So the Top 11 will be singing Elton John Songs (as mentioned on another thread. Wonder what they'll sing?

Paul could do Crocodile Rock, Jacob could do Tiny Dancer and I'd quite like to see Casey try something like Rocket Man, but change it in a way that makes it distinct.

There's actually an Elton song called Idol which I found today, might be quite fitting for Casey after this week's results, and he doesn't strike me as a Don't Let The Sun kind of guy....

Paul should do Ho Ho Ho (Who'd Want To Be A Turkey At Xmas?) lol it was the B-side to Step Into Xmas. Haha not a Paul fan, but perhaps I can come up with something more sensible soon!

Reckon Jacob and Thia may go all Lion King on us, Stefano should do I'm Still Standing and I've been wondering about Are You Ready For Love? for Scotty, will keep thinking for the others though

Oh, and Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting for The Durbinator would work!

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As someone else mentioned, it's a shame Paul's already done 'I guess that's why...' as I could really hear Scotty doing that.

Thia or Pia's going to do Circle of Life, can feel it in my bones. Would rather Jacob didn't, I'd quite like to see him do something uptempo and fun

James - Tiny Dancer possibly if he wants to show a different type of performance, and it's got high bits where he can shriek at me for no good reason

I live in fear of Paul doing Crocodile Rock - can you imagine the dancing For some reason I'm thinking 'Your Song' for him.

That would be the most obvious song choice of the competition, though perhaps it would be more appropriately renamed Wednesday Night's As Good As Any For Slaughtering A Good Song.

Lol I like James, good pun though. I made a similar pun about Paul singing Voice Out Of Hell a while back lol

Would be a bit obvious, but he'd like it what with all the Hulk stuff on this week's results show, he could always try Someone Saved My Life Tonight if he wanted to go for something different. I'm sure in his first audition VT he mentioned that he'd been "saved by an angel" when he'd met his fiancee or something

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I should like James as what he is trying to do is my type of thing but I don't think he's very good at it. He's at his best when he's doing the gimmicky stuff, such as what Living For The City was riddled with, rather than when he is just relying on his voice which is pretty thin when high, unpredictable when low and one dimensional in tone throughout with no light and shade.

It wouldn't surprise me if he did say something like that in the auditions. It was one sob story after another with James up until the live shows. I'm glad he hasn't made a point of his issues during the live shows but I do wish he would think about what he says and writes before he does so or that at least someone was on hand to advise him that saying certain things can come across as pretty arrogant.

James could improve his vocals, there's no one there who has nothing they could improve on. I do like him though, and I agree that LFTC was his best performance so far.

Remember, re: sob stories, they're often forced out of people by the producers. I was very ill a couple of years before I auditioned for XF, but when they pressed me about it, I made a point of giving tongue in cheek answers about rubbish hospital food and singing in the corridors.

I don't know how James's condition manifests himself, but it could jhave something to do with the way he's responding to his AI success so far. I don't see why he shouldn't be proud of himself for making the live tour on the biggest TV show in America. If he made comments about how useless he was, as he may well do on other occasions, I'm sure there'd be people complaining that he was trying to garner sympathy and manipulate the viewers, and if he stayed quiet like Pia, he'd be labelled boring. None of them can win lol!

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By all accounts from people who remember James from the auditions two years ago (there are two people here who do, there may be more but I understand that they are people who were involved with the show because I don't think his audition was televised) he is no better and no worse, and no different in his attitude, to what he was then. Some people just plateau and it could that this is the peak of James' ability and the same probably goes for others. A couple of them are younger but 22 is an age when most people's voices are pretty much what they're going to be. These shows have been won by people of around that age or slightly younger.

He's a big guy. It's not as if he's still waiting to fill out in order to potentially gain some extra power. I just don't think it's in him. That's not a criticism. What he has is more and better than most but it's nowhere near as good as some.

I don't know that his actions and words are down to his condition. Saying that they are or they aren't would be equally sweeping and generalistic.

There is a happy medium. There's no need to say you were useless when you weren't but there's no need to make out like you've just outperformed Mercury and outsung Pavarotti.

Pia is not totally silent. I don't think she's ever going to set the world alight with sparkling wit but she does tweet quite a bit. She just seems like a girl who's got a lot less to say for herself than most of her age. I don't have a problem with Pia's personality. Quiet doesn't necessarily mean boring and it's not like I'm planning to be her friend. I just don't rate her voice outside of her comfortable register. Her high notes are always at least half a note under and I'd like to see her try something a little different to what she has done or at least move her lower limbs.

Anyone doing Crocodile Rock is sure to be voted out!

Paige from XF survived it, over Aiden singing Rocket Man

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I want Pia to do something uptempo... but still a performance that manages to blow me away.

Quick reminder of the X Factor perfromances:

Paije Richardson - "Crocodile Rock" - Safe
Aiden Grimshaw - "Rocket Man" - Bottom two
Mary Byrne - "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" - Safe
Katie Waissel - "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting" - Bottom two
Matt Cardle - "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" - Safe
Cher Lloyd - "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word" / "Mockingbird" - Safe
Wagner - "I'm Still Standing" / "Circle of Life" - Safe
One Direction - "Something About the Way You Look Tonight" - Safe
Rebecca Ferguson - "Candle in the Wind" - Safe

We'll see if there are similarities and and predictable choices like:

James: "Crocodile Rock"
Casey: "Rocket Man"
Jacob: "Can You Feel the Love Tonight"
lauren: "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting"
Paul: "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road"
Naima: "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word" / "Mockingbird"
Thia: "Circle of Life"
Stephano: "Something About the Way You Look Tonight"
Pia: "Candle in the Wind"

Missed your post lol!

It's great that poep,le who've worked on Ai can post here and share their experiences. Any singer can imrpove at any age, just being in the live shows, receiving coaching and advice should help. He may not have improved as much as Thia has since her appearancxe on AGT, for example, but there will be an improvement. He's older than most of the other Idol winners, but 22 is still young, and James's emotional maturity is likely to be behin that of other 22 year olds.

I wouldn't want to make generalisations about people with Asperger's/Yourette's, but having the cponditions is going to affect him somehow, isn't it? Also, some younger contestants such as Jordin have been particularly mature.

James may not have the best voice in the world. but I think it works well enough for his style of music, and could be even more suited to original material.

He hasn't claimed to have outsung Pavarotti/outperformed Mercury. Even if he had, they are both dead so the comment would be harmless, if a little arrogant lol. If he'd claimed to have outsung Lusk and outperformed Abrams, for example, that would have looked a lot less sporting.

I do like Pia, and wasn't actually calling her boring myself. I was just saying that she's had criticism for being boring on here. She seems like a nice girl, but perhaps isn't showing the personality which will encourage viewers to pick up the phone and vote for her - then again, neither did Leona. Even if she isn't a great mover, it'd be good to try, like Jordin did. Also, Jordin sang a range of styles of song, you don't even need to be able to dance to sing uptempo songs. I know that from my own experience of singing, and being a terrible dancer!

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I think Pia will be doing something uptempo this week, because of her being told to like Thia was last week~

Just a thought, at least. XD

The Diana version of this is never performed on these shows and the original is about a young man lusting after Marilyn Monroe so I doubt we will see a female singing it.

I think it would be a great choice for Scotty seeing as the most obvious choice for him, I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues, has already been performed by Paul.

Hey Guys,

How about the following:

James: Saturday night's alright for fighting
Lauren: Something about the way you look tonight
Paul: Sacrifice
Thia: Can you feel the love tonight
Stefano: Rocket man
Haley: Border song
Jacob: Circle of life
Pia: Philadelphia freedom
Scotty: I want love
Naima: I'm still standing
Casey: Your song

Group songs: Don't go breaking my heart / Don't let the sun go down on me

Any singer can improve if they have the latent ability. If they don't, they can't. As with any other job or anything in life, you can only be as good as you are capable of being, whatever your training, experience or efforts. Some singers even regress in their ability pretty early in their life or career.

"He's older than most other Idol winners" ................. you're jumping the gun, aren't you? James hasn't won and if there is any justice, he won't. I hope having used the save on Casey means "Goodbye, Mr Durbin" sooner rather than later.

Kelly was 20
Ruben was 24
Fantasia was 19
Carrie was 22
Taylor was 29
Jordin was 17
David was 25
Kris was one month short of his 24th birthday
Lee was 24

Yes, 22 is young. All contestants have always been young.

Sorry but if James' emotional maturity is hindered so much by his condition, someone without the condition should have thought twice before having a child with him. All very convenient.

I don't agree that Jordin was particularly mature. She wasn't childish but a lot of her charm was in her girliness and innocence.

I agree James doesn't have the best voice in the world, he doesn't even have the best voice in this year's AI and isn't anywhere near the top of voices from talent shows, but I don't agree that his voice works for what he is trying to do at all. You need more power and control to pull off what he wants to do. His voice is too thin and reedy in his upper reaches, almost childlike in its weakness (a man of 6'4" and about two feet wide cannot have any excuse for this other than the limitations of his voice) and he loses all control in his lower reaches.

So commenting on the dead is harmless? Not that James or anyone has done that but to say that commenting on someone is harmless because they are dead is absurd, If anything it's worse because the dead aren't able to respond.

If James ever said he'd outsung Jacob, I'd start to think his condition was a lot worse than anyone could imagine or was simply delusional. Jacob may overdo it far too often but he is the best singer in the competition by a mile.

A relevant point is if everything James says or does is going to excused because of his condition, why does his condition prevent him from making derogatory comments about others while not being able to stop him making boastful and ridiculously unrealistic comments about himself? It all seems too convenient.

The difference between Pia moving very little (and not moving very well when she does) and not showing much in the way of personality and Leona is that Leona's voice is in a different league. The same thing worked against Stacey and Rebecca in XF because though their voices were good, they weren't anything like Leona's.

Jordin did try a variety of styles, the one that worked least (and by a long way) for her being rock, though she said she was brought up listening to it because her mother is a rock fan. Despite this obvious inability to sing rock, last year she was still saying she wanted to record a rock song with Adam Lambert. Mind you, so was Pixie Lott

All in all, with all due respect to the guy and anyone who has similar issues to those claimed, it all just seems to be a very convenient excuse there to hand whenever the guy makes a major faux pas.

I think that James is good, but not very good, and I don't believe that he has what it takes to become a recording artists. That said, he can definitely sing and he could have a career in musical theatre.

I don't understand why he should be excused of anything though, because he hasn't done anything majorly wrong.

You know, that would be ironic if Thia did choose Circle Of Life, especially when Jennifer Hudson sang it in Top 9 week, which was Elton John week. I believe she was the top vote-getter that week..I say ironic, because Jennifer also sang Heat Wave Top 10 Motown Week, and ended up in the B2.

It would be too coincidental if that happens this week

LOL if Paul does do Crocodile Rock. I'm chuckling just thinking about his dance moves


But Rebecca Ferguson sang it on XF, as Chi said.

Don't Go Breaking My Heart would be a good choice for the group song.

The entertainment potential is huge

I remember Rebecca's performance and it was one of her best but I have to agree with ibeca that the lyrics are ridiculous for a woman to perform, unless they are trying to come out subtly.

I agree in that regard. I was surprised that Rebecca chose to sing it. Personally, I'd rather it be left untouched by anyone on Idol and XF. I

I know what you mean, my dad's never going to win The X Factor, but there are always ways to improve, even if it's by adjusting the type of songs you sing, etc.

Oops, must have been wrong about the ages of previous Idol winners, but I don#t actually expect James to win. I ws just saying I don't think his age should stop him.

Although it should be, a great voice isn't always necessary in order to have a successful chart career. Look at Miley, Britney etc, obviously that's not the style Hames is going for, but plenty of rock vocalists aren't flawless singers. James probably does need to adjust his style a bit in order to achieve the best results. I'm not sure who I'd consider the best vocalist in the competiition this year, but I'd rank Paul and Haley as the weakest, Paul for his tone and Haley because she doesn't seem to know how to andle her voice, not referring to song choice here lol.

What I meant about comparing himself to dead people being harmless is that James wouldn't b putting himself at risk of a high profile feud with anyone he'd compared unfavourably to himself, even comparing himself favourably to a living artist such as Jon Bon Jovi would be less risky than rating himself over the likes of Jacob, Stefano, Casey....who he's having to live with and compete against.

I don't think James will be going anywhere just yet, but I think Scotty, Pia and Lauren have the best chances of winning at the moment.

I don't think James's condition prevents him from criticising any of the other contestants. He just hasn't yet, as far as we know. Also, we don't know that his girlfriend/fiancee doesn't have issues of her own. They seem happy together and with their baby though.

One of my friends has Asperger's and made a cpomment on Facebook the other day that my boyfriend who also has Asperger's is a bad influence on me, and I went absolutely mental, but my parents and her mum have managed to convince me that it was down to her condition. She's the sort of person who I could imagine bigging herself up after a performance she was happy with, but beating herself up if she thought she'd had a bad night. I'm such a perfectionist, I'd probably beat myself up every time, even though I know I can sing lol.

Leona is a good singer, but I think Pia's voice has more clarity and power, she just needs a bit more work. Stacey showed more personality than either Pia or Leona, but Joe had an amazing voice and Olly's gone on to be very successful, so it's hardly surprising she didn't win. As for Rebecca, she also had severe tuning issues, and I wouldn't have bothered putting her in the finals to be honest.

I absolutely adore Jordin, she has a few pop-rocky songs on her albums which she manages really well. Living On A Prayer wasn't her finest hour, but it is a massively hard song to sing. With the right rock song, I'm sure she'd be fine. She had a mature way of handling herself throughout the show, she was fun and girly, but definitely not childish. I don't see why she couldn't record a song with Adam if they wrote the right kind of song - they both have amazing voices. Pixie's a good songwriter, if she writes her own songs lol, but I can't see a duet between her and Adam working so well lol!

Also, using James's condition as an excuse is only as bad as using, for example, Thia's age, or Paul's throat infection, as an excuse for a dodgy performance. None of the Idols are perfect, hence why the choice between them isn't clear cut

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James: Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting

Lauren: Grey Seal

Paul: Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word

Thia: Can You Feel the Love Tonight

Stefano: Something About the Way You Look Tonight

Haley: Bennie and the Jets

Jacob: Circle of life

Pia: I Don't Wanna Go on with You Like That

Scotty: Roy Rogers

Naima: The Bitch Is Back

Casey: Rocketman (blues/Jazzy version with dbl bass)

I forgot to add, regarding Casey doing Rocketman ...
I love the Jamie Cullum's version he did, and I think if Casey did a similar version with the dbl bass it would be the performance of the night.

Jamie Cullum Version