Other than Reggie and Bollie who, with the greatest of respect, aren't really the mainstream, contemporary pop artist capable of having number 1 records that the show is intended to produce, there isn't a lot of personality on the show this year.

Above exception considered 99% of the time the extent of the choreography seems to be 'You stand in this spot and sing and the camera will move around'. It seems so bereft of personality and energy to the point where the contestants themselves actually look bored. Either they're not allowed to have or none of them do have a personality that transmit well on television. 4th Impact were given a gimmick that you might not want to call racist but it certainly could be something someone who thought 'All Japanese people look the same' would probably have come up with, which was just part of this whole bland, generic feel that we have.

They're heading into the semi-finals with a pretty bland batch of serious contestants and performances that wouldn't really raise an eyebrow if last night was week 2 of the auditions.

I disagree. RnB could definitely have a number 1 and a string of hits. Vocally the others are very strong. Louisa in particular whose performance was like a guest artist from America who had already sold millions of albums.

I agree that personality is lacking. But then some of the biggest stars lack personality

4th Impact did look alike. They were sisters. They needed to separate their identities early on.