Photobucket

We had a pretty solid start to the series last week with a few stand-out auditionees such as Sam Bailey, Tamera and Hannah Barrett. This week's auditions promise to be even more jam-packed with three returning contestants and a whole bunch of hopefuls who feel that they have what it takes to get through two rounds of auditions. Will we see the familiar faces making it through second, or in some cases fourth time lucky?

 Recap and videos after the JUMP...

Up first is Chloe O'Gorman, an excitable 16-year-old who want to impress the judges with her big voice. She is singing 'The Climb' by Miley Cyrus, a bit of a clichéd song choice by now, don't get me wrong, she does have a good voice but I've heard this track far too many times and there's nothing about Chloe's rendition of it that sets her apart from the millions of other teenage girls who sing the song on talent shows. Nevertheless, it's enough to convince the judges to put her through and Chloe goes through to the arena auditions.


17-year-old Barclay Beales wins over all the judges, particularly Nicole with his rendition of 'He Taught Me How To Yodel' with the ex-Pussycat Doll exclaiming: ''I never knew yodelling could be so hot''. All four of the judges give him rave reviews and Barclay wins a place in the next round, I'm not so certain that I can see him making it any further than bootcamp as the yodelling seems to be a bit of a gimmick, it's a very marmite thing and personally I'm not exactly in the 'love' camp. I think aside from the yodelling, his voice is just alright but perhaps he will impress me at the arena stages?


Thomas Feeley is the next contestant to face the judges. He's a part-time mobile DJ and he brings his laptop with him because it contains the backing track on it and also has some testimonials with him from his DJ gigs to show the judges. The judges take interest in the surveys and quiz him about what he does during his gigs with Thomas telling them that he sings. He launches into a pichy as hell rendition of 'Isn't She Lovely' by Stevie Wonder which prompts Louis to burst into hysterics and Gary to harshly read through his testimonial questions answering them out loud based on his vocally rubbish rendition of the Stevie Wonder track, concluding that he wouldn't hire him again. Unsurprisingly, he gets 4 No's and Thomas leaves the rooms disappointed with Nicole helpfully reminding him not to trip over his laptop cord. 


 Brummie Relly C is the next auditionee of the day. She is a housekeeper in a hotel in Birmingham and says that although it's not the most glamorous of jobs, she approaches her job with a smile. Dermot asks her if she ever walks in on someone starkers whilst the judges are also interested in her occupation as Sharon tells her 'I bet you're bound to come across all manner of things'. Relly is a bubbly girl, she may be short but she has a lot of personality and I'm already behind her before she has started singing, her song is 'Don't You Worry Child' by Swedish House Mafia. I love this song and I adore her rendition of it, she has a really fresh voice, it's not the typical soul diva voice like Tamera from last week, she has something bluesy and sort of raspy in that voice of hers and I love how she lets her accent come through also. She reminds me a bit of Cocknbull Kid actually, it's a really impressive audition, probably my favourite so far. Relly is basically what Jade Ellis could have been last year if she had been given better songs and had slightly more power, she's a very gifted singer and her likeability will also be of help to her. I predict big things for this girl, she's easily the best of the day so far and I would say very possibly my favourite singer so far. The hair is very distinctive, she looks a bit like Nicki Minaj. 


34-year-old Shelley Smith is next to audition in front of the judges, she's a single mother and a white van driver, not the first job you would associate with a lady. She sings '(You Make Me Feel Like A) Natural Woman' by Aretha Franklin. It's a nice vocal but very standard fare, nothing special or standout about her rendition of the song, I expect her to be a bootcamp eliminee or at most, perhaps a rank outsider at Judge's Houses, one who gets very little screentime and seems to be there to make up the numbers like Brad Shackleton last year.


Ryan Mathie tells the judges about how despite being an apprentice mechanic, he's currently working for the council where pat of his job includes swimming through people's bin-juice. Nice, perhaps if he wins the series he could release an eau de toilette? Too Far? Anyway, his rendition of Ray La Montagne's 'You Don't Know What Love Is Jolene' isn't bad and he has a nice country-esque voice but he doesn't really blow me away. There's nothing particularly memorable about the audition and again, I'm not sure that I see him going much further than bootcamp, Judge's Houses elimination at a stretch.


 Ooh her comes the emotional music ahead of Stuart Manson's audition. I wonder what his sob story is, oh okay it seems to be that he's a tree surgeon and gardener. Nothing wrong with that? Stuart says that music is his passion and he would ideally like to pursue it at some point. Well he ought to leave it off for a few years at least because this isn't going to be anything more than a pipe dream as it stands! Vocally, he struggles to hit most of the notes, stumbling over his words and his strange mannerisms when singing, resembling someone who is the recepient of an electric shock have the judges in stitches. It's safe to say that Stuart may PINE for his big moment a little whole longer as he LEAVES the audition room. (I apologize profusely for those terrible puns, actually no no I don't)


Back to normality now with 18-year-old checkout girl Abi Alton who has brought along with her, her biggest fan, her dad. She says that he dad supports her all the way with her music and believes in her and she hopes to do him proud with her rendition of 'Travelling Soldier' by The Dixie Chicks. Abi has a really lovely tone, I like someone with a nice soft voice who can just sing from the heart and she's definitely going to take the role of the quirky girl in this year's show. My only slight concern is that she doesn't become typecast as the Janet Devlin/Diana Vickers of this year as I think she's slightly different to them, for a start she has a slight country influence as shown by her song choice. I like her and although I don't think she's totally original, she sounds a lot like Gabrielle Aplin at times, I think she is a nice refreshing change and think a top 3 girls line-up of her, Relly and Hannah for example would be really good but we'll see about that in due course. Abi gets through although Louis thinks that the show might not be right for her, you didn't say that to Janet Devlin Louis but then again Abi isn't Irish.


You've heard of people bringing all manners of family members with them for support from grannies to aunties, mothers to children but Colin Stacey's number one supporter couldn't make it here today because, well it's his cat. He has brought a picture of the feline with him for encouragement as he tells the judges that the cat enjoys listening to him singing. That I'm sure it does. Unfortunately, Colin's rendition of 'Someone Like You' by Adele is far from purrfect and leaves the judges clawing away at him with none of them voting to send him through to the arena auditions. Colin leaves without a place in the next round but hey, at least his cat will still be able to enjoy his singing!



Warning, before you read the next part of this recap, rest assured that you have not accidentally stumbled upon a blog from 2012, 2011 or even 2006! No, the following auditionees are familiar faces as they have previously auditioned for the show. Up first is Jade Richards who auditioned for the judges in 2011 where she sang 'Someone Like You' by Adele, reducing Louis and Kelly Rowland to tears, reaching the Judge's Houses stage of the competition that year where she unfortunately was unable to compete with strong competition like Misha B and Amelia Lily. She auditioned last year and was sent home again, this time at bootcamp. She's hoping that she'll make it through to the lives this year and laucnhes into Bruno Mars' 'When I Was Your Man'. She sounds really good, this is probably the best vocal she has delivered over the three years, I much prefer it to the Adele track she sang in 2011. I'm disappointed we don't see the full audition but what we do see is good and I think Jade could go a long way this year! Jade gets four yesses with Louis telling her that she has her mojo back. Nicole translation: ''You got your balls back!''



 Amy Mottram is the next familiar face to re-audition. She auditioned lat year and made it to Tulisa's Judges Houses where she was sent home. She was nominated as the wildcard pick for her category but was beaten by Christopher Maloney who went on to terrorize the public for 10 weeks before finishing 3rd. Amy's rendition of 'Clown' is weird, vocally she's good but she uses far too much vibrato on the song and ends up sounding a bit too warbly for my liking. Nevertheless, she's also through to the next round. 


A blast from the past now in girlgroup The Dolly Rockers who originally auditioned way back in 2006, when One Direction weren't even old enough to audition and Leona was yet to claim the throne but were rejected at Louis' Judges Houses. However, they're back with new member Danielle who joined in 2010 and hoping they can make 2013 their year. Their audition of 'End Of Time' by Beyoncé is fairly disappointing actually. They're not that tight harmony wise and they don't really blow me away as vocalists. I loved their single 'Je Suis Une Dolly' but I'm not convinced that they have what it takes to go far in the competition if I'm being honest.



The final auditionee of the day is a very familiar face, Melanie McCabe has auditioned more times than Louis has said 'I WANT YOU IN THE FINAL'. Okay, maybe not that may but she has auditioned quite a number of times, making bootcamp in 2007 and last year and Judge's Houses in 2011 where she, like Jade didn't get into the live shows. She has faced a lot of rejection but she hopes that this is her year. I'm glad that she's singing something modern, Rihanna's 'Diamonds' as her audition song last year was a Simon and Garfunkel song and dated her a lot. Vocally, there's no denying that she has talent but the problem that still remains with her for me is that she's nothing different. She's a lovely singer, but she has little stage presence or star quality, I could see 1000 Melanie's if I went to any open mic night at a local bar or club and much as she is a lovely girl, I just feel like there's something missing. The judges rave about her, particularly Louis (well she is Irish) who knows her family apparently and knows how much she wants this. Louis begins to get emotional and Melanie begins to get emotional. Melanie's mum begins to get emotional. I begin to get emotiona...okay not really but you get the picture, them feels! Melanie is throug, of course she is but mark my words, unless she progresses a lot between now and then, should she make live shows, she'll be either the underdog girl who stays in the shadow of others in her category and leave in Week 4 (Sophie Habibis/Jade Ellis) or the Week 5 shock exit (Maria Lawson/Lucie Jones). I'm getting all nerdy with these facts (I didn't use Wikipedia, I swear) but you get the point. I'm intrigued to see how Melanie will cope at the arena auditions.

Share this :