Weedy's X Factor UK Season 11 - 15 Watch Thread

[Solaris]

Season 14 is the worst.  

[Weedy_Speedy]

17 minutes ago, ~Tom~ said:

This season is worse than 13.   But you'd like Kevin, he turns out better performances in future weeks. Jack and Joel are kind of fun as well. 

 

Well I'm never gonna find out, because I am not watching anymore of this trainwreck lol.

 

1 minute ago, Solaris said:

Season 14 is the worst.  

 

Good, hopefully 15 is much better...although I'm not holding my breath honestly.

[Elliott]

1 hour ago, The Ghost of Weedy Speedy said:

Matt Linen - "Scars to Your Beautiful": He sounds like death. Nobody in their right mind could listen to this and think he sounds good.

Hi

[Weedy_Speedy]

Ok, so Louis/Sharon/Nicole are gone. At least they had enough sense to keep Dermot.

 

Misunderstood - "Chewing Gum": Terrible.

 

Anthony Russell - "Issues": Also terrible. He hit a high note at the end that even made my cat perk up like saying "wtf?!"

 

Molly Scott - "Fake Love": Ordinary. "You are 16 and were 1 when this show started!" Ugh, I'm old.

 

Janice Robinson - "Clarity": Decent enough karaoke.

 

Brendan Murray - "Break Free": Wtf he sounds like he's 10. I'm not interested in Kidz Bop X Factor, sorry.

 

Bella Penfold - "Beneath Your Beautiful": Well I was ready to write off this season too, but I thought this was legitimately good. She's no Matt or Saara obviously, but in comparison to the 20+ acts I've watched from 14 and 15? In a different league.

 

Armstrong Martins - "Story of My Life":  The freak was this? A STANDING O FROM ALL FOUR JUDGES?! I wish I got paid to be a gaslighter. At least it wasn't WMYB. Again.

 

Giovanni Spano - "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting": Constantine Maroulis, is that you? Why'd you audition for X Factor?

 

United Vibes - "Slow Hands": Horrendous. Even the judges are trashing them (amazingly). Lol better than 1D at this point in the competition? I was no fan of them on X Factor but even they were better than this.  

 

Shan Ako - "Imagine": Pretty good. Better than I was expecting.

 

Olatunji Yearwood - "Jiggle It": I am never gonna be able to spell this name right. He's really bad. He wrote the song 10 days ago? It shows.

 

Scarlett Lee - "A Natural Woman": This lady may honestly have the most bland voice I've ever heard on X Factor. I'm almost impressed. So lifeless, so nondescript...

 

LMA Choir - "Circle of Life": A choir? I'm kinda surprised that it took so long to have one of those on X Factor. I thought this was pretty good, if only because it's so different from what we usually get on X Factor. They're intriguing.

 

Acacia & Aaliyah - "Finesse": It was alright. God, there are so many of these contestants. Hopefully they kick off 6 or 7 of them this week.

 

Dalton Harris - "Life on Mars": He's ok.

 

Well they may have accidentally allowed a little talent to seep into this season. I'll continue watching...for now.

 

Lmao even Dermot thinks there are way too many f*cking acts in this competition. "There are like 2000 of them!" It sure feels like it!

 

Janice, Oluwhoever, and...somebody else in the bottom 3. Come on, at least twice as many acts should be outright eliminated tonight!  

 

Olutanji is eliminated. Thank god, I don't have to spell his name anymore.

 

Janice Robinson - "The Climb": Dear lord, I thought Ayda was gonna kill the remainder of the show's time just with her opening monologue. I'm sorry, because this is ageist, but she just sounds old when she sings. It's kind of distracting.

 

Armstrong Morris - "True Colors": Oh come on, this moron can't even f*cking sing! "He's not a contestant, he's an artist!" Whatever you say, Tomlinson.  

 

Thank god Armstrong was eliminated. Good thing the public were smart enough to not believe the outright lies these judges tried to say about him.

[Weedy_Speedy]

LMA Choir - "Proud Mary": This was pretty good, if completely unoriginal. But then again, I suppose I can't expect a choir to go out and light up the stage with originality. I rolled my eyes at the robes at the beginning, but then they ditched them and I laughed. I can't decide if the lead singer (the blonde) has a good voice or not.

 

Shan Ako - "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word": Zzzzzzz. That opening monologue was bizarre. Ayda: "You made me speechless!" Yet you keep talking.

 

Brendan Murray - "Believe": It really amazes me how this kid talks like a 16-year-old and then sings like he's 10. Of course he's getting criticism, that's what happens when you're not very good.

 

Misunderstood - "Close to You": Well this was a surprise. I thought their first performance was dreadful, but this was pretty good! Nothing amazing, but they exceeded my low expectations.

 

Molly Scott - "Little Do We Know": At least she managed to graduate from the Emily Middlemas School of Performance? The end.

 

Dalton Harris - "I Have Noth...OH, F*CK OFF.

 

Scarlett Lee - "Always On My Mind": It was alright, better than last week. She can chill it with the oversinging. My roommate really liked it.

 

Acacia & Aaliyah - "All My Life"/"Shutdown": Umm ok.

 

Giovanni Spano - "Hit Me Baby One More Time": Lol funny enough, this worked for me. He put that stage experience to good use, it was quite a show.  

 

Anthony Russell - "I Want to Know What Love Is": This was a terrible, melismatic nightmare.  ANOTHER standing o from all judges?! I can buy it from Robbie/Ayda/Louis because they're morons. Simon, though? Get out of here.

 

United Vibe - "Party in the USA": Lame. I love how the judges slammed them after kissing Anthony's ass.  They were better than he was, at least!

 

Bella Penfold - "Diamonds Are Forever"/"Diamonds from Sierra Leone": A step down from her previous performance. It was alright. Robbie: "Are you a singer that raps, or a rapper that sings?" Stfu jack*ss, you were a Honey G fan.

 

Janice Robinson - "Show Me Love": I'm just not buying it, honestly. I understand that they're trying to make her sound younger or whatever but it's just not working. To be honest...you kind of have to be incredible to be 50+ and do well on X Factor (like Mary Byrne) or just be a novelty act (like Wagner). Janice is more of a Verity Keays type, unfortunately.

 

Poor Janice. She wasn't the absolute worst, but I guess just being ok + not having any hometown support sealed her fate.

 

LMA Choir in the bottom 2? Despite being one of the like, five acts that are legitimately good?  You'd think that a 15-person group would have enough support just from family and friends to remain safe.

 

LMA Choir - "A Change Is Gonna Come": A bit oversung, but considering they're going up against Kidz Bop, this should be enough to keep them safe.

 

Brendan Murray - "High and Dry": I bet there are some proud parents at the middle school talent show!

 

Ayda couldn't decide and sent it to deadlock?  Girl, please. Rita Ora would never.

 

LMA Choir were hosed.

Edited August 14, 2020 by The Ghost of Weedy Speedy

[~Tom~]

LOL you really did stop watching 14? Not the worst decision honestly.  

 

I also liked LMA Choir and Brendan does suck.  As does Anthony. They both last too long. Dalton and Shan are the only good ones, and Scarlett and Gio have a few good ones. 

[Weedy_Speedy]

5 minutes ago, ~Tom~ said:

LOL you really did stop watching 14? Not the worst decision honestly.  

 

I also liked LMA Choir and Brendan does suck.  As does Anthony. They both last too long. Dalton and Shan are the only good ones, and Scarlett and Gio have a few good ones. 

 

Yes and I'm leaning towards not finishing 15. There's nobody on the level of Matt/Saara or even Reggie 'n Bollie on this season.

 

I'm thinking of going back to the early years and rewatching those, as I haven't seen them in 10 years. Or even finished the series in the case of 3/4 lmao...I remember stopping series 3 because Dionne/Kerry (my top two at that time) were eliminated the same week and nobody in 4 really interested me that much.

[Solaris]

9 minutes ago, The Ghost of Weedy Speedy said:

 

Yes and I'm leaning towards not finishing 15. There's nobody on the level of Matt/Saara or even Reggie 'n Bollie on this season.

 

I'm thinking of going back to the early years and rewatching those, as I haven't seen them in 10 years. Or even finished the series in the case of 3/4 lmao...I remember stopping series 3 because Dionne/Kerry (my top two at that time) were eliminated the same week and nobody in 4 really interested me that much.

 

No one of Saara level, she was really the last "great" contestant the show has had.  

 

 

But Scarlett is a good watch.  Shan is good, and so is Dalton!

[Weedy_Speedy]

Molly Scott - "Toxic": Soooo forgettable.

 

Dalton Harris - "Creep": Wasn't feeling it.

 

United Vibe - "Bleeding Love": Lmao they are SOOOOOO bad, how are they still here?!

 

Shan Ako - "The Sound of Silence": This was sorta sung well. Which means it was incredible compared to the previous three.

 

Anthony Russell - "Demons": Terrible. I don't even see this "likability." He seems completely delusional to me over his lack of talent.

 

And this is where I stop. The good contestants are average at best and the judging panel is even worse than season 12's. Add on to the fact that there are STILL 5 billion contestants left, there are just better uses of my time than to watch this.

[Elliott]

It's been like 2 years and I'm still trying to figure out what qualified Louis Tomlinson to judge someone's singing... or star ability... or anything, really.

[Weedy_Speedy]

25 minutes ago, Elliott said:

It's been like 2 years and I'm still trying to figure out what qualified Louis Tomlinson to judge someone's singing... or star ability... or anything, really.

 

I'm convinced that he purposely put through contestants who wouldn't be able to show him up with their singing ability.  I'll give him some credit though, aside from his own acts he at least attempted to give constructive criticism. Ayda and Robbie just showed up for their paychecks.

[Weedy_Speedy]

Rewatching series 1 reminds me how much I liked Kate Thornton as a presenter.  She's no Dermot obviously, but she had her own charm. I always loved her shouting "SILENCE IN THE STUDIO. PLEASE." during each results show. Such attitude.  

[Solaris]

 

 

 

This was my favorite performance >_> Which you would have seen if you made it further in Week 3's show lol.

Edited August 15, 2020 by Solaris

[~Tom~]

But I was looking forward to you dragging Brendan some more.  

[Weedy_Speedy]

Sharon's takedown of Steve at the season 1 finale is one of the most iconic X Factor moments ever!  Special mention to Louis' stealth digs all throughout the season.  

 

1 hour ago, Solaris said:

This was my favorite performance >_> Which you would have seen if you made it further in Week 3's show lol.

 

 

This was very good. If there are anymore performances you liked, feel free to link them and I'll watch.

 

17 minutes ago, ~Tom~ said:

But I was looking forward to you dragging Brendan some more.  

 

Lol but why though? I feel like I've seen enough of him. I can only bitch about someone so many times before becoming a broken record.

Edited August 15, 2020 by The Ghost of Weedy Speedy

[Weedy_Speedy]

My thoughts on all the series 1 contestants!

 

Roberta Howett - Or as James used to refer to her, Roberta Whoett.  Roberta was the quintessential first boot: a pretty girl with a pretty average voice that would have a noticeable handful of fans on IDF and absolutely nowhere else. I don't think her performance of "Superstar" was super terrible, in fact I wouldn't even rank it one of the worst two of the night. But it was forgettable and sealed her fate as an X Factor footnote.

 

Verity Keays - Verity was basically the same as Roberta, the difference being she was a 50-year-old housewife. Essentially the poster child of the "anyone can audition for X Factor" gimmick which was really pushed in the first season, being Simon's category and all. I do think that Verity was better than Roberta (hence why she stayed an additional week) but her purpose was to be the feel-good story that had a very short shelf life.

 

2 To Go - Yes, in series 1, the Groups were the last category to have all their acts still in tact. Has that happened again since, ever?  2 To Go were definitely the weak link of the three groups, both being rather average singers. They were mainly carried by Peter's talents as a musician (he played both keyboard and sax on the show). I'll give them some credit, though: I did genuinely enjoy their performance of "The Time of My Life" and it's a shame that it was their swan song. They were out of their depth at that point, though, so I'd say they left at about the right time.

 

Voices With Soul - My favorite of the series 1 groups, VWS were a church diva trio made up of two sisters and their daughter/niece. XF1 aired on the heels of AI3, where divas were all the rage. While they wouldn't be anything that'd make it on the show nowadays, I love a good diva and we had three of them for the price of one here. VWS were essential bottomgoddesses though, surviving two separate sing-offs before being sent home on their third trip (out of four weeks) in favor of G4. Oh well. One of my favorite memories of XF1 was the week where Louis wanted to give them a confidence boost, so he booked them to perform a special gig at G-A-Y in London.  Oh, LouLou. Three church ladies singing at the UK's biggest gay club was all kinds of hilarious. "We love you, G-A-Y!"  Basically what I'm saying is that VWS are the godmothers of modern drag queens. Show some respect!

 

Cassie Compton - Cassie was a contestant who was probably ahead of her time. She had a nice, pleasant tone to her voice, that in no way suited the Mariah and Celine power ballads she was foisted to sing throughout the competition. If only we could have transplanted her in a modern season over the likes of Emily Middlemas or Lauren Platt, we probably would have had a very special contestant. She already made it to 5th place as is, before being sent home after a very mediocre "All by Myself." Yes, a 17-year-old girl sang that song. Oh Sharon, I love you but sometimes you have no clue. My favorite Cassie moment came in week 3, where Sharon wanted her to dance during an uptempo song (don't get too excited, it was "I Say a Little Prayer"). Poor Cassie was terrified at the prospect of doing super simple dance steps to an uptempo number.  It lead to a very awkward performance. What a world away from just a few seasons later where every single contestant is expected to do advanced choreography from the first damn week!

 

Rowetta Satchell - Rowetta is my favorite from season 1. I mentioned before that I love a good diva, and so does Simon (or at least he did back then), so Rowetta was his vocal slayer of choice for the first season. She had some great performances, such as "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me" and "Somewhere," which led to her becoming the last woman standing. And I'm actually just now noticing that out of the first six eliminations, the only male to be eliminated was in the mixed-gender 2 To Go, while the three all-male acts made the top three. That's vagicide that Elliott would be proud of, but I digress. Rowetta's great and according to her Wikipedia photo, she performs at Pride events. Snaps of respect to the grandmother of X Factor.

 

Tabby Callaghan - Tabby isn't someone super amazing by modern standards, but for the first season he was a breath of fresh air that I think was sorely needed. He was a rocker in a pre-Bo Bice world, and it was just a great change of pace that while most contestants would do standard talent show 2004 fare, Tabby would then go out and perform a rock anthem. He's someone that's better off being in a band (in fact, he auditioned with his band--they didn't realize that the auditions were only open to vocal groups lmao) but he benefited from being on a season where nobody else was like him. My favorites of his are "Pride (In the Name of Love)" (a great song that I don't think has been done since?), "You Really Got Me" and "Addicted to Love." I wish he had made the finale, but alas he just missed out.

 

G4 - An operatic quartet is definitely something you wouldn't find on X Factor nowadays either, if only because they're essentially Louis' wet dream come true.  Man, the XF1 groups are all super odd in retrospect. I have mixed feelings on G4. They definitely gave some fantastic performances, such as "Circle of Life" and "Somebody to Love," but there were also times they gave performances where I'd rather just have a foghorn to my ear instead. I think they were inconsistent, but there's no denying that they are overall very good at what they do. Plus Jonathan (the lead singer) was by far the cutest guy on the season, so I couldn't object to their presence too much. Remember how Louis complained that Simon's acts were all karaoke and assigned G4 to sing "Hit Me Baby One More Time"?  Hilarious.

 

Steve Brookstein - I was amazed when reading the XF Rankdown to see that Steve somehow managed to avoid the bottom 5 ranking that he deserved. Clearly I need to instill a history lesson onto you people. Steve is by far the worst X Factor winner, and one of the worst contestants ever, period. He was basically the Sir Baloney of his time: the older crooner who, while technically could hold a tune I guess, is not someone that anyone enjoys hearing. The difference was that he actually won. There was no way Simon wasn't winning the first season of his new talent show, and Steve was the golden goose chosen over Verity (Simon always has a fodder act) and Rowetta (whom the show would constantly go out of their way to hammer in that she was "nuts"). That's not to say he was given a free ride--he received constant criticism throughout the series from both Sharon and Louis, especially Sharon. She HATED Steve and it all came to a head in the finale where she tore into him, delivering truth bombs about how untalented and full of himself that he was. Imagine an X Factor where all the judges don't follow the script to the letter as laid out to them by Simon! Unlike Zoey though, I don't think this controversy is what got Steve the win. I think he topped the vote from the beginning (unfortunately) and nobody ever came close.  So it was definitely sweet that once the show ended, Simon immediately washed his hands of Steve and now the show pretends like he never existed (like most of its winners). He served his purpose on the show and it's pretty funny how bitter he is about the experience in the years since. Sucks to suck.

 

My rankings for this season:

1. Rowetta

2. Tabby

3. Voices With Soul

4. G4

5. Cassie

6. 2 To Go

7. Verity

8. Roberta

9. Steve

 

[Elliott]

Isn’t Steve also like a huge bigot? I remember him making press a few years back with some homophobic remarks.

[Weedy_Speedy]

2 minutes ago, Elliott said:

Isn’t Steve also like a huge bigot? I remember him making press a few years back with some homophobic remarks.

 

I'm not sure but that sort of sounds familiar. He's definitely a piece of work, alright. Pretty funny how hard the show tried to paint him as a humble down-to-earth guy, and even then Louis and Sharon weren't having it.  

 

Just another reason why Performs-at-Pride Goddess Rowetta was robbed.  

 

 

 

[Weedy_Speedy]

Louis: "We haven't had a girl group where everybody sings in a really long time!"

Simon: "I disagree. I think Girls Aloud can sing."

 

Ugh Simon, why couldn't you have continued disliking Girls Aloud?  We really are in the darkest timeline, aren't we? Ugh...

 

Addictiv Ladies - Lol I kind of ironically love Addictiv Ladies, especially in hindsight. Baby Fleur's first girlband!  So random that she's the only person to be an XF finalist in two different series. Their "Superstar" performance is a guilty pleasure of mine. To be honest? I think it's the best performance by a group not named Journey South of the season lmao, which is quite sad when you think about it. They could have stuck around for a few more weeks, just not at Chico's expense (or the expense of Fleur's future as a soloist).

 

4Tune - Simon was always looking for ~the next biggest boyband~ whenever he had the groups. Of course he'd eventually strike gold with One Direction, but before that there were a few failed prototypes and 4Tune was one of them. Their story began in the first series, when Louis eliminated them at the judges' houses stage, and they came back to prove that Louis was wrong for doing so. Except that they proved that Louis was RIGHT to do so, by being abysmal and getting eliminated on the second week (one more than I would've given them) while all of Louis' season 1 groups made it to week three. Good job, boys. Their best moment? Was when Sharon and Louis challenged Simon to name all of them on stage, which he couldn't do. Hilarious.

 

Phillip Magee - I sort of liked Phillip, not to any huge extent. He was a karaoke singer, but I thought he had a decent voice and he was kind enough to exit without robbing anyone. So, he gets a thumbs up from me. I'd take him over most of the horrors they put through in the Boys category in recent years. His best performance was his last one, so kudos to him for going out on a high note.

 

Chenai Zinyuku - Forgettable. She was better than the three mediocre groups, but that's about it.

 

Maria Lawson - Controversial opinion alert: I think Maria's overrated. She absolutely should've stayed over the Conways, anyone with half a brain can tell you that, but I'd still only have given her like two more weeks tops. She was the clear weak link of the Overs in my opinion--Chico was the best entertainer, Brenda was the best vocalist, and Andy had his crooner niche which he excelled at. Maria was pushed as the more contemporary option, but that being the angle they were going with for her, her song choices left me scratching my head a bit. "Emotion"? "Brown Sugar"? Just odd. I think if she were on a different season under the tutelage of different mentor, she could have been a great contestant--or exposed as not being as good as she was made out to be, whatever. Considering in 2005 she was already in the Overs category, though, I'm not sure where else I would place her (maybe with Dannii in season 5?). I don't know, she puzzles me. Still seems somewhat popular if the comments in the XF rankdown are anything to go by, so good for her.

 

Nicholas Dorsett - He started out alright, where he got a pass most weeks with the judges harping on about his potential. But as the weeks went on and he kept sticking around, he just started exposing himself as the limited vocalist he is. Louis really only had Shayne that year (much like how Simon really only had Journey South).

 

The Conway Sisters - Lol. The Conway Sisters are infamous for being a group that was so bad, even Simon gave up on them like a month before they were finally put out of their misery. Granted, Simon's given up on a number of his acts throughout the years, but with the Conways he didn't even bother keeping up appearances. Their best performances were mediocre and their worst performances were just absolutely wretched. It amazes me that a group of sisters can somehow have some of the worst harmonies of any group that's been on this show.  Still, they somehow made it all the way to 6th place, when they really should have finished in 10th. I do find it funny that once they were eliminated and Simon was standing with them on stage, they outright admitted that Louis was the one mentoring them behind the scenes.  I mean, we all knew so, but still.

 

Chico Slimani - Chico!  I love this man and I'm not afraid to admit it. Novelty acts are something pretty synonymous with X Factor at this point, but Chico was the first and definitely one of the best. I loved him from day one and there was never a performance where he didn't put a smile on my face (except with "Hero," lol I wanted that one to end quick). He had such a great attitude and personality, you could tell he was just thankful for having the opportunity to entertain people. I'm glad he lasted as long as he did. And yes, "It's Chico Time" is definitely a top five performance of the season in my opinion.  

 

Brenda Edwards - Brenda!    God, I adore this woman. She's the best singer of the first few seasons of X Factor, period. Her versions of "Somebody Else's Guy," "I Will Always Love You," "I'll Never Love This Way Again," and "I'm Outta Love" rank up there as some of my favorite performances of all time. More than that though, she had such a likable personality too! She was goofy and didn't take herself too seriously. She set out to provide a better life for her family ("I miss my family, but MOMMY DOESN'T WANT TO COME HOME!"  ). She was (terribly) criticized for her weight early on and worked hard to improve her image. It sucks so much that she JUST missed out on the finale. Did you know that like, only 24 votes separated her from the third place contestant on top 4 night? Ugh. I can't say she was too robbed because the top 3 are also rather outstanding in their own right, but still. I love Brenda and it's a shame that she's been so forgotten over the years. For anyone who reads this, do yourself a favor and YouTube the performances I mentioned.

 

Journey South - Aka the one group that was actually GOOD, Journey South were sort of a rock country-ish duo of brothers. The long-haired one was even a WGWG before it was cool!  I wasn't a humongous fan of them, but they gave some solid performances throughout the competition. I wish I could say more but I don't really have any words to say haha. They were just a presence for me throughout the season, one I didn't object to, but they just leaned a little too on the dull side for me to care too much.

 

Andy Abraham - Andy was very good. He had a Nat King Cole throwback style that wouldn't be everyone's forte, especially in later years when everyone was obsessed with only liking the ~relevant artists~. Which is funny considering that the shows themselves (and thus contestants) were much more relevant when people like Andy were around, but I digress! He was a bit of a one-trick pony, but I'll take someone who can deliver smooth, soulful vocals over the countless xeroxes of quirky girls or basic white dudes who get by by strumming their gee-tars. My favorite performances from Andy were "Unforgettable," "When a Man Loves a Woman" and "Can't Take My Eyes Off You." By the time the quarterfinal rolled around though, I was kind of done with him, thanks to some awful song choices on Sharon's part (Easy Lover?). Thankfully he was back on form at the finale, which allowed him to cinch 2nd place over Journey South. Part of me wishes he had been on the previous year instead, as he would have taken Steve's place and would have made a fine winner for the first series. Still a respectable runner-up, would have rather it been Brenda instead, but I'm not too pressed.

 

Shayne Ward - I'm not sure how surprising this is coming from me, as I've never really talked about him before, but I love love love Shayne Ward.  How can you not love the contestant responsible for Louis' only win not counting the celebrity versions? Shayne was fantastic, easily having more talent in his little finger than the rest of the series 1/2 16-24s combined. He was exactly what the show needed after the mess that was Steve winning the first series. There are many things to love about Shayne--from him serving up Farmbot realness with his early performance skills (thankfully he got better  ), his down-to-earth personality, his smooth vocals, his KILLER falsetto (he and Matt Terry have some of the best falses of any male singer I've seen on these shows), and ummm have you looked at him?! Sharon's flirting with him throughout the season was so hilarious. "Shayne, I have something to give you. It's warm, smells nice, and is very fluffy. When can I give it to you?" "Right now!"   "If and when I get negative comments, I'll take them into consideration." "Wear a different shirt next week. I don't love the shirt." "You want me to take it off??" *cue Elliott's ovaries busting* My favorite performances from Shayne are "Careless Whisper," "I Believe in a Thing Called Love," and is it weird that he probably has the best version of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow?" I didn't think that would work at all for him, but it was outstanding, Katharine McPhee who? I'll admit I got a bit teary rewatching his winning moment, as it felt so honest and it reminded me of the earlier Idol days where everything seemed much more real before the endless manipulation made us all jaded. Also I was sleep deprived because I had been up all night going through withdrawal of temporarily being out of my anti-depressents. But it was magical!  Shayne is definitely up there as one of my favorite X Factor winners. Brenda may be my overall favorite of the series, but the right contestant won.

 

Rankings:

1. Brenda

2. Shayne

3. Chico

4. Andy

5. Journey South

6. Maria

7. Phillip

8. Addictiv Ladies

9. Nicholas

10. Chenai

11. The Conway Sisters

12. 4Tune

Edited August 17, 2020 by The Ghost of Weedy Speedy

[~Tom~]

Discount!Timberlake is too high! JK I like his work with Foster & Allen and other Irish bands and SOTR.

 

But Maria at 6th? I think @*Wallace should come in here and give you a piece of his mind. 

[Weedy_Speedy]

37 minutes ago, ~Tom~ said:

Discount!Timberlake is too high! JK I like his work with Foster & Allen and other Irish bands and SOTR.

 

But Maria at 6th? I think @*Wallace should come in here and give you a piece of his mind. 

 

Yessir, and I explained the reason why in the post above.  Wally will get over it lmao.

[Elliott]

12 hours ago, ~Tom~ said:

But Maria at 6th? I think @*Wallace should come in here and give you a piece of his mind. 

You mean the @*Wallace that eliminated her in the X Factor rankdown?

[Elliott]

Shayne

[Weedy_Speedy]

Gah, season 3 was such a slog to get through. Leona Lewis and her 11 fodder friends.  

 

The Unconventionals - Awful, if you're gonna be a hot mess at least be entertaining about it.

 

4Sure - Horrendous.

 

Dionne Mitchell - I liked her when I first watched this season ten years ago, but on this rewatch I found myself in agreement with Simon in regards to her. She was a good singer, but a stiff performer, uncharismatic and overall just seemed like a worse version of several other contestants we had already seen by this point in talent show history. I still would've had her stick around a few more weeks, though.

 

Kerry McGregor - I thought Kerry was just lovely. She didn't have the most amazing voice in the world, but on a season where I found it really hard to connect with the contestants, I managed to connect with her. She probably has my favorite version of "You Are the Sunshine of My Life" and "I Don't Want to Talk About It" was very, very good. "They Can't Take That Away from Me" was a bit of a misstep in comparison to the other two, but she didn't deserve to be eliminated for it. Lesser contestants got to survive even worse performances this season, so why not Kerry? Definitely should've lasted longer. Rest in peace, Kerry.  

 

Ashley McKenzie - He was alright. "I'd Rather Go Blind" was a really good performance, and despite the lyric flub I thought "Moondance" was decent. It should've been the end for him though, because lol "The Winner Takes It All" was an absolute mess...a mess that could've easily been avoided in my opinion. Whomever thought of ABBA night I hope was fired, ugh it was so bad.

 

Nikitta Angus - This girl grated on my nerves. Of all the fodder this year, she was the fodderiest because lol in no way was Simon giving a sh*t about her when he had Leona. He purposely gave her awful song choices, and they constantly reminded viewers about her dead mother in her video packages, all so that Nikitta could milk the sympathy vote for all it was worth. It carried her all the way to week 5, at which point Simon got bored and told Louis/Sharon to offer her false praise for "Last Dance" so that she would finally go. Definitely a few weeks too late, she should've left in the double elimination and not rob Kerry in the process.

 

Robert Allen - I think of all the contestants that's been on X Factor, Robert is the perfect definition of "average." He was a good enough singer, and his performances weren't ever sucky or anything, but nothing was ever standout. He'd constantly hit the bottom 2, the next week people would feel sorry for him and vote, and then stop caring the week after that for another b2 appearance. He finally left in week 6, at which point I was definitely over him. Good singer but he was just there to fill a spot.

 

Eton Road - They irritated me. Once they left, the show got SO much better in my opinion.

 

MacDonald Brothers - On a season that had an overall dull group of finalists, the MacDonalds would probably get most people's vote as the dullest. So of course, that means I ended up really liking them.  I just found them immensely likable and rootable. The perfect pair of underdogs, and that's why I think they lasted as long as they did. Their humility was really refreshing, being on a season where most of the contestants were obnoxious as sh*t, and I thought they were charismatic. They were definitely never as bad as Simon made them out to be. He constantly winged about how they'd never win the competition, pretending that Leona wasn't winning the second she walked through the damn door at her audition, and wrote them off as a joke. While in reality, these boys were good singers and had a consistent journey throughout the show. Their best performances were definitely "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)", which Simon even offered them praise for, and "Shang-a-lang," which was their last. They probably left at the right time but I was still sad to see them go.

 

Ben Mills - Ben was the contestant they put through as the one who could rival Leona, to create the illusion of "Really guys, there's a competition this year!! Truthfully!!" He was a bit hit or miss for me, usually depending on what song he sang. I noticed at the beginning he had a bad habit of dropping notes, which annoyed the crap out of me. He got better at not doing that as the competition went along. It really wasn't until the second half of the competition where he became an excellent contestant for me. Performances like "With a Little Help from My Friends" and "Somebody to Love" were just magnificent. He also delivered two fantastic performances at the semifinal, and definitely should've advanced to the finale, no questions asked.

 

Ray Quinn - Oh Ray, what a journey you had. I initially hated this kid, as he was pretty abysmal at the beginning. I got bored with my initial XF3 rewatch on ABBA week (can you blame me?), so "Waterloo" remained my most recent Ray memory for ten years.  Now that I've advanced past that, honestly...Ray grew on me! I don't know if it's because he got less cheesy, the quality of the songs he sang improved once Simon no longer had Ashley, or if I was just looking for ANYTHING to enjoy while the likes of Nikitta/Robert/Eton Road were still around, but in any case I actually began to enjoy what little Ray brought to the table. His confidence grew throughout the weeks and he began oozing charisma. And you need charisma if you want to be a really good swing singer/not be seen as a joke. Would I have had him in the finale? No, but I still enjoyed performances such as "The Way You Look Tonight," "My Way," and even "Livin' la Vida Loca." He's definitely a better dancer/performer then he is as a singer, and he's evidently won a bunch of dancing competitions, so good for him. Ray gets my "most improved" award for early X Factor. From someone I couldn't stand to somebody I ended up really enjoying, that's definitely nothing to slouch at.

 

Leona Lewis - My thoughts on Leona can best be summed up as "meh." She's a brilliant singer, but for various reasons I've never been able to connect with her personally. Ray I was able to connect with, as he had a fun personality that he incorporated into his performances. Leona had a black hole of a personality. Mixed in with how she was shoved into our faces as the winner-to-be from the very beginning, it just left a sour taste in my mouth. Leona would've been able to win after giving the dullest journey imaginable as a contestant of her caliber..which is kind of what she did. "I Will Always Love You," "I'll Be There," "Lady Marmalade," even f*cking "I Have Nothing," all the overdone diva songs were present and accounted for with Leona. I know I'm sounding extremely negative, so I'm gonna try to finish up by being positive, as despite my bitching I do think Leona was the best contestant of the season and deserved to win. She's a brilliant talent and was the contestant that made X Factor relevant on a global stage, and that's nothing to slouch at. And although she ranks the top of my rankings list just based on sheer consistency, I still wish I was able to be more excited about her. Her best song is "Better in Time" btw.

 

Rankings:

1. Leona

2. Ben

3. MacDonald Brothers

4. Kerry

5. Ray

6. Dionne

7. Robert

8. Eton Road

9. Nikitta

10. Ashley

11. 4Sure

12. The Unconventionals

[Elliott]

Me after seeing even you rank Leona at #1:

 

Agreed on Better in Time, though. That song is a bop.