We only have one more weekend until the Live Shows begin on The X Factor UK! Today, we will see all 6 of the Groups and the Boys perform at Judges Houses. Then, we will see their mentors (Robbie Williams and Louis Tomlinson, respectively) and guest judges decide which four in each category move forward. The show starts at 3:35 PM EST, so join me then in the comments!
The groups are touring Hollywood. Then they play tennis and eat with Robbie and Ayda. Robbie says that he doesn’t know who he will put through. I call B.S.
David Walliams from BGT is the guest judge. Oh god. He dances in his underwear. Robbie says “so David, you’re quite used to crushing dreams.” I’ll admit it – I laughed.
LMA Choir are up first. David literally mentions BGT – which, by the way, is the show they should be on. They sing Hold Back the River by James Bay and they’re good. But choirs don’t belong on X factor in my view. And they aren’t stellar enough to change my mind on that. David liked the song choice. There hasn’t been a choir on X Factor. David says that the problem with a choir is that the audience has trouble rooting for so many people.
A Star are next up. They sing a mashup of Back To Life and Big For Your Boots. I’m not blown away by them to be honest, but this isn’t the type of music I listen to. David says that they need to concentrate on what makes them different, but doesn’t say what that is. Robbie says they are up against people who have been together for five years, and they’ve only been together five weeks.
Panda & Burgandy are up next. They sing Ain’t No Mountain High Enough. Something seems off with this at the start. But it gets better as it continues. David says that it still seems like they’re two great vocalists, not a group. I think they’re goners – ugh.
Vibe 5 are this year’s manufactured boyband. They sing Say You Won’t Let Go by X Factor Winner James Arthur and they can’t compare to him for me, obviously. They can all sing well enough at least and the harmonies seem fine. David says they have the potential to be incredibly popular if they get it right. Robbie says they need more charisma but it’s all about potential.
Sweet Sense are this year’s manufactured girl group. They sing History by One Direction. Some of them can sing, but the harmonies annoy me. David says they were great vocalists, but Robbie thought they looked at each other nervously which might be a problem.
Misunderstood, probably my favorite act of this season, are up next. David loves the outfits. Robbie checks that they want to an original. They sing an original song called Girls in London. They just have it. The song is catchy, their vocals are great, they can dance. They are stars. Plain and simple. David likes that they are talented and original.
Now Robbie and David do “the part that Simon enjoys but for human beings its the hard part” – LOL. They pretend to debate over who makes it through.
Results time: first up are LMA Choir. Robbie says it’s easy on a show like this for individuals, but not for groups of 15 people. They make it to live shows. Ok then.
A-Star are up next. They are the youngest in the competition. Robbie fakes them out. Obviously they are through. Their moms came with them.
Panda and Burgandy are up next. Robbie says they felt like two solo artists, not a group. They get cut. Ugh. Oh well.
Misunderstood are next. Robbie says he wonders why they haven’t made it after eight years together. But it’s a fakeout, they’re through to live shows.
Sweet Sense and Vibe 5 are the last two groups up. One makes it, one doesn’t. Sweet Sense got cut, and Vibe 5 are through to live shows.
The final four groups are:
LMA Choir
A-Star
Misunderstood
Vibe 5
The boys are in Ibiza. They drive buggy cars (I don’t know what they’re called) with Louis, and then they have dinner. The next day, Louis introduces Liam Payne and Niall Rogers as his guest judges.
Dalton Harris is up first. He jokes about singing in front of half of 1D and a legend. He sings Listen by Beyonce. He’s got a great voice, and I love the arrangement being different than it always is. Simply put, Dalton absolutely nailed this performance. Louis and Niall loved that he told a story, Liam says he’ll never listen to the song the same way again. Louis says the hadn’t seen the emotional connection until now.
Armstrong sings I’ll Be There For You. His voice irritates me, but he did change the arrangement a lot. Louis says it would be a risk to take him through because of his nerves.
Thomas Pound is excited but nervous. He sings One Night Only. He’s got a great voice and this is the first time he’s truly shown it. I’m torn about him taking it uptempo halfway through. But, that is what he’d do in the real world, so I lean towards liking it. That was his best performance so far by a mile. Liam likes he did something different, Louis likes that he’s unapologetic.
J-Sol sings Love on the Brain. He’s good, but Dalton is way better and in the same genre. Parts were a bit breathy to my ear. Louis says this is the type of artist he could be, and he did himself proud. Niall Rogers says there were slight intonation issues – correct.
Anthony Russell is up next. He tells his story and Liam remembers the story halfway through – clearly Louis told him about it earlier. He sings Scars. He’s got a really nice tone to his voice, but honestly he’s my fourth favorite boy right now. At one part his voice breaks. I still really hope he makes live shows though, and that’s not something I would have said last year. Louis and Niall comfort him about the bad note, say they didn’t care about it at all. Liam says Anthony made Louis’ job difficult.
Tomorrow night, Brendan Murray performs and we see the results, plus, we see the overs.
