When Doves (or Michelle) Cry

More comments on the latest showcase of X Factor wannabees.

First up this week was Jenna from John O’Groats and sadly it was a disappointing start to the show, though the bloke in the pink wig singing Turning Japanese was at least entertaining, and the guy in the “Ave it??? T shirt giving his squeaky all with Teenage Dirtbag also raised a smile.

Spooky Meg’s outfit was so outlandish that you could probably use her audition as a test card. Lispy Meg gave a fair audition and though it wasn’t the sort of thing that’d blow your socks off, I think she deserved to progress to the next stage, I really couldn’t see her being as serious contender though.

Next up was18 year old cake factory worker Peter who looked as though he may burst into tears so Cry Me a River was probably an appropriate choice. Having heard him sing, I felt like crying. Why do so many people try to imitate Justin Timberlake? Some may prove more successful if they found their voice and style.

Girl duo Stiletto gave an unusual harmonic performance of Runaway, which didn’t come off. One of the girls, Becky, was given an opportunity to sing on her own. When she did, I really wouldn’t say she was anything special but she got through anyway.

Boy girl pairing Diaz (Dean and Shaz) gave us their rendition of Up Where We Belong and Dean faced stern criticism from the judges for singing in an American accent. I’m not sure that Dean’s unbuttoned shirt and hairy chest helped the cause much either. Not for the first time this series it was very seventies cabaret.

Cadice arrived with her very cute four-year-old daughter which is the sort of tactic bound to sway favour with the soft hearted British public. Cadice didn’t really need gimmicks to get through though as she had a decent enough voice and could become something special with a bit of help.

The Elvis segment could well spawn a show of it’s own. Elvis Idol would make a great Christmas show. Yes, I know Stars in Their Eyes has done it but they were good Elvises. More bad Elvis impressions, that’s what light entertainment producers should be crying out for.

Eskimo Blonde brightened things up with their version of Freak Like Me. There was nothing freaky about their performance though, a rarity in this year’s audition shows, and they sounded good, though they looked as though they were queuing for a bus so some choreography may be needed if they are to make the grade.

I really liked the group doing When Doves Cry. It’s a tough job to make an old song sound fresh but they managed it. It’s a shame producers didn’t think they merited a name check. Indeed many of the acts go uncredited. Surely on screen captioning would be useful. It’s a shame that so many peoples few seconds of fame are anonymous.

Cry baby Michelle was back from last year with her treatment of Hero and to be fair it was a very enjoyable effort. It proved a case of second time lucky and was a nice note on which to end the show.

More next week as we reach the end of the auditions.