#SurvivorSaturday: X Factor UK Edition (Top 9)

Welcome to #SurvivorSaturday: X Factor UK edition! Just a quick disclaimer that everything down below are my personal opinions. I'm in no way affiliated with any corporation, especially X Factor, Syco, or iTV. 

What is Survivor? Alright, so I do recaps of performances for various singing shows and I give my two cents but Survivor is where I put my ten cents in and try and give the contestants a bit of advice (even though they're clearly not reading this) about what they can do to stay in the competition. 

Last season, these posts were simply titled "Survivor", but I'm trying something new out so bare with me! Everything down below is not only referring to said contestant's previous performance, but their overall history in the competition. This is basically what I think they can do to get through to the next round and whether or not I think they're safe or not. On to Survivor!

GIRLS:

EMILY MIDDLEMAS

Okay, it's crunch time. I'd prefer to write nothing but stellar things about Emily but it's like her and Simon want me to be a little aggravated. She has a lot of potential and a lot of tools that have just been thrown at her. I'd love for her to just sit back, chill, play the guitar and remind us why we fell in love with her beautiful voice. She's been awkwardly skating through and that might not be such a bad thing. It's no secret that in competitions like this that it's best to start average and continue to grow every week. Maybe that's what Emily's been doing and she's going to start kicking it up a few notches every week. Right now she's just...there.

GIFTY LOUISE

It's official, Gifty has me completely sold. I've been a fan of hers since the beginning. She's funky, fresh and is very entertaining to watch. But something about this last week struck like magic, to me. She showed a brilliant new side to her and it felt a little bit like she was opening up to us. She's been the girl for a reliable fun performance, now she's the girl we can count on for a fun performance and an outstanding, emotional performance with stellar vocals. She might not be perfect just yet but she's really beginning to build on herself every week.

SAM LAVERY

I want to love Sam but there's just something that hasn't curved all the way around for me. Much like Emily, so far it seems like she's already peaked during Judges Houses. I think there's a massive amount of untapped potential that she needs to, well, tap into. She has all the pieces, now she just has to find a way to piece them in together and find her style. Personally, I think she could really go far with this "rock" vibe they're trying to slap on her. Her vocals need a little bit of work but she isn't doing awful.

OVERS:

HONEY G

Oh, please.

SAARA AALTO

Thank you, public! Saara's really been doing her best every single week it should be a boost to her confidence that she didn't end up in the bottom three last week. What I like about Saara is that she seems to be a fighter. Her head is held high and she delivers a (truly) entertaining performance week after week with vocals blessed from the heavens and style/production blessed by the spirit of whoever used to possess Lady Gaga. Last week was great, but she's gonna have to keep convincing the audience to keep her by topping herself again.

BOYS:

MATT TERRY

I mean, what's there really left to say? Like I said before, he could probably just take a seat on the stage (like in his picture) and the judges would give him a standing ovation. Last week was without question he's weakest performance since the live shows. He has an unquestionably insane vocal range and voice but I think less is more with him. He doesn't need vocal acrobats (or whatever that was last week). Less seems to be more with Matt. 

RYAN LAWRIE

Oh, hey, you're still here? That's no shade to any of his fans. He has an alright voice. I just feel that he needs to do better with song choices and finding ways to relate to said song. But hey, he's probably going to get the flash vote anyways, right? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

GROUPS:

5 AFTER MIDNIGHT

Ugh, I love 5 AM. I really do. While I personally love when they dance and perform like that, I think it's starting to get in the way of their vocals. That's a problem because a) this is kind of a singing show and b) they actually have quite lovely voices between the three of them. But, I mean, they're doing 'Thriller' this week. How are you not going to have a dance break for that? As long as their vocals remain tight, I really don't care what they do with that performance. You can just smell how good they're going to be already.

4 OF DIAMONDS

Wow, okay, girls! Do ballads! Their sing off performance was actually lovely. I thought their voices sounded good and they didn't seem as uncomfortable and awkward as they usually look up on that big stage. More of that and less of...whatever they've been doing the last few weeks. P.S. - I really hope they don't take Simon's advice and study Little Mix. Little Mix is fantastic, but they're fantastic because they're themselves. Not because they studied up on another girl group and tried to copy their success. Realistically, that won't (and shouldn't) work. It may take a little time to find their footing, but once they do they'll be a great girl group.

Song spoilers VIA The Sun!

4 of Diamonds: Ghost

5 AM: Thriller

Emily Middlemas: Creep

Gifty Louise: I'm in Love with a Monster

Honey G: Men in Black

Matt Terry: I Put a Spell on You

Ryan Lawrie: Everybody

Saara Aalto: Bad Romance

Sam Lavery: Total Eclipse of the Heart