Lopez Blogs

Before I start my weekly analysis of Le Factor known as "X", I think it definitely worth pointing out that lovely William Young was on the show this week giving the contestants master classes in singing, and then of course singing his new track "Grace" with such elegance and conviction (and with sartorial magnificence as usual) that I fair swooned over the tv screen. It is of course proliferating youtube as I type, and if the clip above is removed, I'm sure a little Nancy Drew detective work will help you find it again. Amazing classic pop song from William :) Check out my album review here... Now for what can only loosely (very loosely) be described as the best bits from the auditionees...

• It's D for disco week. It's also D for disaster week. It's also D for Damn You Dannii Minogue week, as the rumours that Simon Cowell is annoyed with my favourite judge seem to be true. He barely looks at her throughout the show and is exceptionally pissy in his criticisms about her acts - even those that totally deserve it.
• It's also D for devilwoman and Cher-evil Cole is on top form. Probably being halloween and all has bought out her witchy side. She is unable to take the most minor criticism from Louis and gets really annoyed. Live pause on Sky Plus confirmed that 666 flashed ever so briefly in her eyes when she congratulated the X Factor single as being the only thing worthy of knocking Girls Aloud from the top of the charts...
• The show kicked off with Rachel singing Lost In Music. She certainly was lost. She fluffed the opening lines, her sound was atrocious, and she looked hideous. Whatever was so special about Rachel to start with has completely disappeared.
• Louis absolutely hits the nail on the head with Austin. He sings Wishing On A Star and vocally it's very, um, competent. He is let down by several things - that freaking hideous denim shirt, the fact that it just made me want to dig out the Cover Girls version and finally that his desperation - as Louis said - makes him pretty unlikeable.
• Is it me or does Diana always look like she's just sniffed too many poppers in her weekly vts? And now i've started paying attention, the faux hand gestures round her face now fill me with a bubbling rage! GAH! Still, she absolutely pulls Call Me out of the bag and sounds amazing. She remains my joint favourite in the competition.
• I'll get the two worst contestants in the competition out the way straight away. Yawnsome Daniel sings the blandest version of Don't Leave Me This Way and it is just wrong in every single possible way a song can be wrong. He seems to get more huge every week. He looks years older than he actually is. All black is not flattering on his frame. Just wrong wrong wrong. That he wasn't in the bottom two bamboozles me. Ditto that little Eoghan. At least they dressed him appropriately this week after his recent fashion disasters. Could It Be Magic was not.
• Alexandra and Laura were both predictably ok this week. Laura belted out a pretty good version of Somebody Elses Guy while Alexandra got the Michelle McManus pop idol standard On The Radio. Both are solid performances, but - i don't know. Something's missing... both need to just do something that cements their personalities on the public rather than repeating what has been successful for others in the past.
• Ruth is now definitely my joint favourite with Diana. And she makes me less murderous with no dramatic hand gestures. She absolutely belted out a fabbo version of Enough Is Enough. Her bosoms are utterly intoxicating though. And JLS aren't far behind Ruth and Diana. Their Working My Way Back To You was a lot of fun, and vocally tres bon. Even if lazy Louis did give them the rare first Boyzone single as their track...
• So Austin and Rachel in the bottom two? Ridiculous! Well, not so much for Rachel but again Daniel and Eoghan survive? I am flabbergasted. Bye Austin. It was only slightly pleasant witnessing your desperation.

TOP 21 TRACKS OF THE WEEK:

Well, finally getting the Same Difference single meant a high debut for that song, William on the X Factor really pushed Grace up to the forefront of my mp3 player, and hearing Dannii/Kylie duet in last week's Beautiful People during quite a touching not pregnant/accepted through football moment really made the song work for me in a way it hasn't before. Yay.

21 ~ McFly, Lies
20 ~ Sugababes, Girls
19 ~ Pink, So What
18 ~ Jason Mraz, Make It Mine
17 ~ Lily Allen, Everyone's At It
16 ~ The Feeling, Won't Go Away
15 ~ William Young, Grace (NE)
14 ~ Rongedal, Hello Euphoria
13 ~ Infernal, Whenever You Need Me
12 ~ Alphabeat, What Is Happening?
11 ~ Miley Cyrus, Fly On The Wall
10 ~ Kylie/Dannii, Winner Takes It All (NE/VID)
09 ~ Marit Larsen, If A Song Could Get Me You
08 ~ Lenka, The Show
07 ~ Darin, Breathing Your Love
06 ~ Alesha, Boy Does Nothing
05 ~ The Killers, Human
04 ~ Take That, Greatest Day
03 ~ Britannia High, Start of Something
02 ~ Same Difference, We R One (NE)
01 ~ Girls Aloud, The Promise (5 weeks)

Finally, check out John's excellent review of a recent Jason Mraz concert, and over at Poppostergirl she has written what well may be my very favourite blog post ever. It's just gorgeous.