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Now, I’ve liked the quiffed singer from day one (‘Gold Digger’ audition with a funk twist, remember?) But – apart from perhaps the enigmatic Wagner – he’s shown the least amount of growth, stubbornly sticking to his stiff performance style and ignoring suggestions to venture in another direction. Six weeks in a row, he’s brought out different incarnations of essentially the same song type – slow, intense and moody (even ‘Thriller’ was brutalised in his apparent dislike of anything fun or upbeat). And I’ve yet to illuminate my main issue with him – the degree of effort he allocated to perfecting the edginess of his performance, yet leaving tunefulness lagging way behind. So while I’m disappointed he’s gone, I’m far more disappointed that the one-time favourite (oh, how the mighty have fallen!) wasted this opportunity by over-indulging some sort of ‘dark side’.
In any case, no one can convince me that ‘Don’t Dream It’s Over’ (another expression of his emo self, despite its default easy listening nature) was better than Katie’s surprisingly competent and frankly perfect choice of ‘Save Me From Myself’, where she both displayed an understanding of her vocal limits and let her honest emotions ooze seamlessly out without dominating. My only fear is that her confidence has been so brutally knocked by now that she’s lost her fun-loving spirit, the main reason I imagine Simon chose to save her another week.
Aiden’s elimination may have taken away the spotlight from the rest of Saturday’s Elton John themed night, but in reality there were no major surprises. Matt once again ruled the roost with an excellent adaptation of the phenomenally difficult ‘Goodbye Yellow Brick Road’, using his irresistible falsetto to its full potential. Following not far behind was Rebecca, wisely choosing the original ‘Candle in the Wind’; the husky shades of her voice especially seemed to complement the musical narration of the tragic Marilyn Monroe story in a more moving way than I’d ever heard before.
Cher asserted her vocal chops by delivering a lovely ‘Sorry Seems to be the Hardest Word’, albeit with excessive melisma in parts (maybe she’s overcompensating for past critique?). While I would have preferred her to leave out the Eminem interlude, I understand her need to appease her hip-hop oriented voters if that’s the market in which she wishes to end up.
Aside from the decent yet monotonous One Direction ballad where Harry, arguably their best singer, was finally given centre stage over Liam (Zain’s echo singing returned!), the rest of the evening felt more than ever like cannon fodder. I’d forgotten Mary’s song a mere hour after she’d sung it (it was only a matter of time before her same-y performances would send me to snoozetown) while Paije’s ‘Crocodile Rock’ had every guest and judge on The Xtra Factor proclaim him as all but certain for bottom two-dom the following night. As for Wagner – whether his presence is explained by residual Jedward voters or the UK spillover from the US-based, traditionally American Idol-oriented ‘Vote for the Worst’ campaign – at least he’s filling a void for craziness that gently reminds us every week that we need not take this whole process so seriously.
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