REGGIE N BOLLIE
Unfortunately for me, coming into tonight's performances, Reggie N Bollie had absolutely fantastic song choices that I personally thought would really suit them as artists and contestants on the show. Reggie N Bollie are not acrobatic vocalists but they're able to sing on pitch for the most part and their harmonies are surprisingly very, very tight most of the time. The beginning of "Locked Away" was a miss. Reggie was off pitch and his voice sounded pretty shaky, but once Bollie kicked in with those harmonies everything seemed to get a little tighter with the performance. While there was still a ton of energy, the performance seemed to lack some of the usually over the top energy bunny esque activity that's usually happening on stage. Aside from the beginning, the vocals were actually very good and it was a good chance to show their vocals and not that they just perform very well. (5/10) What they lacked in energy the first performance they more than made up for in their second performance...or maybe it was just the polka dots just creating a visual allusion. Their vocals were a little less impressive, but Reggie's rapping was very impressive. I thought the rapping pretty much saved the, otherwise very basic RNB performance, better than usual (6.5/10). While they did step up their game (a little, because of the second performance) there still wasn't enough there to convince me these two deserve to win. They're fun and energetic, but that's just it. Their performances all ring together the same and there are just other people (all of them, in fact) in the competition who I think should surpass them. (Overall night: 6/10)
LAUREN MURRAY
Lauren is suffering from Hollie Cavanagh (American Idol, Season 11) syndrome right now. Hollie Cavanagh survived nearly every week of American Idol in the bottom two, beating out several favorites and finishing in 4th place overall. She would usually deliver at least one stellar performance every week and the fans on YouTube would still dislike almost all of her content. 4th Impact's petty fans are now disliking everything she has on YouTube despite the fact that last week was her best week of the competition to date. If any of you are reading this, please stop. If you are saddened by the elimination of 4th Impact, I understand, so am I. But if you're "done with X Factor" (as so many of you have been saying) do that. Just be done with it and stop wasting your time and energy disliking all of the other contestants videos. It's just that. A waste of your time when you could have been actually voting for them and given them a spot in the Top 4. With that being said, the minute Lauren opened her mouth for "Take Me Home" she immediately stepped back to her problem from a few weeks ago. The beginning of the song was way too low for her so her lower register sounded very flat and she botched one of the notes. Of course as the song became belt-y, she brought it back home and sounded absolutely amazing. She was able to go back down into the bridge with comfort and as she went for the high notes again she had so much passion, energy and conviction in her performance that it completely sold me and made me forget about the first half. The end of the song gave me a very epic "Halo" vibe to it. She could release this as a single and if she tweaked it up a bit it could be a hit. Lauren's the most fun contestant so I don't understand why she continuously does dreary ballads every week. Clearly this was a winner so she's get's a pass with this performance but, what up, Rita? And her adorable "thank you" came back and "it's versace." I think she needs to also quit it with the stank face when she gets criticism and please do not panic at the end and blame everything on being ill because Louisa barely mentioned it last week (7/10). Lucky for Lauren, and us, the song started in her higher range which is where she's more comfortable and it's more her element. And this was also a bit more of an up number which is a nice contrast to her first performance, and essentially everything else she's done aside from week one. She had some very nice vocal moments and was able to show a little bit more personality than she's been able to show on these ballads she has consistently been doing every week. I think the parts for me that were week were once again when she went into her lower range (8/10). She had a solid night. In my opinion it wasn't as good as last week but, I mean, hey, she had a better night than Reggie N Bollie. (Overall night: 7.5/10)
CHE CHESTERMAN
Wow, Che. I really thought he had a shot of taking this whole competition home with him but I guess the poor guy just peaked too early because I'm just not feeling him anymore. I guess it was on par with what he's been doing in the competition so far but, just like "Try a Little Tenderness," it was just that. On par. At this point of the competition he needs to be stepping out of his box and have moments every week. It just seemed like everything he did up until a few weeks ago was a moment so there left no room for him to really excel. Either that or he just doesn't know how to do any better. I think once again he looked a little awkward with the up tempo number but I appreciate him looking a little more into the performance. The performance was better than his vocals, strangely. He sounded fine but he tried to do way too much with his falsetto and some of it worked and some of it didn't. I disagreed with the judges when it came to him being "pitch perfect." It was a very mixed performance for me (6.5/10). Same problem with Lauren's first performance last week came from Che's second performance this week. Vocally, this was actually pitch perfect. I applauded him for the emotional aspect he brought to the song but I feel as if it just didn't...go anywhere. I think that's not his fault, it's the song's fault. It's a beautiful song but it has the same issue that "Love Yourself" has. Last week, when Louisa did the song she took it to a new place because she added in a key change and it felt as if the song's greatness had been lifted up a bit. Che didn't do that here (but he's done enough key changes in prior performances for all 12 series of this show) and that's where the song didn't end up being as powerful as it could be but everything else was pretty decent about it. He sounded, not surprisingly, fantastic. (7/10) I think Che has a great voice but lately his performances have just been pretty good when the contestants need to be churning out "great" or "amazing" performance. He just didn't do that for me tonight, but I'm rooting for him to make it to the finale! (Overall night: 6.5/10)
LOUISA JOHNSON
The one thing I was praying for this week, out of everything, was for Louisa to get better (and I didn't see her clip package...so I didn't know if she did....until she opened her mouth and sang). Her voice was most definitely back. Did I say she was an angel last week? Because she was quite literally an angel on stage. I thought she successfully connected with the song emotionally (as she's been doing well for the past few week). Another thing I like about her is the fact that she plays to the camera. Every time the camera changes, she meets it right there and stares right into your heart. Her vocals were, expectedly, stunning but I have to say as she reached the climax of the song and held out that note that lead into the chorus and just continued bringing the note higher and higher it was beautiful. Not only beautiful to listen to, but beautiful to watch as those angel wings sprouted and she took us home. (8.5/10) Look, man, was there any doubt that Louisa would knock this song out of the park? She once again did a song that a previous contestant already blew out of the water (Che Chesterman) but Louisa is able to match Che vocally and this is the type of song that calls for a powerful voice, where I felt "Jealous" last week was a bit too intimate of a song for her extremely powerful and belt-y voice. By the end of the song when the vocal acrobats were in absolute full affect, I had my hand covering my mouth because how can you sing that good? The vocals were pitch perfect but what really sold the song was her performance of it. She nailed all the emotional cues, she brought the sass, she brought the soul, she brought the blue and she brought the chicken.Who even cares that this song is extremely overdone on shows like this when delivered it like that? She may have done a little much at the end but, first of all, who gives a damn when you song that fantastic? And second off, I think it absolutely worked with what she was going for, for the performance and the runs and extremely high random notes were earned/warranted. Are you kidding me? She's seventeen? (9.5/10) I was so glad to hear her voice back at the top of it's game, and it came back at just the right time. It's wonderful to see her growth, as well. Starting off the competition she seemed to be very mechanical/technical. She hit every vocal cue, but she rarely hit the emotional cue. Something happened during her performance of "Everybody's Free" that just flipped the switch because she has been hitting every part of her performances since. (Overall night: 9/10)
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