After more revelations about Mitchellgate, now relating to Declan, we can definitely expect to see the controversy playing a part in tonight’s episode. For those who are watching this for the music, its big name week and the contestants are singing all things Nirvana, Meatloaf and Michael Jackson.
The show begins and Luke comes out on stage and for the first time this season, Seven isn’t skipping for me! Yay for Courtney!
Luke ramps up the audience before he introduces the theme; going back to the 90’s which it is officially called. With that, it is time to welcome the four judges. I love this part; as the door opens, I wonder to see if Guy is there. I have bets that he will be here tonight, because Seven will need him to pump up the controversy factor.
Yes, he is there, and there they go, to their desk. As Luke says, tonight it will be ‘on like Donkey Kong’ and YES! I have been waiting for this day; a host on a big budget show saying ‘Donkey Kong’!
Luke interviews the judges and Guy blames his mentoring on the fact that none of his crew have been in the bottom two. Mel says that she doesn’t care that she only has one left in her group because you only need one star on this show. I then think she makes a pun about her being the only star; but she could have just been holding up her star studded finger.
Natalie calls Luke up on his Donkey Kong comment before saying that the Spice Girls defined the 90’s. Luke moves to Ronan, who was apart of Boyzone who were popular in the 90’s, and he just tells Australia to vote!
To begin the show, Guy welcomes our first singer; Johnny Ruffo! He will be singing Meatloaf tonight- and hopefully he does a better job than Meatloaf at an AFL Grand Final. He is singing I’d Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That). He’s wearing some sort of alien costume and it has a bit of a Chris Brown twang to it.
To me, it is a bit too techno. This is more of a bikie rock song; not a karaoke special! I think Johnny is only doing this for the chicks on that stage! Anyway, I guess his ‘boyish good looks’ will get him through regardless.
Mel B said Meatloaf would be impressed with his performance and that while he wasn’t bad vocally, she wanted to see more towards the end. That was the Spice Girl version; now Ronan will give it the Boyzone version- it looked like a bad Cher cover. He didn’t like it and Ronan gets a lot of boos. He likes the jacket though.
Natalie said that she was speechless when she found out he was going to do a dance cover of Meatloaf, but thinks he did a good job. Yeah, no.
Guy agrees.
With Luke, Johnny reveals Ronan slipped when he said that all of Guy’s guys were born in the 90’s; he was born in the 80’s.
After the break, it is number two for the night; one of Natalie’s- Mitchell Callaway. Of course, in the intro, we are reminded by the incident, but they didn’t make a big deal about it and hopefully we can move on now and focus on his singing, and as I typed that, Mitchell said it; completely true.
Tonight; he will be singing Everybody Hurts.
He does a very good job. He was a bit weak at the start; and he didn’t move around the stage a lot; but the fog on the stage and the lack of lighting made it all feel so intimate, like a Tom Jones concert I would imagine.
Guy says that he wanted him to sing songs that teared hearts apart and that this did it; calling him ‘almost vocally perfect’.
Mel acknowledges the hard week he had, but felt his performance didn’t go anywhere. She does compliment the vocals. Boo time!
Ronan says that he was singing for his life tonight and that he did an incredible job.
Natalie is proud of him and said calling that a dull performance would be crazy. Yay you, she says, yay you.
After the break, it is act number three- a Ronan group! It is Three Wishez and tonight, they will be singing Ghetto Superstar.
If this group wants to be ‘more of a group’, they aren’t doing a good job. They hardly feature in the same camera shot. Plus, the bigger dude just cannot sing and that girl is definitely the show stopper.
Still, together, they were vocally quite good. I don’t know why they don’t do it more often.
Natalie liked the part where they performed together and tells them that they can be so amazing at times, which is why they are harsh with them.
Guy thinks it is the first time they gelled together as a group. I guess in the end, it all worked out. Guy says that Sophia’s key was a good one.
Mel B wants Sophia’s cat suit back (and hey, that answers the question ‘what do you give someone who has everything?’) before saying the thin guy’s wrap fizzled, the bigger guy sung better and told Sophia that she has to dismount Zebra’s better. She then compliments the later half of the performance where they came together.
Ronan makes a pun about Mel not turning up to rehearsals before complimenting the group.
As we head to a break, we are 1/3 of the way through.
Guy will now present his next act; a 1 year old when this song he is singing tonight came out. He is Reece Mastin.
On he comes with some torn jeans and a wicked rendition of Ironic. There were however some questionable notes. Sometimes the microphone was way too far from his mouth.
Mel B asked whose choice it was to mix the song up like that and he says it was both him and Guy’s choice. She wonders how he liked it; and he says he did a lot. She doesn’t know how to feel about it because it was all over the place, but vocally impressive.
Ronan asks if he plans to go back to school after X Factor if things don’t work out and he says he doesn’t want to. Ronan encourages him not to! Wow, so now I know why some singers are so fucking stupid. Anyway, Ronan loved it.
Natalie calls it her favourite performance thus far and Guy has no idea what Mel was talking about. He thinks Mel is trying to pick at an otherwise faultless performance.
After yet another break, it is time for another one of Ronan’s. It is Audio Vixen and tonight, they will be singing Chains.
It’s enchanting and I love how they are on that rotating circle in the middle. It helps them stay together and is a little different to what we have seen.
They wow the crowd and get a standing ovation… from Ronan. Natalie didn’t like the song, calling it daggy and ‘not them at all’. It didn’t fit for her. Guy agrees and says they should find out what Australia hasn’t seen yet. Umm… a rotating stage?
Mel B says they need to get their styling worked out, calling it old and ‘bleugh’. She does however love their vocals and thought it was a good performance.
Ronan calls them fantastic and looks forward to their performances every night.
Next up tonight, after YET another ad break, is Andrew Wishart and tonight, he will be singing Nothing Compares 2 U. Apparently, Andrew cries all the time according to Mel who also brings up rude Mitchell again!
He’s sitting on a fancy lounge while behind him, a couple dances.
I think he has done really well tonight. He is able to hold his notes (except for a terrible part in the middle) and really belt out the notes. It didn’t sound stroppy or aggressive, which was the fear with this song.
Guy compliments the song choice and says that there was no error in the vocals; and considering this was a song that is all about the vocals, that is a powerful comment. Mel does not understand why there were dancers on the stage taking attention away from Andrew who just gave the best performance of the night.
Ronan agrees, saying his voice captivates and we only wanted to hear his voice.
Guy suggests Andrew gets involved with the ballet.
Natalie justifies the dancers by saying they made sure it was shot perfectly for viewers at home. Hey, no problem on my end so job well done. If I was in the crowd though and heard her say that, I would be pissed.
Guy’s last guy for tonight, Declan Sykes, is now up and will be singing Smells Like Teen Spirit.
Declan on stage, appears from behind a huge white mask seat. Well, to begin with, I hate this. Vocally, it sounds horrible. That music does not compliment it at all. I’m just watching this in absolute shock. In the end, he resorts to just yelling!
Mel starts by saying she loved the set up of the stage but turns to Guy, asking what were they thinking. She felt like she was in a nightmare calling it a trip she never wants to go on again.
Ronan said he got lost in it all and agrees with Mel. He is disappointed.
Natalie loved the visuals of the stage but thought, vocally, it was well under (I swear she wanted to say rubbish).
Mel says Guy is experimenting tonight and while Guy says it isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, he loved it, saying you don’t see that on reality TV. Ronan agrees and Mel calls it a ‘bad experiment’.
After the break, it is time for Ronan’s last group; Young Men’s Society who are singing Black or White tonight.
The beginning was quite weak due to poor vocals by one member; but the other two seem OK. In the end, coupled with great stage set up, they did very well.
Natalie thinks Ronan shot them all in the foot with that, saying they didn’t nail it at all saying they will be disappointed with it. Guy thinks that recently, they haven’t been doing well, with tonight suffering from bad vocals.
Mel thinks overall, it was a knockout performance, loving their dance routine. She doesn’t have a problem with anything they did tonight. Wow.
Ronan thinks they deserve to be on the international stage… but doesn’t comment on their performance.
After the break and we are into overtime with Mel’s first (and last) performance; Christina Parie. Tonight, she will be singing Zombie.
Christina is performing on a sphere of her own, playing a piano. For her age, she looks and sounds very grown up. There are still a few loose notes, but the performance overall is very respectable.
She gets a standing ovation from all four judges and an even more rousing applause from the crowd. Ronan loves the different side to Christina and acknowledges Mel’s risky move. He thinks Dolores would be very happy with that performance.
Natalie was scared to begin with, the prospect of a serious Christina, but is now sure she won’t go into the bottom two. Guy thinks that was his favourite moment of the series.
Mel thinks they make a good team for their own personal touches to that performance. Luke acknowledges that this was the first performance to gain a standing ovation from all four judges.
And with voting numbers now playing out, that signals the end of this show. So to begin with, the usual. This show just oozed production values and stage designs that put Australian Idol to shame. The contestants really shone under some big names; but at the same time, there were plenty of misses.
What brought the episode down were the same problems it faces every week; running over time, constant ad breaks and a very poor intro in terms of sound. If it could just fix those, you would have a perfect episode.
Courtney’s Verdict: 9.0/10
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