Saturday 15 October 2011

X-Factor Week Two Live Show Performance Review


Week two of the live show and the theme  is "Romance and Heartbreak" . Below is my run down of the female- they don't classify as Divas yet- performances from Saturday 15th of October, live show numero dos!
These are the impressions I got after hearing the performances, but they may change after I've heard them again tomorrow. I will link to the videos as and when they are up on Youtube.

[NOTE: I skip the VTs that show before the contestants comes out, as well as the judges critique.] 



Janet Devlin- Can't Help Falling in Love (UB40) : So the kiddish tone is her thing, I get that now so am just going to have to get over it, but I still don't like it. Unfortunately even after putting my issues with the tone to one side, it still wasn't a great performance. Janet's voice was just too weak and as such quickly became overwhelmed by the backing track, getting lost behind it. The arrangement was nice though, and I can hear how her voice would have fitted the number better had it been stronger on the night. (3/10)


Sophie Habibis- Wherever You Will Go (The Calling) : Her tone was great but her pitch was anything but. Shaky low notes at the start gave way to more out of tune midrange singing that thankfully improved as the song went up into her belting range. She did manage to steady her nerves and pull it together towards the end but with half the performance being unsteady and pitchy, I don't think she's done enough to avoid the chop this week. (3/10)


Rhythmix- Fly Like A Bird (Nelly Furtado): Loved this performance. Strong- though not perfect when singing individually- vocals, beautiful harmonies and a great arrangement that gave the Nelly Furtado song a different dimension. Each of the girls seemed able to hold their own vocally as well as being able to harmonise effectively together. However, there has been comments about the amount of backing vocals used, so I may amend this when I hear it again tomorrow. (7/10)

Misha B- Would I Lie to you (Charles and Eddy) : Her delivery and vocals were as potent, effective and accomplished as last week and there didn't appear to be any real weaknesses. But I can't help thinking that when an arrangement is changed so drastically from the original- as was done here- that its a little unfair as it doesn't allow us, the listener, that point of reference to compare it to. Still, it was definitely a strong performance. (8/10)


Sami Brookes- I will always love you (Whitney Houston): Demonstrated that her voice has a softer, more controlled side with the start of the song, but the low notes sounded pushed and unnatural, though the smoky tone was nice. Also her voice on the belted notes of the chorus really needed the polish of a vibrato as they sounded slightly harsh as they were. Nice strong head note displayed too but the performance was kind of boring and felt too safe a song choice.(6/10)

Kitty Brucknell- It's oh so quiet (Bjork): Clearly has great control of her voice, being able to manage its dynamics and timbre effectively as well as being comfortable in the low and high parts of it. Overall I had no complaints about the voice, but the performance was just a tad boring and a little stage show for me. (7/10)



Let me know your thoughts below!

7 comments:

  1. Also Kitty a bit nasal?

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  2. Can I just add - how good was Katy Perry on the Sunday night results show?! EASILY the best I've ever heard her sing - she seems much more comfortable behind a guitar with a stripped down sound, rather than dancing about the stage dressed as a giant French Facny,

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  3. Yeah The Risk were very accomplished singers, and i read they are now favourite to win!!  I didn't catch the Sunday show- Or Katy's performance which I'll Youtube now- because I'm just not that interested this year. I think not watching the VTs and so not getting involved with the singers stories is actually making the show less enjoyable!  Oh and what am I missing about Janet? That is two weeks running that I didn't enjoy the performance, but she seems really popular. Isn't she just a shyer Diana Vickers ? Did you like her performances? Maybe you can explain to me what I'm missing.

    Just saw the Katy performance, I think that her voice copes a lot better when its given a smaller range to sing.  I'm really glad she kept it simple and left the sexuality and fireworks at home. This could be the type of artist she morphs into when she gives up the bubblegum pop.

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  4. I think people like Janet because of clever VT work again...they portrayed her as this shy country singer/songwriter from Ireland...cue lots of images of her quietly strumming a guitar in her bedroom and writing in a journal with rolling hills in the background. They have done the usual trick of stressing the need for something 'different'

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  5. I'm not sure if i can bring myself to watch it this week. I suppose I'm not doing anything else. lol. Maybe I'll start watching the VTs too to get more involved and attached to the series.

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  6. You could always just catch the performances on youtube - the official xfactor channel normally gets them up there pretty quickly. I reckon Habibis might go this week, so then you'll have one less girl to sit through, lol.

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