Do We Go From Here was fantastic, and could easily make it on to his debut album, along with Young Homie.
On results night, some pretty average guest slots saw Mary J Blige (Need Someone) and Lenny Kravitz (Push/Are You Gonna Go My Way?) take to the stage. The latter part of Kravitz’s two song medley proved the highlight.
Somewhat deservedly, after the sheer quality of their competition, Marcus found himself in the bottom two once more with Rachel Crow, who made her first appearance in the bottom all series. Marcus tackled Rose Royce’s I’m Going Down once more, and went head to head with Rachel who took on Etta James’ blues classic I’d Rather Go Blind.
In an emotional final twist, Nicole’s inability to vote properly led to her sending the decision to deadlock, with saw Rachel become the shock casualty of the evening, and led to her breaking down in tears on the stage, losing it completely. After last week’s drama, Cowell and the team would have wanted a low-key week, but that was not to be the case. Canty seems to have 9 lives, and with Nicole refusing to pick between them, her decision to opt for deadlock really didn’t go down well. Cowell was yet again furious, and the audience booed her out of the building, as she also ended the night in floods of tears.
Yet another emotional end to an episode, in a series which has gone all very serious all of a sudden. The closing moments of the last two results shows have not been easy watching, but it’s just got to a stage now where the quality is so high, that good acts are going to go home. Undoubtedly Rachel could have a big future ahead, particularly in music and TV, so she shouldn’t worry.
The show will be hoping for a calmer week next time out though!
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