The Final 4 sing Christmas songs and songs to get them to the final.
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The X Factor airs tonight at 8:00pm BST (9:00pm CEST, 3:00pm EDT, 12:00pm PDT) on ITV 1 (90min).
Season 13’s final is next weekend, so the big question is: Who is going to win. Each judge has 1 act remaining. The stage is all christmassy tonight. We are celebrating Christmas 3 weeks early.
Each judge brings their one remaining act on stage. For the first time ever, each of the 4 acts topped the vote at least one this season. And the vote is now open! Two acts go straight to the final and two will face off in the sing off.
Order: Matt, 5am, Emily, Saara.
Matt Terry – Silent Night
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yapUiMbics
Matt will be singing the greatest traditional Christmas song ever. He and Nicole visited fun fair.
He starts acapella. About halfway through he gets a massive backing from the choir. I’m not too sure about that ending, but well done overall.
Louis thinks Matt will be in the final, he says Matt is a proper singer and a real artist and SPECIAL. Sharon calls the performance “absolutely beautiful”. She enjoyed it even though she is not religious. Simon calls the performance “nice and a bit predictable”. Uh, how do you reinvent “Silent Night”? Nicole defends the classic Christmas song and points out he sang acapella.
5 After Midnight – Stay Another Day (East 17)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNB3EDXT3VI
5AM are covering East 17’s “Stay Another Day”. This is not really a Christmas song, but it’s a seasonal hit. It was released in December 1994 and beat Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas is You” in a race for Christmas #1 song in the UK. The music video also features a lot of snow.
They were in the bottom 2 last week and literally saw their lives flash before their eyes. They had a Christmas party this week where they exchanged gifts.
They start their performance outside, standing on a sleigh. There is fake snow and they wear white. They sound surprisingly good, are they even live? Then they come inside. Their backing track is a BEAST, but at least the performance isn’t completely flat like I feared.
Nicole says they proved they can do it without dancing around. She has never heard of the song before, she thought they were singing about “stakehouse”. Sharon also loved it and says it was just good and nice and festive. Simon thinks it was “absolutely fantastic”. They came back back fighting … He is still dissing Matt. Louis wants them to stay another week and be in the final.
Emily Middlemas – So This is Christmas (War is Over) (John Lennon)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcJvc6pPfyc
She really wants to be in the final. Her parents visited her in London and they went ice skating.
She has a choir of children sitting on stage around her. She starts the song softly, it’s easy to hear how weak her voice is until the children join in. The kids basically carry the performance until the end. It’s almost impossible to hear Emily for a good while.
Louis loved the arrangement, bu says she does the same thing every week. He says he wants more from her. Sharon says this is lyrically the best Christmas song ever. She wanted Emily to tell more of a story. Nicole also loved the song, but says something was missing, says it was a bit lackluster. She compliments her tone, but says Emily needs to do more than just a nice job. Simon says the performance was beautiful. He says it was sincere, but Louis says it was a bit safe. Emily says she had fun on stage and the kids made her happy. She enjoyed herself.
Saara Aalto – All I Want For Christmas Is You (Mariah Carey)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UON_UA6Gjo
Saara is from Finland and Santa is basically her neighbour. She says she knows him personally. She was invited to visit Finnish embassy in London. Everyone is so proud of her and they brought her a special surprise. Santa. He is wearing traditional clothes.
She is wearing white for the performance and has a white fun fair horse on a podium behind her. The beginning is beautiful. When the song goes up tempo for the big chorus, the charm disappears as Saara’s voice just isn’t big enough for that chorus. She manages to bring the performance to the end.
Nicole loved the intro, says the performance got a bit corny at times. Simon says it was a bit corny, but praises Saara’s personality. He loves her competitive spirit. Louis thinks Saara is a world class artist. He even speaks Finnish and Saara translates: “Everyone vote for Saara.” Sharon defends the corny performance.
And like that, CHRISTMAS is over.
Emily Middlemas – Mad World (Tears For Fears)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voJ7uirMA1w
She is doing the Gary Jules version of the song. Emily remembers her “Creep” performance. Her brother suggested her to sing “Mad World”.
Emily is sitting on the floor for the performance again and singing the song with her whisper-y voice. She then stands up. Her voice just isn’t good enough – she is the weakest link in this competition.
Louis loved the song and what she did with it. He says that should get her through. Sharon also compliments the song choice. Nicole calls the performance “beautiful”. Simon calls her “brave” to take on this song, he believes she earned her spot in next week’s final.
Matt Terry – Say You Love Me (Jessie Ware)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbhqEk-lnUs
Matt says this song is not that well known, but he loves it and would like to release it. Nicole calls the song “scary”.
Matt sings the song to a nice beat. Vocally he is nailing it, but I don’t know how the audience will react to an unknown track. He gets choir backing towards the end.
Louis says Matt should record that song for his album, he wants him in the final. Sharon calls the performance “absolutely superb” and wants him in the final. She begs people to vote for Matt. Simon says this wasn’t Matt’s best night. He didn’t like the song choice and calls it “bland”. Nicole says nobody is going to rain on her parade and asks everyone to vote for Matt.
Saara Aalto – Chandelier (Sia)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_ybpBIKaVQ
Saara feels like a winner already, but Sharon would like her to be the official winner. Saara is hoping her audition song is going to take her to the final.
For the performance, she is wearing a dress with LED lights. Perhaps the dress is supposed to be a chandelier? She has some nice vocal moments, but I don’t think she is going to top her audition with this. I’m not sure the staging did her any favours, but that might be just me. Standing ovation from all 4 judges.
Nicole says she asked Mrs O to pick Saara as a wildcard because of her audition. Simon says that apart from the dress the performance was sensational. Louis says Saara deserves to be in the final. Sharon is speechless.
5 After Midnight – Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I’m Yours) (Stevie Wonder)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzEJavrFk4g
They were picking their song for a while before they settles on this one. They really want to get to the final.
The boys deliver a nice upbeat rendition of a song. They have a nice support from the backing track. Good performance, but not outstanding. I think the arrangement was inspired from Blue’s version of the song. Standing ovation from the judges.
Nicole says they “slayed” and that they deserve to be in the final. Simon says he was worried about them last week, but this week they “bonded better”. Sharon says they deserve to be in the final. Louis hopes the public will put them in the final.
Lady Gaga and Zara Larsson are performing on the X Factor tomorrow night.
