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The death knell for Paije Richardson has been echoing for weeks, by bookies and celebrity Xtra Factor panels alike. It’s been heard pretty much ever since he was first brought back as a wild card…which is why I was somewhat surprised that tonight was the end of his X Factor ‘journey’.
That’s not to say his rambling gospel ‘Let It Be’ – chock full of wince-worthy notes, a dozen-too-many people on stage and therefore lacking honest connection – was going to stimulate the vote (even his sing-off ‘Stop’ was out of his range). If he’d played it more minimalist (as that song should always be) maybe he could’ve prolonged his prediction-defying run. Cher, meanwhile, as the other bottom two-er, made the mistake of picking the one song that should only ever be covered by friends around a campfire. You can either do ‘Imagine’ simplistically like the original, meaning you’ll never sound as good, or you can change it up and detract from its powerful message. It’s best just not to touch it.
Maybe this is the problem with Beatles week; taking a selection of the best songs ever written, you’re more likely to stumble than succeed, and unfortunately even the most reliable contestants this week failed to dazzle. Matt took on the Wagner approach, surrounding himself with skimpy dancers and actually growling ‘Come Together’ rather than singing it (ugh, why?! I want Sensitive Matt back!), while even Rebecca proved more sleepy than sensational, as her ‘Yesterday’ seemed to drag on (I think similar rules to ‘Imagine’ apply here too). I even found myself enjoying One Direction’s upbeat and spirited ‘All You Need is Love’…and you know it’s not a good night when One Direction are amongst the highlights.
Mary at least was on form, with the less obvious ‘Something’, displaying commanding stage presence once again. Trouble is, the novelty of her fabulous booming voice has worn off a bit now, so even at her best she can be underwhelming – but I bear no grudge with her continuing presence in the competition. Wagner on the other hand…it would be pointless to talk about the utter mess that was his triple Beatles mash-up (one of which wasn’t even an original Beatles track! I mean seriously, in a catalogue that huge?!). But when someone of his talent standard and, more importantly in some ways, his notorious bully attitude has failed to crack the bottom two by week 7, you have to wonder what good is being brought about by people voting for him. At least Jedward were labelled as ‘lovely’ by all accounts.
On the bright side, perhaps his sticking around will put things in perspective for Katie-bashers – Katie for me delivered the best performance of the night. The unexpectedly brilliant arrangement emerged as the tiny flicker of hope in an otherwise Pandora’s Box of a night, and the lyrics were infused with a whole new meaning through her particularly rough run on the show (the image revamp was a welcome change, too). Yes, it may have been naive to enter a predominantly popularity-based competition proclaiming desires for superstardom and fame, not realising the negative first impression it would create upon a voting public, but I’m convinced enough by her humility, apparent good nature and the endless praise coming from both judges and others close to her that she’s just a young girl with some talent in her pocket pursuing a dream. She’s not only undeserving of the constant ridicule and mass press and internet bullying she’s faced – but is worth a few nuggets of support. So I guess this is my contribution.
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