Bullets 'n' Babes

That said about the McD's the last 2 weeks were entertaining (if cheesy), and they didn't deserve the racist anti-Scots crap dished out to them

This week Ben is singing:

I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
(Everything I Do) I Do It For You

Not impressed with his song choices

Leona is singing:

Somewhere Over The Rainbow
I Have Nothing

I'm really looking forward to her Mariah impression with Eva Cassidy/Sam Harris arrangement (!)

Ray is singing:

You'll Never Walk Alone

This weeks theme is "Songs to get you into the final" (!) - creative I know, the guest is Gloria Estefan.

Ah, she has a greatest hits to promote. 8)

Maybe 8)
I hope Ray isn't doing Smile, Ben has already done it??? They can't be that sort of songs for the artists to do surely? The song choices are never imaginative IMO.

Heard the soundchecks on Xcess all Areas.

Leona sounded pretty bad IMO and was struggling with low register (are you surprised) on I Have Nothing.
Thought Ben was OK on Everything I Do....
Ray sounded OK, but preferred Ben's version of Smile.... more emotion and why is Ray allowed to do it? Ray wasn't singing in tune either. It did make me laugh though when they showed Ray singing Smile at bootcamp and they put a swing beat behind it

Ben is singing:

I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For - U2
(Everything I Do) I Do It For You - Bryan Adams

Leona is singing:

Somewhere Over The Rainbow - Eva Cassidy (?)
I Have Nothing - Whitney Houston

Ray is singing:

You'll Never Walk Alone - Gerry and the Pacemakers
Smile - Nat King Cole

I don't think Ray should be allowed to do Smile IMO as Ben has already performed it this series

Ray - Smile: Preferred Ben's version as a whole, it seemed more emotional and Ray still slurs his words. Preferred Ray's voice on this one to Ben though?

Leona - I'm seeing a pattern here! Right on the money notes and the louder stuff, she can sing those well, but felt like karaoke Whitney. Blah. She's still crap at lower regsiter. If I heard it with my eyes shut I wouldn't know it was Leona.
She can sing, but she even looks like Whitney ca. 1987 and "performs" with all the panache of a 14 year old with a hairbrush in front of a mirror.

Ben - Everything I Do: Sung with passion but, just to show this isn't favouritism, it felt karaoke Bryan Adams as a whole. Still a perfect song for him however

Ray - You'll Never Walk Alone: 1st half of the song was crap and he sounded shaky, he only came good at the finale of the song. Powerful at the end. Though he didn't sing very well and was out of tune for most of it IMO.

Leona - Somewhere Over The Rainbow - Killing two birds with one stone here by imitating Eva Cassidy AND Mariah in the same song, beautiful song, well sung (at the end, crap at the beginning) and I beleive it means a lot to her, she was like a mynah bird though.... the last note.. AARGH!
Eva Cassidy's interpretation is heartbreaking. Much more emotion in there. Best performance he's ever seen.. again. Will Simon and Leona please have sex and go away?

Ben - I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For - Shouty, raspy, but passionate and he sang it like he meant it.

Is the show fixed for Leona to win?

Gonna find out after the break

...

Leona through... no surprise there. But Ray.. RAY?

Ray was poor tonight and didn't deserve his place IMO. Now either way Simon wins :x
I wanted Ben there. He was gracious in defeat though, maybe coming 3rd is a blessing.

Oh well, makes for an interesting final I guess. Either way Simon wins but I'd love to see his face when his princess Leona is runner up.

I've I hear one more hyperbolic comment from Simon I'll... OTR was good but for him to say that Over The Top.. er.. Rainbow was the best performance on any X factor/American Idol was bollocks.

I want Ray to win now. Leona clearly has a good voice but all the songs she has sang latterly have been utterly predictable, and painfully safe (Whitney, Mariah etc.). And despite having a great voice, she doesn't seem to have "it" to be honest. Her best performance was when she sang Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word. I like Ray, but I couldn't see him lasting beyond one album (due to his preference for old school songs), so Leona to win then. I think that's pretty safe to say that.

Yeah I have to agree with you about Leona TBH, and she "Mariah-fied" Over The Rainbow IMO. She is the female equivalent of Shayne last year. And also is it me, or did her performance of OTR seem too "perfect", especially for someone who has lost a cousin? When Elton John sang at Diana's funeral, he had to grit his teeth to pull off the last verse.
And though Leona isnt too hot singing softly, ironically I would have preferred it if she had, gentler, softer, more emotion. It was good but the OTT last part almost killed it.
I can think of at least 2 versions of the song I've heard (with Eva Cassidy arrangement) performed by amateurs, who were better than Leona.

It would be funny if Ray won now Ben will get a contract anyway.

http://www.amazon.com/Facing-Future-Isr ... B00000JFG3

Israel-Kamakawiwoole's version of Over The Rainbow (featured prominently in the Adam Sandler movie 50 First Dates) is the best IMO.

Wasn't it played over the end of Meet Joe Black?
I think he has a great voice based on that snippet there, I like his take on John Denver's "Take Me Home, Country Roads" as well.

Ray murdered You'll Never Walk Alone. A brilliant song reduced to shambles. If I sang like that I'd cry too.

Leona did well with both performances. Both totally unoriginal of course. She copied Whitney then Eva Cassidy. But I can't deny her singing was powerful. Not great, but the best this lame-o series has had to offer.

Ben kinda bored me to be honest. Forgettable.

Agree with you about Ray/Leona, Leona has a good, powerful voice as you say but I think the problem is I know what her Mariah impression sounds like, and what her Whitney impression sounds like, and what her Chrsitina and Eva Cassidy impressions sound like, but she hasn't found *her* voice yet? The *soft* parts on OTR were Eva Cassidy style, the ending was blatantly Mariah style IMO

You'll Never Walk Alone was crap. There's no way Ray should have got to the final ahead of Ben on that performance

Missed the last few weeks cos I was on hols. So just read Grim's commentary.

I knew the McD's would be out but didn't expect Ben to come third. Leona winning is a sure thing - no need to watch I guess... unless I'm really bored.

Final tonight!!
From what I've heard, Ray's odds are shortening and he could overtake Leona as the favourite.
Leona can sing, but can't perform well or connect with the audience (IMO).
Ray can't sing very well but can perform with emotion.
Ray will go into West End or something, Leona will sell records.

Leona looks better with straight, long hair. With her frizzy/wavy style, she's too 80's.

Was I right or was I right? I'm just so awesome it hurts.

Grim & Mark, you owe me a fiver, as not only did I predict the winner, but also who was going to get eliminated every week.

yeah but it been fixed for her to win for a while, ben told of it a few weeks ago and others had said it, so its no big suprise. personally, i dont like her voice, yes she can sing, but only one kind of thing, same goes for ray. besides she'll be around 10 minutes then fade away into obscurity. some "win" certainly not superstardome.

Ah Shen, I guess you owe me a fiver too.

why i didnt bet with you...i knew she was gonna win from the first show...it was obvious from all the gushing comments.

she sucks really, not star quality at all, just on of the prefabricated pop princesses that are around for 10 minutes and then bye bye everyone forgot her name...

She can certainly sing, to say she can't does her a disservice, but she does imitate her idols (Carey, Houston) rather a lot, and she has little stage presence IMO. For someone with so much training I find Leona's lower notes quite poor. Her first song tonight was a carbon copy of the Whitney version. Her 3rd song just didn't suit her and clearly wasn't a young person's song - "All By Myself" (Eric Carmen, 1976) - 'When I was young...' WTF! You're STILL young. Younger than me.
Though to be fair, Ray's third song (Fly Me To The Moon) wasn't a song for a young guy either - I think what stood out for me tonight was Ray was actually PERFORMING his songs and putting his heart into them, and enjoying himself (his My Way and That's Life were great) and Leona may be better vocally but she just stands there with bent knees etc
A Moment Like This is a pretty naff song, but it clearly suited Leona much better. Not surprised she won TBH.

Agree with a lot of what Grim said.

Leona can hit those high notes tremendously, but the low notes are soft, and she's remarkably derivitive (almost to the point of vocal plagurism).

Ray's more of a peformer than a singer, and is fun to watch when doing swing. He redeemed himself after last week's debacale.

All in all I have to say that this was easily the poorest series of X-Factor thus far. To be honest I prefer Strictly Come Dancing!