I think a lot of what determines who gets singled out as "bad" has to do with the choice of song for a particular week rather than a particular performer's "lack of ability". I think after tonight Keisha has probably got a target on her to be the next one out, and it reminds me of when Aoife got the boot on a night when she had to do a song that had a very complicated dance routine, or when Anthony got kicked out for failing to do that ridiculous Take That song with all the falsetto that someone as useless as Craig or Ben would have ballsed up a thousand times worse than he did.

The song choice highlights how unfair this competition is sometimes, and I get suspicious that Lloyd-Weber sabotages certain contestants he doesn't want by giving them a difficult or uninspiring song. The only way to really determine who is the best is to have them all sing the same song and see who does it best, but obviously that would make for incredibly boring viewing.

Personally I believe "Get the Party Started" is a song that really doesn't show off the vocals - and on top of that it's kind of stupid and embarrassing. Keisha only had a couple of second-long moments where she really got to sing out, and the rest of the time she was in a low, uninteresting register, having to stomp up and down the stage, dancing and trying to evoke feelings of "fun" in an inherently boring tune. Meanwhile, most of the other girls got songs where they just had to walk around the stage wailing like Whitney and showing off how "vocally brilliant they are" (i.e. doing their shouty Mariah Carey impressions).

/rant. I'm just annoyed because I thought Keisha was totally fabulous last week and no one else really had to do what she did tonight. I was pissed enough when Amy got the boot last week over some of the more distressingly useless participants like Tara and Cleopatra. Urgh!

I actually thought that it was a great song choice. But she just didn't do anything with it.

It's a hard song to get right but potentially a real show stealer. Sadly, Keisha was not able to make the best of it tonight but I hope that she survives.

I agree with Aleksis - the song choices really are totally bizarre sometimes, and Anthony was royally screwed over by ALW (or whoever chooses the songs). I know we can't have everyone singing the same songs, but let's try to have a bit more of a level playing field.

Agree with these comments.

I seem to remember Rhydian's interpretation of that song made a lot of people sit up and take notice - Keisha could (and should) have done the same; sadly she just didn't cut it.

I agree about the Anthony song - it was a song designed for a group. Any song that is usually sung by a group is bound to be tricky for a solo singer. Sam was landed with a Girls Aloud song tonight which didn't do her any great favours either.

On the other hand, other contestants were given songs clearly suited to a solo performance.

As you say, not exactly a level playing field!

The original version of See the Day was sung as a solo. I didn't even know Girls Aloud had done it

Fair enough if you think this, but does this make her worthy of being singled out as "bad"? How can we know that any of the others would have done a better job of it than she did? My point is that she obviously had the most difficult job tonight, and sure, maybe this fairly mediocre song can be made into something brilliant, but just because Keisha didn't manage it doesn't mean that any of the others would have. I'm sure if you'd told Keisha to sing "Killing Me Softly" she'd have been amazing at it. It's all about balance, and there's a dire lack of it in the some of the song choices.

Alexsis, you have a point. I, too, am disappointed, because Keisha was outstanding last week. But Shirley Bassey made something of that song (as demonstrated briefly in the VT) and so it made a kind of sense to give it to Keisha, given ALW's comments about her being 'like a young Shirley Bassey' last week.

IMO, quite a few contestants got difficult or dire song choices this week, while others got songs that really suited them. I guess a lot of FMs will say it's manipulation, but it also demonstrates who can rise to the challenge. Francesca was given a song that she could have ruined (as Rachel did hers, IMO), and I thought it interesting that ALW said she hadn't given it justice in the dress rehearsal, but had done it well in the live show. She rose to the challenge. Jodie (who is still my favourite) didn't tonight.

I thought Ashley got a difficult song choice tonight. It's a great song, but so recent that I doubt we've heard any versions other than Duffy's, so Ashley will inevitably be judged against that standard.

I guess my point is that none of it is 'fair', but neither are most auditions.

I agree that it was not a great song choice at all, and I am really dissapointed for Keisha as I think it may result in her being in the bottom two, but I really hope she doesn't go, because I still think there are others weaker than her.
I dont like that song, its one of my least favourite of Pinks, and it is not really a singy song, yeah she could have gone for it Shirley Bassey style, but that would have been doing an impression and I think she tried to make it her own rather than do a predictable performance.

Fingers crossed for her though!!!

Well Fran's song will forever be identified with Queen and is notoriously difficult to sing. In fact when Graham announced that she would be singing Somebody to Love I winced (I've heard it murdered so many times) - but she pulled it off magnificently, so it can be done.

I didn't think there was anything wrong with the song choice, I just don't think she delivered...she wasn't aggressive or passionate enough, too wide-eyed and uninvolved with the lyrics.

I hope she stays in and can learn from this as she's one of my favourites. Just as long as 'passion' doesn't involve falling to your knees or kicking a chair over

I don't disagree with any of your points - but as someone pointed out, Fran's song last week, Hero, will forever be associated with Mariah Carey and as a consequence Fran needed to do something special with it. Unfortunately she didn't manage to do this and found herself in the bottom two and I fear that may happen to Keisha this week.

I would make just one other point - correct me if I'm wrong, but not only do the girls have no control over the songs they sing, but they have no influence over arrangement or interpretation either. Seems to me those who guide them have quite a lot to answer for.

I thought it unfair to show the Bassey video - it inevitably attracted comparisons and Keisha should have been allowed to perform without that added pressure.

My favourites tonight were Fran and Jessie, but BBC didn't show the Queen version of Somebody to Love, nor did they show Roberta Flack singing Killing me Softly.

Ignazio:
There's a big difference between artists like Queen and Mariah Carey and then someone like Pink. With the former, it doesn't particularly matter whether the performer doesn't live up to the original, because they'll undoubtedly be singing a brilliant song that holds a place in a lot of people's hearts no matter who's singing it. Keisha had a song by Pink - an artist who is, let's face it, nothing special whatsoever in any capacity: the lyrics weren't good, the melody wasn't inspiring and left little room for her to demonstrate her vocal capacity - she was granted very little for this performance, and I think she did well with what she was given. What she was given, however, was much more menial than what Francesca was given when they gave her a Queen song.

I didn't know it had ever been done as a solo - I only know the Girls Aloud version, so I can't really say whether Sam sang it as well as the original. IMO it works better as a group song though.

If she had really run with it then it would have been an excellent showcase for her and a nice contrast to last week, but she didn't. It's tough for them having to force themselves into different styles like that- last week she was comfortable and it showed.

It was a big hit in the mid 80s the the original was written and performed by the wonderful D C Lee. You can check it out here:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=c-8agIMQmhU

I love the original lots and I admit that I am completely biased but even so I think that Samantha was only OK tonight. She was too smiley for me and didn't really get the emotional resonance I'd expect from this song. However, overall she remains one of the stronger contenders IMO and I expect to see her get to at least the semi finals if not all the way.

Thanks for that, I checked it out - classic 80's music video if ever there was! A tad different to the Girls Aloud one

I agree Samantha wasn't as good this week as last week, but I still think it was a tricky song to perform as it's not really a 'show-off' song, especially in a shortened version for the TV show. She's still my fave

But then you could say the same about Jodie and Ashley, whom Andrew both said had wrong songs.

I'm not a huge Keisha fan - but she was compared to Bassey not Pink. I know little of Bassey or Pink (a little more of the latter) so I'm probably a bit out of my depth in making any comparison - other than to say that somehow Rhydian pulled something out of the bag.

Sod it - I'm sure I could have explained it better had I not decided to finish that bottle of red

I agree that the Pink number was a complete poison chalice...and perhaps with a completes reworking and a proper set, decent choreography etc it could have been oompa pa pa-ed.....but it would have taken herculean effort.

Shirley Basseys version is awful too.....like your boozy granny getting up at a christmas party....I suppose you could appreciate it's kitch high camp value but it most definately isn't good.

Fran was lucky in a sense because the Queen number has already been given the west end "musical" treatment.


I so agree with this point... for example can we stop having them running up and down the stairs willy nilly.

What makes Patience "ridiculous" in your opinion? The fact that Anthony couldn't reach the high notes?

Are you saying that he didn't deserve to go out because others would have performed the same song worse? The fact is that they performed the songs they were actually given better.

As for Get The Party Started, Pink has not had any problem selling the song. Rhydian managed to play around with the notes to show off his voice. Shirley Bassey has managed to make a low register arrangement interesting.

The fact is that less demanding melodies actually sort the wheat from the chaff far more than more demanding ones because you can't rely on the melody to get you through.

The problem is Keisha is not that good.

I thought Keisha was brilliant last week and she was definately one of my favourites but this week she was poor. I think it would have been a lot better if they'd worked on the arrangement of the song to allow her to show her voice off a bit, like Shirley Bassey's version does. I do actually love both versions of that song, and I do think on paper it seems like a good choice for her but something went wrong along the way. I'm hoping that she stays in the competition and get's a song better suited to her.