Originally Posted by superstar111:
“But why did Lucie get put in the sing off in the first place? It took Dannii too long to find her comfort zone really, and she just didn't know what to do with her IMO, the same with Rachel.”
Because the song was poor and not familiar to much of the audience (although in all honesty she had a few problems during her performance, which is odd because it's hardly difficult to sing). Simon was questioning her performances and saying that her songs weren't age-relevant, etc. But the two previous themes were rock and big band, both of which she did well with. In fact I don't think you'll find many people who didn't rate My Funny Valentine as one of, if not the best performance during Big Band week. The fact is that Lucie had been doing just fine, until Simon stuck his oar in. Remember that he liked both her performance and the song that week, despite the fact that she'd been far better for the two previous shows. Still, Lucie evidently likes the song too, given that she's been performing it in her PAs since leaving the show.
As for Rachel, the public simply never took to her. The fact that she had very little coverage prior to the live shows can't have helped, but both Proud Mary and One were excellent performances and great song choices. The fact that she was eliminated after what I'd imagine most would agree was one of the best performances that week (Lucie was her only real competition for me) is beyond Dannii's control.
Originally Posted by superstar111:
“I think Simon's done a good job with his acts to be fair, yeah they were in the bottom, but he's given them good song choices and stuff, as much as I hate to admit it.
Cheryl's been awful too. Lloyd and Rikki were poetntial finalists but were totally ruined by her
Louis to be fair was really good with John and Edward!”
I think there's plenty of evidence to the contrary. He changed Jamie's song the night before the show twice, and he did the same thing to Danyl at least once. He gave Danyl And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going and I Didn't Know My Own Strength - the latter being an unreleased song that nobody knew. Danyl expressed concern that he was being given 'girls' songs' every week himself, and he also had issues with Simon's solo standing ovations (he got all excited because Danyl climbed a bloody ladder one week). I think it's widely regarded here that Simon's reaction to Danyl's performances played a significant part in his apparent unpopularity.
A Fool In Love, Betwitched (neither very well-known at all) and Come Together (quite probably the most unsuitable song in the show's entire history) were all poor song choices (kudos to Olly for pulling off A Fool In Love and Bewitched, though). Fastlove was another very poor choice, and that was the week Olly found himself in the bottom two.
Neither Lloyd nor Rikki were ever even close to being "potential finalists". Lloyd was the weakest solo act by an absolute mile this year, hence the fact that he found himself in the bottom two twice and then eliminated with the lowest number of votes. I actually had a soft spot for Rikki, but in truth he was better in previous years and wasn't great from his audition onwards. He didn't deserve to be eliminated quite so early for me, but he was never going to make the final in a million years. His unpopularity here seems to have been reflected with the wider audience, and even the press took issue with the crying / 'unusual' eyebrow.
He may have been supportive, particularly when the studio audience and some of the other judges were at their most vociferous. But the real credit there (if such a term can be considered relevant) belongs to the backing vocalists and Brian Friedman.
Originally Posted by rivercity_rules:
“Look how far Louis took Jedward
Simon has managed to get Olly to the final, god only knows how
and Cheryl has a finalist out of the weakest (By Far) category.
Dannii had 3 potential finalists, ruined Rachel in week one (Why dress her as Rihanna then make her sing Robbie? Idiotic choice)
scuppered Lucie's chances with a song noone knows
then tried to turn Stacey into Leona which just wasn't possible.
If she had spent more time picking good songs for them instead of trying to be their best mate
she would have lost one act tonight and still had two competing tomorrow.
Last year was the same, Rachel never stood a chance with the song choices and she chose Daniel fgs!
Then we have her to blame for Leon too.”
Largely due to support from primary school kids, and people who took up the 'vote for the worst' cause of ruining the show.
Olly's personality and charisma got Olly to the final.
The boys were hardly weaker than the groups, and the fact that the most consistent act made the final isn't at all relative to the weakness of his peers.
No she didn't. It quite evidently wasn't going to work for Rachel, no matter how well she performed. I thought she was fantastic for weeks three and four, but the votes simply weren't there despite good song choices. I don't see what else Dannii could've done, other than employ a team of people to block vote. She intervened and revamped Rachel's image as early as she could. The initial makeovers aren't down to the mentors, and that's pretty obvious from the rather generic look (which was even more apparent last year). But Rachel had the Rihanna thing going on before the live shows even started. What was Dannii supposed to do, overrule the backstage team and plonk a wig on her head from the outset?
If anyone "scuppered Lucie's chances", it was Simon. That was the sort of song he thought she should've been singing, and he's on record saying that meetings were called because he didn't approve of various things, such as song choices. Whether Dannii's her mentor or not, it's Simon's show. And if he starts giving her grief about it then there's little that she can do. Even without those meetings, he was giving Lucie a hard time on the live shows. And whether we like it or not, a huge number of people believe every last word he ever says.
That point is really quite absurd. There are no comparisons whatsoever between Stacey and Leona beyond gender, whether real or implied. Cowell is the absolute master of tosh, but even for him that entire quote is simply ludicrous.
I think Dannii's song choices more than measure up to the other mentors'. Take a look back through Simon's choices from this year's shows, for example.
That quite simply was never going to happen. Joe was always going to be in the final this year, regardless of how good the girls may have been.
Rachel Hylton "never stood a chance" because she wasn't at all popular. Both her past actions and poor attitude counted against her, and in reality she lacked versatility. We all know that Daniel was poor. But James and Louise were never going to make it, and Daniel already had a fanbase (or sob story, if you prefer) that Suzie didn't.
So hang on - she's at fault because she didn't achieve the impossible by getting all three girls into the final. But she's also at fault for mentoring a shy, naive lad into the most popular act throughout the series and then to victory in the final on top?
Originally Posted by superstar111:
“Why did everyone think they would have gone sooner?
Ruth was in the bottom two week two and five, Rachel was in the bottom two week four, six and seven and Daniel was in the bottom two week three and six. This means that Dannii had ana ct in the bottom every week bar the first one, which isn't an achievement.”
Because it was regarded as a weak category. She took all of them much further than most predicted.
Keeping all three acts from what was perceived as XF5's weakest category, until Louis and Simon were down to one act each and Cheryl was down to two, was a massive achievement.
Originally Posted by superstar111:
“Are your real? Rachel was hyped to the max, as was Daniel and his sob story (admittedly he wasn't that good either). She didn't make Ruth a contender either, she was loved on this forum, but she was NEVER a contender in real life.”
Being "hyped" is not necessarily a mark of popularity, or quality. Of course she was "a contender". Why on earth do you think Virgin/EMI signed her?
Originally Posted by friendlyguy2:
“She thought that Lucie doing rock chick performances in the early without having connected with the audience would get her to the semi final and further.
It didn't work the audience voted in greater number for Jedward who were vocally worse than Lucie but better in terms of charisma and audience connection.”
What a daft thing to do during Rock week, huh? Or are you classing This Is Me as 'rock'? And how were one or two performances ever going to carry her for another month?
That's the most novel use of the term "charisma" I think I've ever seen.
Originally Posted by friendlyguy2:
“She should have given Lucie songs that enabled her to develop a connection with the audience like in her first audition not change her hair and get her singing rock chick songs. A great menotor would have realised that Buble was not the best choice of duet for Stacey given the duets the other two acts had.
Why she could not bring herself to say that Stacey deserved to win particularly after Stacey had sung "Who wants to live forever" tonight is a mystery. It would have been a gamble with the other judges and their acts last songs but it would have been worth the gamble with the viewers. Danni clearly didn't think Stacey was that good not as good as Joe and no better than Olly.”
We know Simon's opinion already, but what's yours? Her hair has/had nothing to do with Dannii, nor does she get to pick which guest artists appear on the show.
I don't see any "mystery". Complacency earns you nothing.
”
”
