The X Factor 2010

[Slade]

To be honest it really doesn’t bother me when the judges bicker. I actually find it quite funny. Not sure about Louis and Cheryl but I don’t think Simon would let his personal feelings get in the way of deciding which act to choose. He’s too much of a businessman. I don’t think Danni would either because she’s just too professional. One thing that did bother me was whenever Louis or Danni in particular were criticizing (even if it was constructive) the crowd kept booing them just because they couldn’t bear to hear anything negative about their favourite acts.

Anyway I’ve caught up with last week and overall I don’t have too many complaints. I liked the performances by John, Treyc, Rebecca, Mary and Matt. I thought Cher was OK but still felt the performance was a bit lacking. I’m surprised Simon said he loved it (can’t remember if he actually said he loved the performance or loved her). Unlike most people in this thread I’m still jumping on the pro Cher bandwagon. Personally I feel she is young, can improve a lot, is different, has got guts and is prepared to take risks but have to admit there are times where I don’t like the way she acts (such as when Simon said he loved her and she waved her fist in an acknowledgment of some sort of victory). Also her reaction when she found out she was going through. I keep thinking to myself as much as I like you there are times where you need to tone it down girl. I also worry if she will be able to deal with the pressure over the coming weeks.

I was really surprised when I heard Katie’s name first even though the announcement for the acts going through is in no particular order. Her performance was OK nothing special but if you look at her when she sings she still has to put absolutely everything in just to survive but I can see people warming to her over the weeks.

I agreed with most of the judges about Aiden’s performance and was surprised he wasn’t in the bottom three.

I loved Simon’s reaction when Wagner went through. It was worth him going through just to see that.

I felt a bit sorry for Storm Lee. I don’t think he had the X Factor but appearance/performance aside he could definitely sing and had a good voice.

I was really pleased for Belle Amie. I was never into Diva Feva and so am not disappointed to see the back of them. Like Cher, Belle Amie have the potential to improve and I think we need a good girl band. If they could follow Louis advice, put their personal differences aside, stop whining, get over it etc then they might have some sort of chance.

[KirstyEkua]

I just want to say i thought Matt's version of 'Baby One More Time' was ahhhmazing! I love how he changed it up. It was like something from Radio 1's Live Lounge. I also loved Rebecca, her voice is so beautiful and unique. Agree with Dannii's comments regarding her dress though - i don't think it suited her at all. What was Louis thinking with those dances with John? They were totally distracting and over the top.

One Direction are cute but i thought they were a bit flat tonight - nothing special at all.

I just adore Paije And i love his look. It suits him. Treyc has an awesome voice but the outfit didn't do her any favours!

I think for the past 4 live shows Dannii has won the style 'war' hands down but tonight she looks a little mumsey And safe with dress and hair. Maybe she just doesn't have time to go all out like she did last year with the wacky hair. Cheryl's earrings are way too old for her!

Hmmm Mary...Dannii and Simon are right, she has to try and change it up. Every week she comes and sings very similar songs. There's no denying her voice is incredible but other acts wouldn't get away with it. And her comments to Dermont weren't exactly echos of someone wanting to win the X Factor. Disappointing.

Oh.My.God. Simon disagreed with Cheryl? *shock* And agreed with Dannii a lot? Oh wow!! I kinda get what Cheryl means by the intensity of Aiden though. But i liked him better than last week, he bounced back really well.

The Girls Aloud version of I'll Stand by You is a lot better than Belle Amie. Very predictable and safe song choice i think. Agree with Dannii again, hehe.

Wagner is a complete joke, enough said. That was just...terrible.

I really don't like Katie. She is far too arrogant for my liking. I think she can sing but apart from that...i just don't think she's all that brilliant. Bizarre song choice as well.

I don't get Cher and her attitude. I like that she's different but i don't think what she is doing is all that good.

[charmed60]

One word: Matt How on earth did he make that song sound so incredible??

Still don't like Cher or Katie, their attitude just grates on me. I still love Aiden but actually preferred last week's performance. And what was with Cheryl getting three of her acts to have red hair like hers? Weird....

[Slade]

Firstly I thought for the most part the standard this week was very high. A lot of the contestants really upped their game. The only ones that I didn't like were Aiden, Wagner and Katie, although both Aiden and Katie were better than they were last week. Wagner really struggled as was apparent when he was singing and he just didn't have the voice to carry the notes. I only think it would be fair if they were in the bottom three or bottom two probably as there is only one act going this week.

I think Matt was the best vocally out of all of them. I was quite pleased for Cher but have to be honest and say there does appear to be some sort of bias from Cheryl and Simon. I was also quite pleased with Belle Amie but have a feeling they could be in the bottom two or three again.

For the second week in a row I think someone's been out of order to Simon. Last week it was Dermot after Diva Feva got eliminated and he asked Simon which act he would have chosen to save. This time it was Louis after Belle Amie finished their song and he made a remark about Simon only really concentrating on One Direction. There was no real purpose making a remark like that unless he was trying to cause some sort of friction to increase the chances of his acts staying.

[Liz]

I really need to get this out there:

Matt's version of Baby One More Time was not unique, different, made it his own, yadayadayada. Ever heard the Travis version? It's exactly the same - oh sorry, no, it's a lot better.

Glad to have got that off my chest.

[Zetti]

I am just in love with 1 Direction. I do like Matt and Aiden but I think I am gonna be supporting 1 Direction as of now, they are so good and different IMO from everyone else.

I also want to say, I think Cher has finally proved herself to me personally as being a worthy contender, she is good and I think she will go far.

[Lesley Bee]

I really love Matt, he just has an amazing voice i think Paije is awesome as well

[charmed60]

I'm kind of in two minds about Cher. She sounded better than I thought she would so I was impressed in that respect. But I thought there was a lot of theatrics on stage that it seemed were intended to distract from her performance. If you ignored the wind machine, the fog machine and the pre recorded video of her prancing by a tree (which I've never seen any of the other contestants have) her voice was actually pretty weak and I thought it was mainly the beauty and popularity of the song as well as the whole stage performance (special effects included) which made her performance popular. I thought Simon's comment that it was the best performance that whole series was ridiculously over the top; I don't know what's going on with him this year. I'm looking forward to seeing if she can do other styles of music without the special effects; hopefully she'll drop the rapping or at least tone it down a bit.

Aiden's performance made me feel a bit worried about him but I still can't help but love him. He's a very, nervous "intense" performer and I don't think he should necessarily change that as it is his style but I do think the way he performs can be distracting to people. I love his voice though; I think along with Rebecca it has a unique quality that the other contestants don't have.

[Slade]

Personally I thought Cher’s performance was the best of the night and hopefully she proved to some people that she’s not just a one trick Pony as Louis put it. I don’t agree with Simon that it was the best performance of the season but I definitely think it was one of Cher’s best performances.

I’m disappointed that Belle Amie have gone as there does appear to be a shortage of girl groups at the moment and I really liked them but as much as I hate to admit it I kind of agreed with what Danni said. I always felt they needed more time together and did not really stand a chance of winning the competition. During the stand off there was something about the way Katie was crying that bothered me. I know Cher cried when she sung her song the day before but it was different. It was almost as though the crying was to prevent her from being sent home. I’m still not really a fan of Katie’s but am kind of getting used to her style and feel she is definitely choosing the right songs for her type of voice and has found her comfort zone.

Aiden failed to impress me for the third week in a row. I admire him for being brave and taking a risk but I think he just isn’t good enough. I actually thought he should have been in the bottom two but I don’t think he was the worst. Wagner definitely should have gone home but if people keep voting for him it doesn’t look like it will happen anytime soon. I do think the minute he is in the bottom two he is out. Apart from Louis there is no way any of the other judges are going to vote for him to stay over any of the other contestants left.

Simon hinted that Cheryl wasn’t dedicating as much time to Treyc as the other girls she was mentoring and I’m wondering if there is an element of truth in it. It’s just a vibe I’m getting from their interaction on stage. I’ll give Cheryl the benefit of the doubt.

Danni was at times a bit annoying. She was quite prepared to criticise acts such as Belle Amie and Wagner but when it was her own acts she seemed to get extremely defensive. I thought Louis, Cheryl and Simon were absolutely right about Matt - He definitely wasn’t as good as last week which was basically what all three of them said but she acted like they totally slated him even though I thought they were just being constructive. She was quite similar with Aiden. As I mentioned above he wasn’t good this week but she was having none of it. I understand that as a mentor she’s always going to do what’s best for her acts but it’s hard to tell if the way she was reacting was because she took it personally with bad song choices, or it it’s simply a case of tunnel vision…

[charmed60]

I agree that it was Cher's personal best but in my opinion, it wasn't that hard to beat I think she also benefited from the fact that everyone else minus a couple were pretty much rubbish and put in their worst performances; it was a really poor week.

I think Aiden's as much of a marmite performer as Cher from what I've been reading. You either get him or you don't. I'm hoping he'll be given a chance to do a different style of music, something a bit more up tempo to showcase his voice a bit more. It might help his nerves to do something else as with these slow ballads your voice is really naked on stage and there's no orchestra or dancers behind to back you up.

I don't think there's anything wrong in what Danni's doing; it's her job to defend her acts and speak out against the criticism and all of the judges do it. I mean criticising Wagner isn't really surprising is it The one I found most annoying was actually Cheryl. On Sunday all the judges were honest about acts other than theirs who they think are doing really well. Dannii included but Cheryl refused to say anyone other than her own acts. I think Dannii just saw something in Aiden that the other judges didn't understand and she felt strongly to defend him because she didn't see anything valid in their comments. Many would disagree with her, many would agree. It comes down to the opinions of whether people 'get him' I think.