This is it! X Factor Final! Who is singing what?
Tonight’s show starts at 8pm GMT/3pm EDT.
Marcus Collins – Hey Ya
Marcus Collins and Gary Barlow – She’s Always A Woman
Little Mix – You Got The Love
Little Mix and Tulisa – Empire State Of Mind/If I Ain’t Got You
Amelia Lily – Ain’t No Other Man
Amelia Lily and Kelly Rowland – River Deep, Mountain High
Guest performances:
Leona Lewis – Hurt
JLS & One Direction – Mash-up of their #1 hits: She Makes Me Wanna & What Makes You Beautiful
JLS did similar mash-up with Alexandra Burke in season 6 finale.
My thoughts on final 3:
Who I want to win: Amelia Lily
Who I think will win: Little Mix or Marcus Collins
Little Mix hype reached new heights: now they are compared to Spice Girls. I don’t see it, to me they are just slightly updated version of girlband Belle Amie from last season. 4 girls randomly put together, with silly name, bad styling, struggling to gel. The difference is that Belle Amie were kicked around by TPTB and the judges (including their mentor, Simon Cowell) and Little Mix somehow became the second coming of Spice Girls and everyone’s favorites. They are the first girlband to get this far on XF UK.
I’m not sure about their post-show potential. Unlike boybands, girlbands are struggling in the UK right now. Girls Aloud are on hiatus and The Saturdays and Sugababes struggle: their singles reach TOP 10, TOP 5 if they are lucky and albums usually debut outside TOP 10. New girlbands simply flop with their singles and albums. I know that Little Mix will have Syco machine behind them, but I still doubt they will be the second coming of Spice Girls.
Marcus Collins seems better suited for West End than pop charts. His voice is not very distinctive and I just can’t get behind his smiley persona and “I will work very hard!” slogan. But I think the viewers love humble, unassuming, competent male singers, so I think he has good chances to win the show. He will be good enough to sell the winner’s single, I guess.
Amelia Lily was kicked off the show by her own mentor in week 1. Thanks to Frankie Cocozza, she got another chance in week 6. With some good A&R from Sony I can totally imagine her as a popstar in a vein of Kelly Clarkson, Pink, Katy Perry, Avril Lavingne.
We are live! 10,000 people in Wembley Arena!
Dermot O’Leary is dancing again – all over London. Oh look, Goldie Cheung appears in the video! And now he is on stage. Judges arrive.
TOP 3 sing “Greatest Day” by Take That.
http://youtu.be/OUDJn10fJ6A
At the end of tonight’s show one act will be eliminated. The lines are now open.
Marcus Collins – Hey Ya
We see Marcus’ homecoming. He is from Liverpool. Everyone is so nice. Background music: “Never Forget” by Take That.
Massive production. Ummm. Uhhh. This looks ummm … Are they sabotaging him? Atrocious singing, over the top production. Umm, this is XF Final. I expected some great vocal performances, not this … shit.
Judges: Blah, blah, blah, no critiques.
Little Mix – You Got The Love
Little Mix visit their hometowns.
Another massive production. Girls enter on motorbikes. Again, spectacle is in front, not singing. Ugh, this must be on purpose.
Judges: Usual stuff. Blah, blah, blah.
Amelia Lily – Ain’t No Other Man
Amelia Lily goes back to Middlesbrough. At least she had a nice homecoming.
Ugh, they really stitched her up. Poor girl. She still sounded better than Marcus.
Judges: Blah, blah, blah.
JLS & One Direction – Mash-up of their #1 hits: She Makes Me Wanna & What Makes You Beautiful
Marcus Collins and Gary Barlow – She’s Always A Woman
Marcus dedicated this song to his mother. Gary plays the piano. They sing. I’m bored.
Little Mix and Tulisa – Empire State Of Mind/If I Ain’t Got You
Finally a decent performance from the girls. Maybe Tulisa should join them as the fifth member.
Amelia Lily and Kelly Rowland – River Deep, Mountain High
Awesome! I still think Amelia is going home. If nothing else, leaving her to sing after the break both times isn’t helping her get votes.
Leona Lewis – Hurt
Performance of the season.
http://youtu.be/D8WvP5R-50k
5 minute warning. Another break.
Lines are now closed.
Michael Buble – Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)
3rd place: Amelia Lily
I guess this is officially the worst X Factor UK Final in history?
At this point of the competition the finalists usually give some impressive vocal performances and sing good songs. Tonight, Marcus Collins got saddled with Outcast’s “Hey Ya”. Both Marcus and Little Mix had better production than Amelia. She also performed Xtina’s song that isn’t exactly a vote-getter. It was obvious TPTB wanted Amelia out tonight. She got the pimp spot that wasn’t really a pimp spot – she performed last of the three finalists, but both times after the break – Marcus and Little Mix both had more time to get votes after their performances.
I think it’s all fixed for Little Mix to win tomorrow night. TPTB want a group to win this year and IT’S NOW OR NEVER. I would love to see Marcus win, I’m so sick of this LITTLE FIX.
