After last week’s lacklustre evening, I was psyched to see what the X Factor would serve up tonight. I was really impressed by the theme, which asked the contestants to uplift us and break our hearts.
Andrew Wishart is the perfect artist for a theme that plays on emotion. However if you don’t get the right song, it’s all going to fall apart. Neon Trees’ “Animal” was the wrong song on so many levels. The song itself is pleasurable, but hearing Andrew deliver it was more than a bit awkward. It also didn’t sit in his vocal sweet spot. Everything was against him, and it showed. Thank god he gets another song to play with.
Again Johnny Ruffo gave us a solid vocal with Ne-Yo’s “So Sick.” As far as sticking to the brief of delivering heartbreak though, he failed. There just wasn’t enough edge or emotion to it, which is probably down to a combination of the wrong song and the wrong performer. I just don’t think he’s got that in him. However he did what he did well.
Reece Mastin delivered the first truly heartbreaking song of the night with “Breakeven.” And considering he’s a young kid who’s probably never had his heart truly broken, I think he did a pretty good job. I certainly felt more watching him than I did on any other performance to that point, and that certainly counts for something. It didn’t quite match the original, but I still really enjoyed it.
When I heard Three Wishez were taking on The Black Eyed Peas “The Time/Dirty Bit” my heart sank. Then I held my ears. I hated when The Black Eyed Peas raped the Dirty Dancing classic, and Three Wishez didn’t make me change my mind. Was this the pleasure or the pain song? They may have received rave reviews, but I loathed every second.
Johnny Ruffo gave the fans just what they wanted with “Tonight Tonight” by Hot Chelle Rae. It all felt a bit cheesy, but we saw his pecs and that’s probably enough to make the young girls pick up their phones. And again he nailed the vocals, which is still coming as a bit of a surprise.
Andrew moved me the way I’d been hoping to be moved all show with John Farnham’s “Burn For You.” Honestly the editing of the song did it no favours, but I still felt it to my core. This epitomised the “pain” portion of the theme. Sublime.
Reece gave us another solid performance with “Paradise City.” He was in his element with this, and it really showed. That confidence and swagger was back, and I appreciated seeing it. This song has the tendency to get screechy, so I was really glad Reece avoided that trap. He’s been Mr Consistency tonight, and I’m hoping that’s enough to get him through.
Three Wishez certainly redeemed themselves with Adele’s “Turning Tables.” I adored this. It was suitably heartbreaking and incredibly poignant. Everyone in the band performed so beautifully. What a way to end the show.
And now we’re faced with the final elimination, that final hurdle before the grand final. I’ve been down on Johnny for so long that he’s my obvious choice to go, but I’m really not sure that will happen. He took his shirt off after all. Who’s your pick to face elimination this week?