X Factor: It's BACK!
Posted on Tuesday, 2 September 2014
It's that time of year again where the British nations favourite talent show is back on our screens! You either love or you hate it but there's no denying that it provides entertainment on a Saturday & Sunday night (and is the unofficial countdown to Christmas over in the UK). This year sees the return of Simon Cowell and Britain's sweetheart Cheryl Cole, joined by Scary Spice Mel B and the loveable Louis Walsh. As fans of the show we thought we would do a weekly insight of our opinions each week.
Saturday:
To be honest, we were expecting a lot more from the first episodes opening sequence after all the amazing promo for the revamped eleventh season. But all was forgiven once the ball got rolling with the first lot of auditions for 2014. Screaming sisters Blonde Electric were up first and they immediately had us cringing. Surprisingly, the female version of Jedward weren't that bad once they stopped talking and started singing. The judges were intrigued enough to send them through to the next round, and we're quite eager to see where they go from there! We're keeping a close eye on the three young solo contestants who were next to audition. 15 year old Reece Bibby, 16 year old Lauren Platt, and 17 year old Chloe O'Gorman wowed the judges (and us) with songs from Disclosure, Queen Latifah and Joss Stone. The youngest to audition tonight was 14 year old Charlie who was given a quick yes from Simon after singing Little Things from X Factor alumni One Direction. Although he's not our cup of tea, something tells us he's going to be very popular with the ladies in the second round of auditions later in the month. The weird and wonderful characters were out in full force once again this year. From stripping 60 year old Carol, Angelina and her mother who set up a Chinese feast for the judges as her daughter was performing, Jale who came belting out a tune from her fave judge Cheryl (and in full Cheryl costume too!) to Shayden who just would not take the hint and leave, even after Simon was the only judge who hadn't walked out. The last strange audition was from 'posh' Chloe Jasmine who believe it or not comes from England darling. We don't quite know what to think of her and her accent, she's not a bad singer but something about her puts us off and she's definitely a wee bit kooky! Of course it's not X Factor without needing to use a few tissues. The emotional auditions were saved for returning 2008 judges houses contestant Amy Connolly and military man Jay James who had tough gal Mel B in tears.
To be honest, we were expecting a lot more from the first episodes opening sequence after all the amazing promo for the revamped eleventh season. But all was forgiven once the ball got rolling with the first lot of auditions for 2014. Screaming sisters Blonde Electric were up first and they immediately had us cringing. Surprisingly, the female version of Jedward weren't that bad once they stopped talking and started singing. The judges were intrigued enough to send them through to the next round, and we're quite eager to see where they go from there! We're keeping a close eye on the three young solo contestants who were next to audition. 15 year old Reece Bibby, 16 year old Lauren Platt, and 17 year old Chloe O'Gorman wowed the judges (and us) with songs from Disclosure, Queen Latifah and Joss Stone. The youngest to audition tonight was 14 year old Charlie who was given a quick yes from Simon after singing Little Things from X Factor alumni One Direction. Although he's not our cup of tea, something tells us he's going to be very popular with the ladies in the second round of auditions later in the month. The weird and wonderful characters were out in full force once again this year. From stripping 60 year old Carol, Angelina and her mother who set up a Chinese feast for the judges as her daughter was performing, Jale who came belting out a tune from her fave judge Cheryl (and in full Cheryl costume too!) to Shayden who just would not take the hint and leave, even after Simon was the only judge who hadn't walked out. The last strange audition was from 'posh' Chloe Jasmine who believe it or not comes from England darling. We don't quite know what to think of her and her accent, she's not a bad singer but something about her puts us off and she's definitely a wee bit kooky! Of course it's not X Factor without needing to use a few tissues. The emotional auditions were saved for returning 2008 judges houses contestant Amy Connolly and military man Jay James who had tough gal Mel B in tears.
Sunday:
Sunday's episode started off a bit doom and gloom until the sunshine that is Stevie entered the audition room. Bless him he wasn't great but his personality shone through which won him a spot to the arena round. From there we got a glimpse of the types of groups we'll be seeing in he next round, some honourable mentions have to be Concept (smooth r&b pop group, and even features Harry Style's cousin!) and Arize who were flawless in their vocal harmonies. Only The Young were good but after digging a bit deeper we found they already have quite a big fan base, and are backed by quite predominant UK pop bands. This changed our view on them slightly as we feel the X Factor should be more about the acts that are new and undiscovered as such. We have to give a special shout out to Kitten & The Hip and Louis comment thinking they were a father daughter duo! Alas they are not Louis! It was decided that Kitten was the better singer (by a mile). The judges gave her the option to think about going solo and before they could even finish their sentence she had said yes...#ouch
It seems this year is the year of the international contestants with some coming from Hong Kong, Canada and all over Europe! The cream of the crop has to be Oceane... damn girl you were all over the place but bravo for the notes you pulled...one question what song were you singing again? and of course we have to mention one of our fave singers of the night being pug loving Italian Andrea! We salute you and your bellissimo rendition of Jackson 5's "Who's Loving You"! Not to leave out the Over 30's, they showed us that this isn't just a game for the young with Michelle, Helen and Chloe winning us over.
We can't wait to see how the rest of the first round of auditions pan out!
For those of you who can't wait for live shows, down in the southern hemisphere the X Factor Australia is well under way. The top 13 are now 10 and this years competition is tough! The over 24's Reigan, Rochelle, and Jason are smashing it and one of them could easily end up being crowned the X Factor champ this year. But the younger contestants aren't making their chances of winning easy. Talented 14 year old Marlisa has an incredible voice for her age, wildcard group Brothers 3 have won the hearts of thousands with their adorable quirkiness, and XOX (Australia's answer to Neon Jungle) may sometimes not be vocally as amazing as the rest of the contestants, but they have the perfect look for a girl band and have the potential to be huge. Special shout out to Kiwi boy Tee who is also killing it in these live shows!
Sunday's episode started off a bit doom and gloom until the sunshine that is Stevie entered the audition room. Bless him he wasn't great but his personality shone through which won him a spot to the arena round. From there we got a glimpse of the types of groups we'll be seeing in he next round, some honourable mentions have to be Concept (smooth r&b pop group, and even features Harry Style's cousin!) and Arize who were flawless in their vocal harmonies. Only The Young were good but after digging a bit deeper we found they already have quite a big fan base, and are backed by quite predominant UK pop bands. This changed our view on them slightly as we feel the X Factor should be more about the acts that are new and undiscovered as such. We have to give a special shout out to Kitten & The Hip and Louis comment thinking they were a father daughter duo! Alas they are not Louis! It was decided that Kitten was the better singer (by a mile). The judges gave her the option to think about going solo and before they could even finish their sentence she had said yes...#ouch
It seems this year is the year of the international contestants with some coming from Hong Kong, Canada and all over Europe! The cream of the crop has to be Oceane... damn girl you were all over the place but bravo for the notes you pulled...one question what song were you singing again? and of course we have to mention one of our fave singers of the night being pug loving Italian Andrea! We salute you and your bellissimo rendition of Jackson 5's "Who's Loving You"! Not to leave out the Over 30's, they showed us that this isn't just a game for the young with Michelle, Helen and Chloe winning us over.
We can't wait to see how the rest of the first round of auditions pan out!
For those of you who can't wait for live shows, down in the southern hemisphere the X Factor Australia is well under way. The top 13 are now 10 and this years competition is tough! The over 24's Reigan, Rochelle, and Jason are smashing it and one of them could easily end up being crowned the X Factor champ this year. But the younger contestants aren't making their chances of winning easy. Talented 14 year old Marlisa has an incredible voice for her age, wildcard group Brothers 3 have won the hearts of thousands with their adorable quirkiness, and XOX (Australia's answer to Neon Jungle) may sometimes not be vocally as amazing as the rest of the contestants, but they have the perfect look for a girl band and have the potential to be huge. Special shout out to Kiwi boy Tee who is also killing it in these live shows!
For our UK readers catch X Factor on ITV every weekend at 8pm.
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