X Factor UK Season 14 Power List – Live Shows Week #1

X Factor UK 14 Live Shows Judges

Well, we have finally made it to live shows on X Factor 2017. Like in 2015, I am going to be doing power lists each week right here at mjsbigblog. But before I get to the first rankings of the season, a quick digression.

At the end of the six chair challenge, I wrote the following in a comment: “Based on the top 24 performance videos I reviewed a few months ago, I thought this season would be better than last season overall. I’m no longer sure of that…The talent overall is better but nobody has really gotten me excited yet.”

Judges houses have come and gone, and I pretty much still feel the same way. There are a ton of acts with potential, but none of them have really had a moment yet this season. This makes ranking the acts a little bit harder for me. On top of the lack of standouts, the format is going through a shakeup as well! This season, we will only have 6 weeks of live shows, but performances and results will happen on both Saturday and Sunday. For the first weekend, it is being reported that we will have double eliminations both nights.

Because we don’t know which categories/acts are going to go on which nights, it will be harder to actually predict who is going to go home each week. To compensate for this, I’m going to rank everyone three times. The first ranking will be my predicted finishing order overall. The second is the order that I want to see happen. The third will be broken up by category. We also do not know who the wild cards are yet (and we won’t know until the first live show airs), so for this week, I’ll include all six acts from judges houses in each category’s ranking and write more about whoever survives next week.

Predicted Finishing Order

  1. Grace Davies – She’s not the strongest singer, but her songs are great and it’s clear that this season is all about original songs. Every interview with Simon and the judges has made that obvious. Other contestants have performed original songs, but Grace is (at this point) the producers’ favorite act. She’s also extremely likable and although her voice isn’t powerful, it’s quite unique. She’s probably my favorite act this season, but not by that much. With only 6 weeks of live shows, she should be able to play mostly original songs and make it to the final, if not win.
  2. Rak-Su – I hate putting them second, because while they are talented, they are really not my thing at all. But they are current, marketable, and they also do original songs. I know they are going to be pimped to high hell when live shows start. But 5AM were pimped too, and they couldn’t win. I think Rak-Su won’t win, but they will get irritatingly close.
  3. Sean and Conor Price – Of the three groups Simon took to live shows, they are my favorite, or should I say, the group that I dislike the least. They at least have a good singer in the group in Conor, and Sean is good at rapping. They haven’t blown me away, but I think they are going to go far.
  4. Spencer Sutherland – Spencer is unquestionably the best act in the boys category and is probably the best vocalist in the entire top 12. His original song at judges houses was great too. But, he’s not British, and Simon and Louis keep calling him cheesy. I have hope because Simon didn’t like Matt Terry last year and he still won. I put him this high because I hope he makes it this far, but I wouldn’t be shocked if he got bussed way sooner than the semi-final. I’d be annoyed, but not shocked.
  5. Kevin Davy White – He’s the best over that Nicole put through, but none of the overs are really that special. Kevin at least has a nice tone to his voice and can play the guitar really well, so I think he has the best chance of the three overs to make the quarter-final.
  6. Rai-Elle Williams – Rai-Elle deserved to make the top 12 solely on song choice. From singing Awolnation at her audition to singing Bridge Over Troubled Water a cappella at six chair challenge, she’s always managed to surprise me. But she could also surprise me in a bad way-she’s very young and could very well screw up. I’m leaning towards/hoping for some good surprises from Rai-Elle.
  7. The CutKelvins – I don’t know why the judges never notice, but Shereen (aka the female CutKelvin) is quite often pretty pitchy and hurts my ears. The two guys were less grating than her at their first audition, but the judges were heaping praise on her. Their musical style is my favorite of the groups, but that doesn’t matter when one of them is so often pitchy. I hope that the British people listen to their ears, save mine, and vote this group out first.
  8. Holly Tandy – Holly can sing fine but she’s extremely boring. She has no stage presence and her vocals aren’t quite strong enough to make up for that. I expect her to be bussed pretty quickly, a la Kiera Weathers in season 12.
  9. Tracy Leanne Jefford – She’s got boatloads of personality, but at judges houses, her tone bothered me. Her personality alone should get her through the first week or two at least.
  10. Lloyd Macey – He’s a good singer, but like Holly, he’s boring. In fact, just read Holly’s writeup again and replace name and pronouns.
  11. Sam Black – He’s a wildcard who didn’t even make it to the 6 chair challenge. He’s got personality, but lacks vocal strength and his style is slightly dated. He might surprise me and make it quite a bit further, but I don’t have high hopes.
  12. Matt Linnen – Unfortunately for Matt, Kevin has a similar tone to his voice, but with more presence and the ability to play guitar. I think voters will choose Kevin over Matt and Matt won’t last long. We can’t have three guys named Matt win the X Factor in just 14 seasons.

Predictions by category 

Boys:

  1. Spencer Sutherland
  2. Aiden Martin
  3. Lloyd Macey
  4. Jack Mason
  5. Leon Mallet
  6. Sam Black

Overs:

  1. Talia Dean
  2. Kevin Davy White
  3. Berget Lewis
  4. Tracy Leanne Jefford
  5. Matt Linnen
  6. Slavko

Groups:

  1. Rak-Su
  2. Sean and Conor Price
  3. Jack and Joel
  4. Lemonade
  5. The Cutkelvins
  6. New Girl Band

Girls:

  1. Grace Davies
  2. Rai-Elle Williams
  3. Alisah Bonaobra
  4. Georgina Panton
  5. Deanna Mussington
  6. Holly Tandy

My Ideal Finishing Order

  1. Grace Davies
  2. Spencer Sutherland
  3. Rai-Elle Williams
  4. Sean and Conor Price
  5. Kevin Davy White
  6. Holly Tandy
  7. Lloyd Macey
  8. Sam Black
  9. Tracy Leanne Jefford
  10. Matt Linnen
  11. Rak-Su
  12. The CutKelvins

About Eric Ascher 106 Articles
I cover X Factor UK for Mjsbigblog. I love writing about any show that could help me find an entertainer to follow in the real world. I watch these shows obsessively and love keeping up with amazing talent.