X Factor Australia 5 - Live Show 4

I always love whenever the theme forces contestants to tackle modern songs. As opposed to being a fantastic motown, disco, hair band or dated-genre-of-your-choice singer. We get to see how they would do up against the songs that are chart topping, today, like right now. That being said, I don’t think anyone tackled this theme flawlessly by any stretch, even the supposedly infallible Dami Im, wasn’t as strong as usual today.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kvgk0kJ1RE0

I am so proud to finally be able to put THIRD D3GREE as my number 1 for the week, legitimately. They were soft in the lead up, hard in the rap, and exciting all over. I thought they showed great control and filled “Love the Way You Lie” nicely. Jacinta’s singing was fantastic, Jordan’s opening was strong, and Kelebek did her best Eminem by way of Nicki Minaj. Could THIRD D3GREE legitimately fighting out for the title? I am not sure, but then again I didn’t really think Little Mix (XFUK8) was going to win until the final 4 either so, we will see. But for this week, this round, THIRD D3GREE won.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeGGs23p4tU

I’m actually really disappointed in Dami Im this week. “Roar” is supposed to be about self-empowerment, strength, and copying Sara Bareilles. Honestly, Dami didn’t personify any of these traits. At best it was a good vocal, at worst she looked completely unconfident throughout the whole thing. Even though I ranked her at number 2, it is only because the vocal was significantly better than a lot of the other contestants this week. I wanted to rank her lower, but even with this mistake Dami performance still warranted this ranking. If Dami believed the words and didn’t just sing them, this would be a completely different story. Still safe, but perhaps when it gets down to the final 3 it is these cracks in Dami’s armor that will allow for someone else to come in and get the win.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ov8n0gB439E

Talk about #FalsettoFactor Omar Dean sirens over Demi Lovato’s “Skyscraper.” Very well and very impressively, but what holds me back from ranking this as number 1 or 2 is that he didn’t utilize his chest voice enough. That being said, this performance this week is a big step for him. This is the first time I am ranking him above Taylor, his biggest direct competition. Is it possible we could see Omar edge out Taylor for a spot in the finale? Maybe. Taylor hasn’t been killing it lately and I feel Omar has only been improving since Usher’s “Numb.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZP2-dmNbGU

Is it me or is this arrangement just a little over-baked? I love Taylor Henderson and I really think he could win. I would like to have seen a little less noise and more melody from Taylor this week. If anything, Taylor is resting on his laurels. Of course he is safe with people like Barry, Ellie, Joelle, and JTR are still in the competition, but those guys days are numbered and it is the performances that happen now that will dictate the growth of your fanbase which will allow you to win. While I know this was a crowd-pleaser and everyone loves a good ole’ block that is Taylor. He needs to do more if he wants to win. James Arthur (XFUK9) bled in his performances, made us feel it and truly didn’t sacrifice his integrity at all. Taylor needs to be looking to that if he wants to win it all.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uYqSd8rh80

Another smart choice for Ronan for Jai Waetford. I mean if I was a girl in the 9 to 14 demographic how could I even resist Jai? I do appreciate that Jai takes this competition seriously. Sometimes kids in this situation fall apart, but Jai is resilient. To echo what Dannii said last week, I wish the size of Jai’s fanbase was proportional to his talent and performance. Jai excels at these ballads, he still has yet to kill an uptempo number. While it might a little too obviously to do, Justin Bieber’s “As Long As You Love Me” I am thinking it is exactly the type of thing he needs to stand out and announce his position in the field. Jai needs something that makes him unique and I can tell Ronan and him are still looking for it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCJtw_0JtA8

There was so many things I liked about Jiordan Tolli cover of Ellie Goulding’s “Burn.” The beginning was awesome, the dancers were cool (albeit a bit distracting), and her intensity was all sorts of amazing. Around 70 seconds into the performance it goes all falsetto and Jiordan’s voice doesn’t succeed when it is up there for so long. She would do better if her voice broke into falsetto here and there, but definitely not when it is everywhere like this. Redfoo should’ve spent more time with Jiordan and rearranged the song to suit her voice. (LOL) Like that is going to happen, but for real. Jiordan can do some pretty amazing things with her voice, she needs to learn to utilize it within a song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7hOhyg3k3c

The best thing about JTR this week was their rapping on Cher Lloyd’s “Want U Back.” The vocals were good and they did a decent job at hitting and avoiding harmonies (because they don’t do that well there), but I am going to call them out on it. I really enjoyed the rap in the performance. Perhaps they need to show some kind of urban edge to make them stand out. I was hoping that their bottom 2 appearance last week would be a wake up call for them, but alas this seems like the same JTR overall. As far as I am concerned, they are bottom 2 bound if not this week, then next. Pretty much they are going to leave at some point in the next month, just depends on how the cookie crumbles.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LasYZP9HsU

Joelle. I love you. But come on. There was some nice moments on her cover of Pink’s “True Love.” The song didn’t particularly go anywhere (not as much as the person below this), but still her vocal was flat, the performance was flat. In what way did Redfoo think this was exciting? Her wardrobe stripped her of all of her urban edge in lieu of a baby doll skirt. Yeah that was a mistake as well. Joelle is all about the beanies, it is kind of her thing, don’t take away her thing. In a competition where I feel so many people are struggling to figure out who they are in the industry. You have Joelle, who I think knows who she is, but Redfoo isn’t allowing her to show it. So frustrating. Bottom 2 bound, unless she gets lucky again.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09IGkVahPGo

Ellie Lovegrove “did” Little Mix’s “Wings.” Yep, she “did” it. Exactly the same arrangement, and fail boated it. Much like how Angie, Kree, Candice, and Amber did it on American Idol 12, meaning with no excitement what-so-ever. The song is all about tone in its current incarnation and Ellie Lovegrove doesn’t have the tone to pull it off. The staging was nice, but the song went no where! Even worse than Joelle’s. That is how little it went. When I saw this was her song choice at first I was excited. I was like awesome, Redfoo is going to slow it down and throw in a nice Jazz brass section and it is going to be fantastic. Nope. LOL. Look at me giving Redfoo credit. Must. Stop. That. To top that all of Ellie sounded so breathy on the track. If there is someone who deserved to go home tomorrow above all others it is Ellie, although the argument could be made for Joelle as well.