They're bringing out the different sides of Nancy this week. Hmm. Sounds like a cop out for "I really couldn't think of a proper theme this week".
Jessie: I disagreed with the judges last week, though she benefitted from the quieter song as it made her tone down her singing in the side of her mouth jazz hands type performance. I'm interested to see what she does this week, and somewhat disappoined that she's gone back to the side of her mouth singing that so irritates me. She is at least mostly in tune (though she struggles with the timing and diction in places). John (and Denise) didn't rate her too much, and I have to agree with JB, especially his note of caution in "this is a casting competition, not a talent competition" comment. The comments by the panel leave me wondering if they want her to be in the bottom two this week? She certainly doesn't gain my vote this week.
Niamh: Again doing a ballad, which I think means she'll be safe again this week. She struggles with up tempo and I think the producers are trying to ensure she survives at this point by giving her a song she can deal with (note her collapse a couple of weeks ago when given what I think was her only up tempo song of the competition). She turns in a good pop performance, with a really odd vocal tic or something near the end at the top of her range. She is definately not my Nancy, and has put in a performance that I don't think is good enough at this stage of the competition. She talks back to the judges, I don't like that. Judges generally talking her up, but I thought it was much poorer than they obviously did and they're glossing over any cracks. I think, unless someone else turns in a dreadful performance, she deserves to go.
Ashley: A lovestruck devoted heroine with "Say A Little Prayer for you"? They must really want her gone this week. She has major tuning issues that makes Niamh's upper register crack look tiny, and her scottish accent is coming through much clearer than Jessie's irish accent. The game may be up for Ashley this week. It was another performance that was just not good enough for this stage of the competition. Ouch. Denise compared her to Abigail's Party. I think the judges are having a bad night, they've been quite vicious (compared to previous weeks) for all the performers so far, and they've been worse to Ashley. I didn't rate her performance but those notes seemed downright mean.
Samantha: Volume and tuning problems. I'm impressed with her diction though, especially given how quickly the many words have to come out. It really shows there's no excuse for Jessie's problems at the start of the show. I'm not convinced by her performance as a "survivor", just singing about it does not make you act it. The judges loved it, but other than saying it's better than some of the other performances so far this evening, I wasn't blown away. Maybe it's me feeling mean tonight, not the judges!
Jodie: Struggled for volume and tuning at what I think is the bottom of her range. A nicely tuned down performance. Given she has a more cabaret background she comes across as much less cabaret than a couple of other Nancys (Ashley and Jessie IMO). The song improves as she goes higher in her range, and ends up being one of the better performances of the night. If there's any justice she'll be safe (I'll be annoyed if she becomes another Sarah). The judges were very nice about the performance, but ALW disagrees with me and thinks she overacts (compared to some of the others she practically doesn't!).
Rachel: Minor tuning problems. My problem was that if there was acting to the song I didn't believe in it. My notes on this are very short because I just don't really have an opinion on Rachel, except to say she isn't my Nancy. I don't dislike her in the same way as Niamh or Ashley, she doesn't irritate me like Jessie, she doesn't blow me away by Jodie. Instead she and Samantha just inspire rather tepid feelings in me. The judges also seemed to think it was an ok performance, but like me didn't feel her connect.
I think they're struggling to find songs from Oliver to start with now, I think they've started to repeat (can anyone confirm this? Or confirm that I'm going nuts maybe?)
Girls singing in Trios now. I remember this from last year when the Josephs did it. Will be interesting to see who comes through well from those.
Interesting to see them sow some discord there with the "Who isn't Nancy". Seems like the majority don't rate Niamh as Nancy, which I think is similar to the majority of the public. I could be wrong and reading too much in to how the public see her because I don't rate her.
The Olivers "step back in time" at a Ragged School. Laurence goes through to the Semis. Singing a song from Bugsy Malone :) This is much better than last week's HSM song and suits them much better. I enjoyed that very much :)
Jessie,
Niamh and
Samantha: Samantha coped best with the dancing and singing element of the trio. They all seemed to have some diction issues. As with last time Niamh sang up tempo her performance really suffered from the dancing and singing, and she struggled most with tuning. It wasn't a fantastic performance if I'm quite honest.
Ashley,
Jodie and
Rachel: This trio coped much better with the singing and dancing than the three younger ones and their diction didn't seem to suffer from trying to do both. I also believed they were having a good time (I didn't with the other three). Much more impressed with that performance than the one previously.
I think now it's over, I wouldn't be disappointed if Niamh and someone else (between Jessie and Ashley) were in the bottom two.
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nancy_or_oliver[Edit - Sunday] This week's mission is with a stunt expert and John Barrowman, where they'll be learning how to stage fight (the mission the Olivers had a couple of weeks ago). Jessie doesn't carry it off to well, Ashley and Rachel do ok, Niamh messed up but continued, Jodie broke character to check that the stunt guy was ok, Samantha tanked. Rachel was Barrowman's choice for the best performance.
Group performance of "Nobody Does it Better" (theme from The Spy Who Loved Me). It wasn't a bad performance, but the individual voices are sticking out more now and it's becoming less of a group performance and more six individual performances. When asked who stuck out in a good way in the group number, Barry names Jessie (liked Irish lilt), Denise chose Niamh and ALW chose Samantha.
The Olivers chose Niamh to sing with them, singing "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang". She goes on to prove what I've said all along - she can sing or she can dance but she can't do both at the same time. Her tuning suffers from trying to dance at the same time, and the Olivers really put her to shame on how much more effortless they make it look. I spent most of the number thinking "please get Niamh out
now". I also didn't see a motherly quality. Perhaps ALW was watching a different performance.
John says Jessie isn't his Nancy, Denise names Ashley and Barry names Rachel.
Ashley and Niamh are in the sing off. I suspect that this time ALW won't mess around, and will get rid of Ashley now she's in the sing off again, especially as she was the most unpopular in the public vote. They are singing "Don't Cry For Me Argentina" from Evita.
Niamh goes first and starts badly, tuning all over the place, but Ashley isn't much better. Neither have a particularly nice quality to their voices in this sing off and I'm not really convinced by the acting of either. I could happily see either go at this moment.
Andrew messes around talking about the song, regretting Niamh's age and his harsh comments to Ashley. He saves Niamh. I am not surprised at all. So Ashley goes home. No idea why he comments that she was out of tune as if to justify himself - Niamh was as bad or worse IMO. Ashley does absolutley nail the farewell song though, so she goes out on a high :)
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