Smallscreen News

Diva Fever Don’t Survive The X Factor Storm

By Ian Cullen Oct 18, 2010, 3:36 GMT

09/29/2010 - Cheryl Cole - London, UK © Solarpix / PR Photos

Oh boy. Week two of the X Factor finals and its still very much like a love in, and to date no major fall outs have happened with the judges with perhaps the exception of Louis Walsh telling Cheryl Cole that the show wasn’t all about her in last weeks installment.

As ever, the stage was set for some mediocre, really good and bloody awful performances.

Stealing the show for this weekend's onslaught of musical heaven and hell was Mary Byrne for the ladies who yet again shows all the young wet behind the ears whipper snappers how its done, and received another standing ovation from the live audience with her interpretation of the classic Dusty Springfield song ‘You Don't Have To Say You Love Me’, and the audience replied with whoops to show their love for Mary.

Another high point was Rebecca Fergusan who sang a fantastic rendition of the classic Jazz Standard ‘You Know How I Feel’ and for once I agree with the judges about this girl.

She just needs to gain more confidence. The real trick will be to have her gain confidence without the cock-sure attitude that Cher Lloyd seems to exhibit of late. A part of this girls charm and the selling point of her voice is the level of vulnerability that comes across.

During her VT, Fergusan said that last week she was trying to get in the zone. She should quit trying and just sing. This girl could potentially win the whole competition. All she needs is to have some faith in herself.

Moving onto Cher Lloyd it was more of the same really. A mish-mash of two songs, the first being ‘It’s A Hard Enough Life’ from the stage play Annie, and to be honest. It may have worked for Cheryl Cole and the other judges, but I really question whether or not Cher can actually sing much less do a straight standard song.

I know she is the media darling because she is hip and cool with the rap vibe and all that, but I’d like to see her sing a straightforward standard just once. To see if she can cope with it. Because without the rap. I don’t think there’s anything that special about this girl.

Out of the male acts, Paije put in a fairly standard performance, but did enough to stay in the running, and to me he has more of a likability factor than anything else and suspect he’ll be around for awhile.

However, Aiden Grimshaw who many are pegging as another hipster up and coming vocal talent got totally lost when singing an awfully contrived rendition of the classic John Lennon song ‘Jealous Guy’, which to me is a song that should be sang without all the vocal tricks. Seemingly the audience liked it enough to save him. I wouldn’t have, but who am I to judge?

By far the best male vocal came from Matt Cardle, who was given the task of having to reach a top ‘C’ during his song. Which as anyone will tell you is the highest note a male vocalist can reach, and in most instances it only happens in the bedroom when the girlfriend takes the hair straighteners to the gonads or when a guy chooses to wear extremely tight underwear.

All jokes aside much like Rebecca Fergusan all Matt needs is a little faith in himself, and he’d have cracked it.

This week saw one of the worst acts go up before the judges.

Where as poor Storm Lee who started the show with a fairly confident rendition of ‘Born To Run’ was voted off by the audience, which is a shame because even I quite liked Storm, but I was never under any illusions that he’d storm into the last few weeks of the show.

After the result, Lee commented: "You know, I just want everyone out there who's ever believed in something to never, ever give up because you haven't seen the best of me yet, let me tell you."

The two acts left to face the Judges were Belle Amie and Diva Fever, which are both interestingly enough Simon Cowell’s acts.

Diva Fever were given the song ‘I Will Survive’ by Gloria Gaynor, and thankfully my ears only just managed to survive the assault.  Having my chest waxed with sandpaper is more preferable than listing to it again.

However, when it came to the crunch the Judges all went with Belle Amie, who to their credit put in a better performance than the song that was chosen for them in the saturday show. Which shows you that with Girl Bands, its just a case of finding the dominant singers and letting the other girls just pout and look like a living breathing mannequin!

Diva Fever did complain about the song choice being wrong, and though they can’t sing to save their lives, they did make a valid point. Even Cabaret Singers make a point of trying to avoid ‘I Will Survive’ given that it has become somewhat of a parody of itself, and only really works when Gloria Gaynor sings it.

Ultimately the right choice was made. Though I think we need to get rid of Katey next week, and have Cher Lloyd have to do the sing off. The crash down to earth for Lloyd will be a healthy reality check for the somewhat big headed hipster, who seems to have gone from shy to cocky less the 60 seconds.