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X Factor Australia 2012: Top 11 Perform: Party All Night
25 September, 2012 6:49 PM
Published by MDS
There's been lots of controversy this week. After Adil Memon's elimination, he and fellow contestant Josh Brookes went on a live stream with fans, in which Josh made some unfortunate comments, so the producers decided to disqualify him. Since Adil was also part of it, he wasn't allowed to come back either and then mystery began. Who's gonna replace Josh? Will it be one of the JH boys such as Matt Gresham or Carmelo? Or will it be a someone totally different, like Vendulka? ... It's time to face the music!
Recap, videos and POLL after the JUMP ...
First up, we get to know the identity of Josh's replacement and Mel's second boy. It's Carmelo Munzone! The guy who should've made it over Jason Owen. Personally, I was rooting for Matt Gresham, since he was overall better during his JH performance but I've no doubt Carmelo will be a great contestants. On another note, Mel looked really bummed.
Angel Tupai
"Young Hearts Run Free" - 7,5/10 - "My idea of a party would be groove and smile and shake my booty. Haha. Mom don't kill me please!" Angel isn't partying with her turban this week, she calls it a surprise and Nat's the only one that knows it. "It's gonna be a showstopper", Nat says. The big surprise is that Angel has gone blond and has a crazy cut but it actually looks good on her. She enters the stage sitting on a throne surrounded by dancers in dresses. It all keeps the African vibe she's going on. Describing it makes it sound weird but it does have a great visual effect. Nat really knows how to work that stage! The vocals were strong but there was too much going on and it got me a little distracted. I was entertained, for sure, but I lost my focus on her vocals, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. She's a star though and this performance proved she can work the stage.
Jason Owen
"Dancing in the Moonlight" - 2/10 - Jason originally hates Mel's song, it makes him feel sick. "I just wasn't comfortable with the song and I was frightened that I was gonna let Mel down". His initial reaction to puke was right cause now he's making me want to puke too. Mel's staging is almost as atrocious as Jason's dancing. The song is titled "Dancing in the Moonlight" so why not make Jason dance in front of a moon picture? The Glee moves, as Guy pointed last week, are back and this time more exaggerated than ever. If that's what a party in Alberta looks like, I now know why only 12 people live there.
Fourtunate
"Blame It on the Boogie" - 6,5/10 - "We really want to prove that we are here for a reason and we've what it takes to be the best". Mel thinks they should forget about the props and the dancing and just sing. Ronan instead, wants them to sleep with the chairs if necessary to remember the choreography, which they actually do. Haha. Their dancing is in sync but their vocals are once again a bit off. Much better than last weak but off nonetheless. Mel's advice was right, they need to just sing cause all they've to do affects their vocals and it's a shame cause they're probably the best male singers. I didn't really like the song either, it's party night, not 70s night. I liked the ending a lot though, had the whole performance been like that, it would've been a showstopper, cause that was sick! Everyone loved it, should I get my ears checked?
Nathaniel Willemse
Nathaniel Willemse
"Canned Heat" - 7/10 - "I love partying. I love to dance, do my doggie every now and then, it's sort of the only move I know. I'm not the best dancer". Guy tells Nathaniel that he's gonna dance a lot more tonight. For someone who claims he only knows how to do the doggie, he certainly busted some moves, not Fortunate level but decent enough. I know I couldn't have done that. I enjoyed his voice but where did Guy got this song from? It was very old fashioned even for Nathaniel and we know he can do current, as he did in bootcamp. He was a little out of breath here and there and that final note was off but overall, it was still really good. He's still a contender.
Bella Ferraro
"What Makes You Beautiful" - 6/10 - Bella thinks Mel would've picked a Spice Girls song for her last week. She doesn't think party isn't really her. Nat thinks it's a good song choice. Seriously Nat? Bella and 1D? Cute arrangement, the song is slowed down to fit Bella's voice but I can't really decide whether I liked it or not. She sounded better than last week but the performance was a little one note. Nat advised her not to do too much with her voice but now I hope she had. It sounded beautiful but honestly, it was a little boring. I admit she pulled it off though, it must have been hard to do that. Idiot Guy points out it's not a party version of the song. Aren't the contestants supposed to arrange the themes to fit their voices? Cause that's exactly what Bella did. Mel is a bigger idiot and tells Bella that she wouldn't have her sing a Spice Girls song and that until she sold 75 million albums she can't comment like that. The girl was just making a joke, you are the adult Mel. Mel is no longer Scary Spice, she's Stupid Spice. However, Ronan proves to be the biggest idiot telling Nat she can't do this to Bella because this is not a party song and this isn't how it works. It's exactly how it works Ronan, Nat did a good job, get over it.
What About Tonight
"Year 3000" - 3/10 - A girl blacked out last week because of their atrocious performance. They'd to go backstage and apologize to her. Or something like that. Mel wonders if WAT can handle proper choreography cause she's always seen them jumping around. The guys enter the stage jumping, answering Mel's question. So Ronan considers this song a party song but not Bella's? This song sucks, it just does. I admit their vocals were better than last week but they are just a mediocre 1D rip-off. Guy says he heard them backstage singing acapella and it sounded awesome. He tries to prove it to us but fails miserably. That didn't sound awesome, it was more like painful. Mel's still pissed with Nat and asks her if she meant that the Spice Girls were a manufactured pop act cause they made all their decisions, blah, blah, blah. Nat says she didn't. What's wrong with Mel tonight?
Justin Standley
"Bohemian Rhapsody" - 3/10 -"I don't party. I'm old". Well, it shows. Justin had a really hard time getting the initial note right and he didn't improve cause he still had the same issue tonight. This is to big of a song for him. He's a decent singer but he can't take on this huge song, awful song choice Guy. His voice sounded awful and it was all rather karaoke at best and that's cause I don't want to say it sounded like he was singing under the shower. Pitchy, shouty and honestly and too overdramatic. Just plain awful.
Carmelo Munzone
"Everlasting Love" - 8,5/10 -"Bringing a replacement on in the middle of the show, there're so many dynamics that you've to think of. I needed to find somebody that was different, somebody that can handle the pressure and vocally somebody that it's good enough to stand against all the other contestants", Mel says. Carmelo had two days to learn his song. The performance is off to an ok start but as it goes on it gets better and better. He's a terrific performer who should've made it in the first place, he deserves to be here more than Jason does and his got a killer soulful voice. I also love the way he smiles while singing. One of the best performances so far, plus he only had two days! Imagine what he could done with a whole week. There's no doubt he'll be safe tonight.
Samantha Jade
"Freefallin" - 8,5/10 - Samantha didn't deserve to end in the B2 last week so I'm really glad she stayed. "I've been doing a lot of ballads so this will be totally different for me". Guy says he was shocked Sami was in the B2, it scared him. Oh god. Not another platform! Thankfully, she stepped down from it and danced a little, which is what she needed to do. Her vocals were amazing, it really impressed me, specially during the start. There were a little flat parts here and there but as Ronan pointed, that was the song's fault, it didn't go anywhere. The staging looked cool, it was probably the only one that actually looked like a party. I'm still worried for her but if she ends in the bottom after this, something is clearly wrong with Australia.
Shiane Hawke
"I Heard It Through the Grapevine" - 8/10 - "My idea of a party would probably be going to the water park with my friends". Her rehearsal is atrocious, she says it's because she didn't know it anyway. She starts crying as she usually does. Once again, I love this arrangement. The only reason I'm enjoying Shiane now is because of Nat and her great choices. Her performances always have this cool jazzy feel and Shiane's vocals are actually sounding really great for this past two weeks. I can indeed see her becoming a Duffy like artist. Yes, there are off moments, but overall, her performances are entertaining and fun, I enjoyed it. The judges point that Shiane needs to improve her pronunciation but honestly, I really didn't care much about it, though it's true she's a problem with it.
The Collective
Rankings
- Samantha Jade
- Carmelo Munzone
- Shiane Hawke
- The Collective
- Angel Tupai
- Nathaniel Willemse
- Fourtunate
- Bella Ferraro
- What About Tonight
- Justin Standley
- Jason Owen
B2 Prediction:
Justin Standley and Fortunate
Elimination:
Justin Standley
Results
Bottom 2:
Nathaniel Willemse
What About Tonight
Nathaniel Willemse
What About Tonight
Guy isn't here tonight. He's in the US where he'll perform his newest single, "Battle Scars" in "Late Show with David Letterman". I guess since I predicted Justin would be eliminated he had to be called out safe second. Another shock tonight! When I saw WAT, Nathaniel and Bella left, I was expecting WAT to be safe so I'm more than glad to see they ended in the B2, now I hope the judges chose wisely and send them home, cause after all, we already have two more boybands. I can see a deadlock happening though.
What About Tonight - "The Way You Make Me Feel" - They alternate to sing and as you'd expect it's awful. None of them has the talent to be a soloist, that's why they are in a boyband after all, so this may not have been the most clever decision. They should have sang together as they always do. They wouldn't have sounded any better cause their harmonies are awful but at least they would've felt a little more like the WAT we've seen before.
Nathaniel Willemse - "It Will Rain" - Beautiful vocals though they were clearly affected by his nerves. He looked quite terrified but he was still much more superior than WAT. He's a class singer and even if this was his worst performance he deserves to stay over Ronan's group.
Ronan: "Nathaniel is an incredible singer but there's loads of great singers out there in Australia. Australia has an opportunity to have a band, to equal and rival 1D. The other judges need to think about this. They need to think what's best for the XF. The act that I'm sending home is Nathaniel"
Nat: "WAT, from the beginning you just came out here and gave so much love and energy to the audience. Nathaniel I loved your voice from the moment I heard it. It moves me. I'm not a strategic person, the act I'm sending home tonight is WAT"
Mel: "I thought I had a pretty good idea of who would be in the B2 and I was completely wrong. That leaves me with the question. Who's voting and who're they voting for? So, for me, I'm gonna take it to deadlock and let the public decide"
Eliminated:
What About Tonight
WOW!! I didn't see this coming! I was so sure Nathaniel was going home when it went to deadlock. I just didn't see him getting more votes than WAT. But somehow, he did and now the mediocre WAT are out of the competition. This shows that Ronan should've never picked three groups as his top 3. Had he went with Good Question, he may still have three acts. But I understand what he did, he wanted the public to pick the best boyband, they did and it's not WAT.
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This entry was posted on 6:49 PM, and is filed under
Angel Tupai,
Bella Ferraro,
Carmelo Munzone,
Fortunate,
Jason Owen,
Justin Standley,
Nathaniel Willemse,
Samantha Jade,
Shiane Hawke,
The Collective,
TV,
WAT,
X Factor Australia,
XF Series
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September 25, 2012 at 9:31 PM
My scores out of 10
For the 1st live show:
1. Samantha Jade (9) - love it but her costume almost upstaged her
2. Angel Tupai (8) - generic diva vocal but the grunting was minimal and i can't deny that she sang really well
3. Nathaniel Willemse (7) - cool and smooth, croaked a bit towards the end
4. The Collective (7) - not without vocal flaws but they were good for a frankenboyband
5. Josh Brookes (6) - surprisingly decent
6. Justin Standley (6) - annoying but he wasn't bad
7. Adil Memon (5) - bad song choice for him, he doesn't have the right style for it, it was boring
8. Bella Ferraro (5) - started well then choked towards the end
9. Shiane Hawke (5) - like Bella, started well then it kind of derailed
10. WAT WTF (4) - one of the girl groups should have made it over them
11. Jason Owen (4) - not a total disaster but completely irrelevant and utterly boring, Carmelo (or any of the Matts) would have been more interesting than him
12. Fourtunate (3) - this came as a shock for me considering how good they were at the judges house, i managed to cringe more at their performance than WAT WTF did
For the 2nd live show:
1. The Collective (9) - nailed it. i was with the other judges having doubts about the song choice but it worked really well for them. it's cheesetastic but they fit the most with the theme. i'm not sure what else is there to criticize, maybe a couple of boys were a bit off their rhythm in the choreography?
2. Nathaniel Willemse (8) - i liked him a lot in this performance. the drums segment though is lol awkward and he kind of croaked again towards the end like last week. maybe he needs to rest his voice more or something
3-4 Angel Tupai/Samantha Jade (7.5) - i'm gonna lump them together, they're the best vocalists in this competition. i like their performances but i'm not so sure if it's enough to attract casual viewers to vote for them. Samantha looked great in her costume and staging. but maybe she needed a better choreography or song to make her standout more. whoever is dressing Angel needs to punched. they made her look bigger than she already is WTF. in Angel's case, she doesn't need to move a lot but i think she deserved a better song choice. it was too laid-back for someone with a big voice like hers
5. Fourtunate (6.5) - much better than last week but i wonder if they can hear themselves properly, there's one soloist who sounded off and they almost went off the rails with him towards the end
6. Bella Ferraro (6.5) - i actually like her better this time but she (well Nat mostly) was hammered by the judges for the arrangement of that 1D song. i actually think it made the song sound better and interesting. unfortunately, i don't know which party that performance is supposed to fit. maybe for a "My Little Pony" viewing party?
7. Carmelo (6) - he's got a great voice but maaaan was he nervous in that performance. he was also saddled with a "party song" that is lounge-y. i hope he survives and he can shake off the nerves because it's hard to watch him move awkwardly across the stage
8. Shiane Hawke (5) - i cannot understand her through most of the song. i kinda liked that she improved in her stage presence though
9. Justin Standley (5) - performance is spectacular for the wrong reasons. he's such a try-hard but i gotta admire him for that. he' still very much a fodder though
10. Jason Owen (3)- when i look at him and then i look at Carmelo, i realize Mel B has the saddest category at least Carmelo has a distinct voice. Jason is so boring, so mediocre, so irrelevant. i still can't believe he wasn't in the bottom two last week
11. WATF (3) - just horrible. they also have the least staging among the contestants. maybe the production is throwing them under the bus? LOL. i just hope there isn't a backlash vote in favor of them. they're really awful.
September 25, 2012 at 9:44 PM
LOL at the "My Little Pony" party. That made me laugh.
I really hope WAT are out but I doubt it, they'll stay in the competition for a while unfortunately
September 26, 2012 at 7:41 AM
Last week's bottom two was annoyingly wrong since Jason/Justin/WAT is still in instead of Adil and I really hoped Josh would've returned to bright up Mel's category. But since it isn't, all I can ask for Samantha to survive from the elimination with Carmelo.
September 26, 2012 at 6:17 PM
Bella's version of "What makes you beautiful" was stunning. All this song-choice battles..well, maybe they right, but that, for me, was the best performance of the night.
The Collective were great, sure, it's just that "Domino" was so perfect so its kinda impossible to overdo that.
And I think Nathaniel was pretty surprised himself that he got more voices than WAT, it was written on his face. I think maybe all these WAT-fangirls just aren't allowed to vote by their parents (and it's quite wise if so).
September 26, 2012 at 10:18 PM
some trivial stats:
facebook likes per performance in the official XFAUS FB page:
1st live show
1. Shiane - 41,615
2. The Collective - 32,295
3. Angel - 21,789
4. Josh - 15,225
5. Samantha - 13,428
6. Bella - 12,361
7. Justin - 11,331
8. Jason - 9,890
9. Fourtunate - 8,481
10. Nathaniel - 7,411
11. WATF - 7,138
12. Adil - 6,474
2nd live show
1. The Collective - 24,231
2. Shiane - 17,522
3. Fourtunate - 9,646
4. Nathaniel - 9,208
5. Samantha - 9,057
6. Angel - 7,362
7. Bella - 6,341
8. Justin - 4,069
9. Jason - 4,369
10. WATF - 2,766
Carmelo - no dedicated post for his performance
ARIA top 50 singles chart (as of 9/24/2012):
35. Domino - The Collective
Australian iTunes 100 song downloads chart (as of 9/27/2012):
11. Footloose - The Collective
17. What Makes You Beautiful - Bella Ferraro
33. Year 3000 - What About Tonight
36. Domino - The Collective
69. Brother - Bella Ferraro
83. Free Fallin' - Samantha Jade