The way Jahmene sang the first half of I Look To You, as any fellow Whitney fan out there would know, was a carbon copy of Whitney's album version. She is his hero; he developed his voice singing along to her records. The last half, obviously affected by his emotions, was weak and at times untidy. At Last was a well-executed but extremely safe repeat of his audition. It would have stolen the show and possibly won a Final if we'd never heard him do it before, but it was just a CD2 'remix' with less impact.
Other than I Look To You's dedication, I didn't see much bravery on Jahmene's part, even if that's how it was presented. And as per usual, he stood rooted to the stage, so not taking any risks there either. I don't want him to make it to the Final or win based on sympathy, there's been enough of that this series with Maloney. He has bags of potential, but he's has had few 'moments' this series, mainly because he blows it with oversinging. He appears to have little by way of natural interpretative skills, and is good when copying someone else, as if singing along to an iPod playing, but when he freestyles it's always hit & miss. When Nicole explains that he always does something unique, and it's all about what he's feeling at the time, this can also suggest that he is undisciplined and effectively unrehearsed, and he simply doesn't have the vocal control or interpretative abilities to carry that off reliably on live television.
James on the other hand was extremely bold. Two big hairy balls were on display tonight. Both his songs were in different genres to what he has previously performed, and neither featured his comforting crutch of a guitar. This guy can never be accused of playing it safe, and in every song he tackles he does something different to the original, he does not impersonate, and through that and his interpretative skills he displays a level of artistry which the other three put together cannot equal. Admittedly U2's One did seem a little lacklustre by his standards, at least the first third of it, it's not their most dynamic song and he doesn't have Bono's growling stadium rocker's voice.
The Power Of Love worked much better and was a satisfying update to a classic power ballad. Not sure, even with James as my favourite throughout, if I'd agree with Gary that it was 'the performance of the series' - James has several other nominations for that title, but it was still stunning in many ways. Possibly, along with describing him as a 'northern star' and performing one of the last truly big scouse hits (one which has been re-released several times over), it was a crafty attempt to steal some of Maloney's votes too.
So for me, even though neither singer delivered their series best, the winner between the two gladiators was James. Always interesting, always brave, and artistry over sympathy any day.
.
