Best of British!

Tonight’s theme is “Best of British”. We are short on song spoilers, but we know that Rylan is doing a Spice Girls mash-up! Hooray! He spent some time with Geri Halliwell this week, so hopefully he got some advice. Jahmene Douglas is singing Robbie Williams’ “Angels”. Union J are doing Coldplay’s “Fix You”. Their performance will be dedicated to George Shelley’s brother who is currently serving in the Royal Marines.

Will District3 get themselves together this week? Can Rylan survive another week? Can anything/anyone stop Christopher Maloney from winning?

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According to TV Guide, tonight’s show airs at 8:05pm BST (3:05pm EDT, 12:05pm PDT) on ITV1 (105min). The Xtra Factor airs at 09:50pm BST (60min) on ITV2.

Where to watch the show? If you are in the UK or can get UK IP, watch on ITV.com. Possible alternatives: TV Nutters, TVPC.com.

Please post working live feed links in the comments section below as you find them!

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We are getting One Direction’s pre-recorded performance tonight!

TOP 7 will perform some classic British tunes tonight. Dermot is already on stage. And my feed is failing me again. How typical. I thought last Saturday’s problems were a fluke, but maybe not. I think ITV’s player will start working properly soon, but until then, I will just post the performance order and song choices.

1. Christopher Maloney – “I’m Still Standing” by Elton John

Chris’ vocals are solid, but he is just karaoke and dated.
Nicole: Alright, sweet pea, I’m gonna keep it real straight with you this week. I like the confidence. I liked the performance. This is where I have to keep it real. You sound great, but the thing is, for me you are like a karaoke king and I’m looking for an artist that will break boundaries.
Louis: It was a good song choice and I like the staging. Vocally it was very good, but like Nicole said, you are like karaoke king. You are a good guy, but you are not what X Factor is about. You are like Heart Radio. All the hits!
Nicole: This is my issue with you. I think you have a great voice. My problem is, every week you sing a certain genre of music and that genre comes from a certain era that is very loved, very respected and very classic, but we are not in that era anymore. So my worry is, what kind of an album would you release coming off this show? If people want to hear Elton John, they go and buy Elton John.
Gary: You completely nailed it, well done.

2. Jahmene Douglas – “Angels” by Robbie Williams

Jahmene is a perfectionist and he lacks self confidence. Oh, Nicole called Jennifer Hudson to give Jahmene “the talk”. How nice of her.
He starts acappella. Choir is in the background. This is how you get to the final of X Factor. Great vocal performance.
Louis: Every week you deliver, every week you get better. Nicole, amazing song choice. You are a star in the making.
Tulisa: You re-invented this classic song. I love the fact that you are a perfectionist …
Gary: We’ve heard this song hundreds of time, but we’ve never heard i like this. Another great performance again.
Nicole: You move me and stir me so much.

3. District3 – “Tears in Heaven” by Eric Clapton

Boys are going back to their roots. They have problems picking their song, but eventually they settle on Eric Clapton’s classic. One of them plays the piano, the other two sit on stools. Nice vocals.

Tulisa: Not only did Louis have amazing hair in VT this week, he made a great song choice. My favorite performance from you.
Gary: Good performance. But you are a bit dated, you don’t have the edge that Union J have.
Nicole: You brought tears to my eyes. I loved the arrangement.
Louis: You are a great vocal harmony group. You work so hard, I know the public will vote for you.

4. Ella Henderson – “Written in the Stars” by Tinie Tempah/Eric Turner

Ella is the last girl left in the competition. She had the pleasure to meet The Kardashian sisters this week.
She has a guitarist on stage and they both sit on stools under a pink veil. This is a solid vocal performance from Ella, much better than last week. But I’m getting a bit tired of all these stripped back performances.

Gary: You are kind on what this competition all about. I wrote one thing on my piece of paper: Wow!
Nicole: Girl Power. That was beautiful. I only have one note: There were more ad-libs than you are used to.
Louis: You are what this competition all about. I didn’t love the song choice.
Tulisa: You are the only girl in the competition and people might think you is safe. She is not safe, so vote for her!

5. Rylan Clark – Spice Girls Medley

He is a big fan of Spice Girls. He is a ginger, so he gets to meet Geri Halliwell. He freak outs. He wants to be her BFF.
Omg, Rylan starts the performance by jumping out of a plane … and then he squeezes an unknown number of Spice Girls hits in his performance. His vocals suck, but who cares, really. The crowd goes absolutely crazy for Rylan. Rylan is all about enjoying the moment – he knows his time on the show is coming to an end and he just wants to have fun. I think this might buy him another week.
Louis: Rylan, what a brilliant medley! You are as camp as Christmas, but absolutely brilliant!
Tulisa: It was the closing ceremony of the Olympics all over again. That’s why I saved you last week.
Gary: On the subject of fun, that was absolutely brilliant. On the subject of vocals, that was absolutely diabolical.
Nicole: That was a Rylan Spice Explosion! You didn’t just spend love, you sprayed it!

6. Union J – “Fix You” by Coldplay

They are doing a slower song this week. Stripped back, again … I would prefer another crazy one from Rylan.
George Shelley’s brother is serving in the Royal Marines and this performance is dedicated to him.
Great vocals from the lead singer .. J-something. This kind of reminds me of Westlife, Louis’ recently retired Irish boyband.
Tulisa: Louis, you are on a roll tonight. Brilliant song choice, brilliant performance.
Gary: Great job, guys. Some pitch problems with blending.
Nicole: You did the song justice. Jaymi, your voice is so delicate, so much control.
Louis: It’s such a pleasure working with you.

7. James Arthur – “Hometown Glory” by Adele

He is doing Adele. Hometown Glory. He practices non stop and gets visit from his sister.
James is alone on stage with his acoustic guitar. The beginning sounds a lot like Adele’s version. The second part gets a it of dubstep in tempo.
Louis: You are a brilliant interpreter of great songs.
Tulisa: Guitar in hands, putting your own spin on songs.
Gary: Adele is such an amazing artist, no one should ever cover her songs … except for you. That was brilliant.
Nicole: You took the legendary Adele and you swagged it with the dubstep. You are the future of music.

Dermot recites phone numbers again.

Time for the pre-recorded One Direction performance. They sing “Little Things”. They sound perfect, it probably isn’t live, hehe. Girls in audience are screaming. Remembering how dire their harmonies used to be during their season 7 run, it’s incredible to see One Direction back on that same stage as by far the most successful act of season 7. Dermot pretends the whole thing isn’t pre-recorded. Oh come on.

Another recap of TOP 7 performances. It was a pretty good show. From these clips, it looks like only Chris Maloney really sucked. I think if he ends up in the bottom 2 somehow, he is GONE. TPTB want him gone. He can not win in a sing off against anyone, even Rylan.

Ed Sheeran and Little Mix perform on The X Factor tomorrow.