Wow, free time

[caramel_betty]

So I actually have some of my free time back. Woo! And I can spend it on things like, erm...

Boys.

• Austin was, for me, a dead cert.
• Alan, aside from all the newspaper coverage and being pretty, I didn't get why he was still in it.
• Scott's first audition was, for me, really good, but I wouldn't have picked him for the final 3 - I was slightly surprised he made the final 6. I felt that Simon's comment about him giving good performances, but not great, was on the money.
Which leaves me with three spots to fill from Eoghan, Mali and Liam.
• Mali, I wasn't sure if the general population would get. His gravelly voice might also be difficult for e.g. Abba week (which they will presumably have again). I wasn't so aware of the tuning issues that Simon and Sinitta commented on.
• Liam, I really liked and I think he'd have been in my final 6 without the mind-changing tom-foolery. Given that they still only had six boys, who did they drop?
• Eoghan's audition I really liked. I especially liked his ability to take direction because his second song seemed to really show the slower pace and though Simon wanted. Some of his later performances have been a bit samey but I think he's really good.

My final three would have been: Austin, Liam, and either Eoghan or Mali. I think I'd go Austin, Liam, Eoghan. I can understand not having Liam there, however, or Mali for that matter. Being under 16, Emily (the stabby one from last year) found that she couldn't rehearse as much as the others - you may remember Sharon's bleating that Simon shouldn't have opened the competition to under 16s because it wasn't fair.

Groups.
I didn't get the point of Shane Filan being there, other than "Ooh, look, it's someone from Westlife" (like Kian in the past). He didn't seem to actually say anything. Anyway.

• Priority shouldn't have been there. They shouldn't have been in the final 6, and they totally blew it. Awful.
• JLS - I really like, and they seem like nice guys, and they have good harmonies. But I'm not 100% sure the public will take to them - although I have that worry about all groups on X Factor. Unlike e.g. Same Difference or the McDonald brothers, I'm not sure they'll generate a following due to friction, which seems to be the only way for a group to stay around. However, I would have put them through - they are, by far, the best group.
• 4Instinct - no, just no. Not in my final 6, with the way they fell apart at bootcamp. I also don't get it. Half the time to me, they sounded out of tune, off beat, or otherwise not very good.
Which leaves us with 3 girl bands. And I can simplify this by saying that my main impression was built on their performances on the day.
• Desire's performance on X was, for me, a bit rubbish. Their performance on Xtra was better (although the same can be said of Priority). I wouldn't have put them through to the final 3.
• Which leaves me with Girl Band and Bad Lashes - both of whom I'd put through, and not just as a lesser evil. They seemed the strongest two.

So, I agree with Louis's choice all the way, really.

Girls.
I can short-circuit this somewhat by throwing out two people right away.

• Amy - great first audition, I just haven't got it since then. And too nervous.
• Anastasia - car crash telly. Couldn't possibly go through to the live finals.
So I now need three from the final four: Diana, Hannah, Laura, Alexandra.
• Diana, I think is fantastic. However, I find her and Laura might occupy the same space in terms of not really being Leona power ballad divas that X Factor seems to like. However, I loved Hallelujah.
• So as I've said, Laura I think overlaps quite a bit with Diana. But I'm not sure I ever had a performance from Diana that grabbed me in the same way.
• Alexandra is pretty much an instant yes from me - she's really good.
• Hannah also doesn't quite occupy the LPBDTXFSTL space, but in a quite different way from Laura and Diana. I'd have put her though....

...making my final three Laura, Hannah, and Alexandra.

Over 25s.
I have such trouble with this category.

• Daniel, I just couldn't put through. Yes, he's been good with emotion in the songs he's done, but give him something he can't sing to his dead wife.
• So James I would have put through. I thought his voice was stronger, and I felt he'd done better overall. However, it seemed reasonably obvious that they weren't going to do much with him given how little coverage he'd got, and how much Daniel had.
• Louise, I really wanted to put through. I really liked her, but then she forgot the words. And it might be easier if they just called it the 25-40 category, as that seems to be about right. She wouldn't win, but meh.
• Ruth - I think is good, but I'm not sure the public will get her, especially if she spends half of each show singing in Spanish, moreso in the first show or two where they get about 3 seconds of singing time each.
• Suzie I liked. Someone mentioned the whole "Well, if she's been trying this long and not made it, what's going on?" God, how I hate that. If you're letting random people audition, can you just get over the fact that they may have tried and failed already? I mean, you let people come back over several years. (Austin was at boot camp last year, Alexandra was at Louis's house a few years ago.) What's up with that?
• Rachel, I want to buy her album but I don't know what to know about her life. She just annoys me, but I love her voice.

My final three: Rachel, James, and probably Suzie - but you could switch Suzie for Ruth for me.

Hastily thrown-together order of elimination: 1) Ruth, 2) Bad Lashes, 3) Daniel, 4) Scott, 5) Diana, 6) Rachel, 7) Girl Band, 8) Eoghan, 9) Laura. Final (three-way again?): JLS, Alexandra, Austin. JLS out at the end of the first part, Alexandra wins. Caveats: Rachel could go out early if she screws up badly, and I could see Laura and JLS switching places. Ruth's early exit is based on her singing in Spanish in the first episode. If she's given sultry numbers in English, she stays longer. Scott will plateau and people will think he should go earlier, but he'll get votes for being attractive.

This is, of course, why I'm not a successful music executive.