X Factor Week 5 Performances

Cher Lloyd gave a cool, if somewhat gimmicky, performance of 'Empire State Of Mind'

Mary Byrne with a slightly wobbly performance of Faith Hill's 'There You'll Be.'

Katie Waissel singing 'Don't Speak.'

Aiden Grimshaw with an understated performance of 'Nothing Compares 2 U'

Paije Richardson mashed up 'I'm A Believer' with 'Hey Ya.'



Rebecca Ferguson gave a flawless version of 'Make You Feel My Love.'



Wagner gave yet another crazy performance with 'Viva Las Vegas' mashed with 'The Wonder Of You'



Matt Cardle gave a hugely acclaimed performance of 'The First Time (Ever I Saw Your Face)'



Treyc Cohen looked stunning whilst performing 'Don't Wanna Miss A Thing.'



One Direction gave an upbeat performance of 'Kids In America.'



Finally the top ten performed together on P!nk's 'So What.'

The X Factor Results Show Performances - Week 2

First up on the performance front was the final 14 giving an energetic version of Lady GaGa and Beyoncé's 'Telephone.'

The first celebrity guest was previous X Factor contestant of 2 years ago, Diana Vickers, who performed her new single 'My Wicked Heart.'

Next up with international chart topper Katy Perry with the exclusive first live performance of her new single 'Firework.'



After Storm Lee's ejection with the lowest number of votes, both Diva Fever and Belle Amie took to the stage in the sing off to battle for the last remaining place in next week's show. First up was Diva Fever with 'I Will Survive.'



Next to take to the stage was Belle Amie with their victorious performance of Fergie's 'Big Girls Don't Cry,' which resulted in Diva Fever being eliminated from the show, with 3 votes from Louis, Dannii and Cheryl.

The X Factor Performances - Week Two

Kicking off with the girls, Treyc bellowed out 'Purple Rain,' with huge praise from the judges.

Cher Lloyd made an interesting choice by singing a mashed up version of 'Hard Knock Life,' which, whilst good, felt a bit gimmicky.

Rebecca gave a stunning performance of 'Feeling Good,' but it kind of feels like she's not too great at hitting the higher notes...

Katie toned down her performance from last week to perform a stripped back 'I'd Rather Go Blind.'

Storm Lee cranked up the gimmick factor yet again by arriving in a bike and giving a fairly average performance of Bruce Springstein's 'Born To Run.'

John was yet again ultra forgettable with his performance of 'A Song For You.'

Wagner gives another bonkers performance with 'Just Help Yourself.' Amazing yet again.

Mary once again wowed the audience with her rendition of 'You Don't Have To Say You Love Me.'

Paige gave a strong performance of Alicia Keys' 'If I Ain't Got You.'

Aiden gave a shaky performance of 'Jealous Guy' which received strong criticism from the panel.



Matt gave a strong performance of 'Just The Way You Are' which impressed the judges and made it no surprise that he sailed into Week 3.



One Direction notched up some more fans with their version of Kelly Clarkson's 'My Life Would Suck Without You.'

Diva Fever gave the campest performance ever with their take on new hit 'Barbra Streisand.'

Finally, Belle Amie showed they really have what it takes as a girlband, with The Kinks' 'You Really Got Me.'

UK Midweek Charts Roundup - Wednesday 13th Oct

Cee-Lo Green is still outselling his rivals to keep his obscene claws on the top spot, but is being closely followed by Duck Sauce and ‘Barbra Streisand,’ which keep their #2 spot despite their two positions now being combined. Bruno Mars is still hanging around at #3, closely followed by reigning X Factor champ Joe McElderry, who’s #4 position has not had its sales combined with its position further down in the chart. Tempah rounds off the top 5.

Usher is still holding steady at #11 after his X Factor performance, just behind Pixie Lott’s ‘Broken Arrow’ at #10. Further down the top 15 is Michael Bublé with his new track ‘Hollywood.’

Elsewhere, ‘Mad World’ is still enjoying its X Factor revival at #18, whilst B.o.B.’s ‘Airplaines’ finds itself hauled back up into the top 30, alongside another of Usher’s live performances ‘OMG.’

Check back tomorrow to see if Duck Sauce can outrun Cee-Lo and if Joe McElderry can finally oust Bruno from his top 3 spot...

UK Midweek Charts Roundup - Tuesday 12th Oct

So, back to the chart drawing board people! Cee-Lo Green looks set to maintain his grip on the #1 spot, meaning that we could have our second two week spanning #1 since Alexandra Burke’s ‘Start Without You.’ His closest competition comes from Duck Sauce with their dance track ‘Barbara Streisand,’ which also holds a place at #32.

Bruno Mars is still selling strongly and as a result keeps his track ‘Just The Way You Are’ high up the charts at #3. Joe McElderry is doing well but appears to have stalled a little at #4 with his single ‘Ambitions’ which can also be found at #27. The top 5 is rounded off by Tinie Tempah’s ‘Written In The Stars.’

Elsewhere, Travie McCoy re-enters the chart at #9 with his Bruno Mars collaboration ‘Billionaire’ thanks to FYD’s performance on The X Factor this weekend, whilst Pixie Lott looks set to round up the top 10 at the moment with ‘Broken Arrow.’

As a result of ‘The X Factor Effect,’ several other tracks have also benefitted, such as Usher’s ‘DJ Got Us Fallin’ In Love’ which is a couple of spaces outside the top 10, Michael Andrews and Gary Jules’ ‘Mad World’ in the top 20 and Coldplay’s ‘Viva La Vida’ appearing at the #33 position.

2 X Factor Contestants Eliminated!

Nicolo Festa was the first contestant to be eliminated from the competition tonight, receiving the lowest number of votes, resulting in him automatically being ejected.

This left Katie Waissell from the 'Girls' category and F.Y.D. from the 'Group' category to fight it out for the judges vote. (Videos of their performances to follow.

With three votes (Cheryl, Dannii and Louis) against them, F.Y.D. were the second act to be cut from this week's double elimination.

The X Factor Performances - Week One

Such an amazing song choice for Cher which really shows off her swag, although she seems a little drowned out by the backing track.

Treyc shows great vocals here, and it definitely shows why she was chosen as Cheryl's wildcard. Not entirely sure she had the best vocals of the night though Simon...

Katie just looks awful in her performance, like a cheap man's Lady GaGa tribute and as a result looks a bit desperate. Not sure the song did her any favours, way too big for her.

Wow, she has finally performed a fun, uptempo song. She just needs more confidence to enhance the performance but it's great to hear a different sound from her.

Amazing vocals, Mary really shows off her diva side. Although stop dressing her all in black, she's not Dawn French.

Storm...awful styling!! The performance didn't seem that inspired but we feel like he could do more.

Totally forgettable, and it's such a dated song. Very dull...he should surely be first to go?

Amazing ;-)

One Direction definitely need to gel together more. They're obviously a typical boy band, but they need to sync their style more.

F.Y.D. had the difficult job of going first, we definitely want to see more from them though, although we expected more from them this time.

Belle Amie seemed ultra shy, which is odd as they're all good singers. We want to see them again however, and for them to up the performance.

Horrendous outfits, there's no need to tack them up so much! Surprisingly enjoyable even though only one seems to sing...

Gripping and intense, although due to him sounding too similar to those he's compared to I'm not sure if I could bear an entire album of his voice.

Fire the stylist. Good vocals but the performance felt a little average.

Gets off to a shaky start, he definitely needs to build his confidence but should get better and better.

Thought he'd be better...what happened to the diva? Disagree with Cheryl's sunglasses comment though, it's all about the performance ;-)

The X Factor Final 12 - Promo Shots!

So after an emotional show last night the final twelve contestants for this year's X Factor have been revealed!

Fighting it out for Cheryl are the girls, Cher, Katie and Rebecca...

For Dannii, its Aiden, Nicolo and Matt...

With Louis are Storm, John and Mary...

And finally Simon with his three groups, Belle Amie, FYD and One Direction...

Furthermore, there will be a 'big twist' on next week's first live show, with many suggesting that viewers will be able to select a wildcard from the other contestants eliminated at the judges houses...

News Bites - 5pm

• Joe McElderry, who is gearing up to release the lead single from his debut album 'Wide Awake,' has revealed that if it wasn't for said single 'Ambitions,' the entire LP would have taken a different direction. Speaking to Radio 1's Scott Mills, McElderry stated that "It was a lot of slower songs and it was kind of like, I was enjoying it but nothing was really grabbing my attention." The single, which has received widely positive feedback shows off an alternative area to Joe's talents which he feels is a positive, saying "I was used to singing so many slow songs on The X Factor, which I don't mind - I loved singing them - but I just thought, 'I'm 19, I want to have a bit of fun on stage and I just needed a few fast songs'." We totally agree with this and look forward to seeing what other surprises are in store when the album is released on October 25th.

• Cheryl Cole is doing little to dissuade the rumours surrounding herself and 'close friend' Derek Hough after excepts of her new book 'Through My Eyes' were published in 'Hello' magazine. Quotes such as  "Derek is a sweetheart - the kind of person who makes the day more enjoyable... and that's important." are simply adding fuel to a fire that was sparked months ago when dancer Hough appeared in Cole's 'Parachute' video. For a pair that seem so keen to dismiss the relationship rumours surrounding them, it feels a little odd to have this published at this time...

• James McAvoy has claimed that he wants to 'bury' Sir Patrick Stewart's portrayal of 'Professor Xavier' in upcoming 'X-Men' prequel 'X-Men: First Class.' Speaking to MTV news, McAvoy revealed that he is looking forward to the challenge of painting the picture of Xavier's origins, saying "I'm basically going to try and bury Patrick's performance," and explained that it is interesting to discover where a character originates from and how they end up being how they are. He went on to add that he wants to move away from Stewart's portrayal at the beginning of the new movie but to get closer to it as the film progresses.

• Alex Reid is allegedly furious, once again, at his wife Katie Price/Jordan's antics. As part of a fundraising event, Price put a date with herself up for auction which was bid on, and won, by two Manchester City football players, for a combined total of £12,000. Apparently promising the two footballers a "night [they’ll] never forget" Price encouraged the men to continue bidding. Reid was under the illusion that the date would be with a regular fan and was horrified to find that his wife was reverting to her old 'Jordan' ways. To be honest, this couple should really stop airing their dirty laundry in public as it got old a long time ago...

• Finally, X Factor lovely Dannii Minogue has come under fire for the huge bill incurred by her request to have the 'Judges' Houses' stage of the competition shot in her home country of Australia, which will have to be deducted from the overall X Factor budget and created a variety of problems. The cost of such a request was sky rocketed by the need to have both presenters Dermot O'Leary and Konnie Huq flown out, as well as the 8 contestants still participating in her category and the crew to film it! Furthermore, by filming the stage in Australia the overall process took longer than the usual two days due to the need to recover from jet lag and so in total took 8. As a result, the other judges were forced to make cutbacks in their own choice of location to cater for the new Mum's demands. Let's just hope Dannii has the winning group to make up for it...

Cher Lloyd - Turn My Swag On - X Factor

Now tipped as a hot favourite on the X Factor, and having over one and a half million view of her audition on youtube, how long can Cher Lloyd ride out the success of her popular first audition?


It's clear to see that Cher initially appears to have all the qualities required in order to fill the boxes to be a pop star...Stunning looks? Check. Funked up wardrobe? Check. Vibrant personality? Check. Stage presence? Check. Pop star moves? Check.


From the moment she stepped onto the vast X Factor stage, she held not only the judges, but the audience and viewers at home captivated. Her unique personality easily transgressed into her standing ovation-worthy performance of Keri Hilson's take on Soulja Boy's 'Turn My Swag On.' Throughout her brief audition, Cher simply WAS a popstar, if it wasn't for her intriguingly standout voice viewers tuning in may have believed that they were in fact watching a performance by Cheryl Cole, due to the striking similarities in looks, style and performance.


However, although I too was taken in by her performance, there do appear to be several areas of concern for Cher's progression on the show. When not treating the audience to her well rehearsed vibrato, hints of flat notes appear on the third to fourth listen. This is not to say that Cher's vocal abilities are in any way lacking in a normal environment, but given the fierce competition often found in the X Factor, Cher may struggle to find her niche.


Furthermore, it is difficult to see how Cher will cope with the many varying themed weeks incorporated on the X Factor. Will Cher, for example, be able to turn in a strong and genuine vocal performance on Big Band week?


Finally, it appears that there are serious concerns as to how Cher will cope if she makes it through to face the live shows due to the fact that she's only 16 years old, a revelation that came as a shock even to judge Louis Walsh. Producers of the hit show are said to be keeping a watchful eye over Cher should the pressure of the contest prove too much for such a young entrant.


I sincerely hope that Cher makes it through to at least the 'judge's home' stage and possibly to the live shows so that she can continue to grow as an artist. I really do believe that Cher presented one of the best conceived X Factor auditions of recent series and that she truly could be a diamond in the rough.


8/10 - Spice!