Week 7: Nasty Nancy in phone frenzy
This week, the producers of the show have obviously had a meeting and decided that things need to get nasty. Call me cynical, but I think because of more phone vote scandals this week, the beeb are not making much from folks calling in. I think the days of viewers ringing up to vote in these shows and hearing the engaged tone are over. Therefore, the format has been changed slightly, giving a much tougher stance, in order to get people phoning, desperate to save Andrew’s victims!
Why else would they ask each Nancy who they thought should go home? The results were interesting though, as each girl cringed as they watched one of the others slate them!
But the Lord then undoes his work later on in the show when he should have really criticised Jessie, but he backed away. Let’s look at the singers and the songs:
Jessie sang “Fighter” and it was awful. Her diction was dodgy, the performance was really shouty and she came across as really cocky. As for her posture, it now resembles an Orang-a-Tang. The panelists all agreed, except Barry and The Lord. There were ridiculous claims made that she could take the role with an Irish accent. John Barrowman looked gob-smacked. I don’t think this is a happy camp, this time around.
Niamh delivered Cyndi Lauper’s “True Colors” and showed hers. She is a one-trick-pony and cannot belt numbers out on a nightly basis. She is sweet but has nothing else going on, beyond that. Andrew hinted that she will be a huge artist- with a glint in his eye. But she is just not Nancy. She should have gone after her awful rendition of “Valerie” the other week.
Ashley was stitched up this week, royally. Footage of her being sweet with her young students would have been a vote winner. But this was juxtaposed with some diva shots of her being an awful back seat driver. She sang “Say A Little Prayer.” It was a bit in the style of a lounge singer, but she is starting to act, as to me, she looked like she meant the words. Barry said she looked like she was “loitering” in front of the audience and Andrew turned into Simon Cowell (unconvincingly) by saying: “You sang the lines, ‘I run for the bus’ and that’s what you should take.” I hope viewers vote for Ashley just to wind up Lloyd Webber as this rude comment was uncalled for and clearly aimed at getting her off the show.
Samantha sang the Destiny’s Child hit, “Survivor” and although she is usually at home with pop music, she was out of tune tonight. Her head was bobbing up and down like an apple in a bowl of water on Halloween. She also shouted her way through most of the lyrics and crouched down like she was caught short in a motorway lay-by! Yet the panel loved it! Is this an attempt to get people ringing in? Of course it is!
Jodie over-acted a treat with her version of “Some People.” Her face was etched with desperation and the song stretched her vocally. The Panel loved it though, apart from the Lord who ends up looking petulant when required to be nastier! But he saved some of his faux rude comments for the next contestant, in order for her to end up in the bottom two with Ashley, methinks!
Rachel sang “You’ve Got A Friend” with sincerity. She truly can project a song and invest emotion and this was certainly better than last week. She did not blow me away but she is still cut above the young ‘uns! The Panel gave her mixed comments. Barrowman liked it, DVO was not sure and Barry thought she would make a good understudy. The Lord had a go at her saying that there was no emotion and then bit her head off. The plan here is to get rid of Ashley over Rachel, but the Lord wants Jessie to win. The next element of the show though showed Andrew that this decision would be a West End disaster!
To keep in the vein of this new nastier Nancy show, the girls were put into trios. Jessie, Niamh and Sam murdered the song “Candyman.” Jessie looked like she was on strings as she cowered across the stage. The other two were just ok with Samantha coming out on top. This left the older girls with an advantage and they proved to be oldies but goodies with a feisty, experienced version of “Man, I Feel Like A Woman.” The Lord then turned nice (see, he cannot carry it off as he would have had to have criticised Jessie) and said he could not choose between the two.
I think Jessie and Rachel may end up coming bottom tomorrow. Jessie is the Lord’s favourite however bad she is, so whatever happens, tomorrow’s results show will be an interesting one.
May 10th, 2008 at 9:02 pm
I have to say the show did feel a bit ‘nastier’ this week and so much more intense than previous weeks. From the opening footage we learn that there is clearly friction between Samantha and Rachel-as each named each other the worst Nancy, when its clear that neither of them are…. And as for some of the Lord’s comments they were rude and out of character!
Jessie-Oh dear! What an absolute disaster-cocky, out of tune, shouty. In fact it was a car crash;pure and simple. She looked awful, she danced awfully, her diction was appalling! There was absolutely nothing good about this performance and her Irishness is overpowering-Niamh and Ashley come from other parts of the UK, but they are not defined by their accents, whereas Jessie has too strong an accent.
Niamh-Apart from one vocal slip-up this was a sterling vocal performance and I enjoyed it, but is she really Nancy?? I don’t know-maybe she is, but I can’t see it. Personally I would rather listen to her than some of the others-but she is not Nancy.
Ashley-I thought this was not a good song choice, but she did it really, really well and certainly much better than Jessie. There was absolutely no justification for the Lord’s comments and they were downright rude. To me she is the best potential Nancy in the contest-not the best singer-but the best Nancy. I voted for her.
Samantha-Thought she was on top form tonight-vocally superb and a brilliant all round performance.
Jodie-Bored, bored, bored. It was boring! She sung it averagely and made a great Alicia Keys song dull-thats a real testament to her talent. She is cabaret, she would not make a good Nancy and I’m sick of her.
Rachel-After initial brilliance how the mighty have fallen-this was bland with a capital b, an absolutely average performance of a bad song…. She could even be in the bottom two again!
For me the worst two tonight were Jodie and Jessie, however if I had to predict a bottom two I would go for Rachel and Niamh and who knows who Andrew would pick after his comments tonight, I would reckon upon Niamh being sent home. I think Ashley should be safe after those disgraceful comments!
May 10th, 2008 at 9:50 pm
I mostly agree with the comments above. I was very surprised when ALW said Nancy could be Irish. I thought that was rubbish and JB looked amazed–as well he might! It is obvious that ALW favors Jessie, but I think she was dreadful tonite. I couldn’t understand anything in her song and that was not because I am German as I have lived away from home since I was 18.
Niamh is NOT Nancy. She is O.K. but I cannot imagine her playing Nancy. Bill Sykes would have killed her with one push–that is–if she had survived infancy—. I don’t care much for Rachel but I thought she was good tonite and I think she could play Nancy.
Ashley is much better that ALW’s rude comments would suggest. From the start he has made it plain he doesn’t like her. When she performs he sits and scowls and tonite he was so rude it made me wonder why the panel didn’t just throttle him on the spot—-that would make such GREAT TV now I think about it and the viewing figures would be enormous!!
Samantha was not so good tonite I think. However, it may have been the song rather than her. She is overall very promising. Jodie has had some boring songs to sing the last two weeks, but she can act them and I think could play Nancy, although she isn’t my favorite for the role.
I hope the general public get rid of Jessie as I am getting sick of her and tonite she was so big headed. We have had everything from her now–tears, moans and now total self-centered -ness. Maybe she isn’t Nancy but she can certainly act as she has acted a different person each week so far.
I have a feeling though that Jessie will get through this round. If she is in the bottom two ALW will save her anyhow.
May 11th, 2008 at 11:46 am
I have to agree with most of the above. I had to watch the show on tape as I was out, so couldn’t vote last night. Up till now I’ve voted for Jessie but didn’t like last night’s song one bit. However, I don’t know that it was entirely her fault; it was a dreadful thing to give her - imo not a song at all just an appalling racket with no tune! I doubt any of the others could have done it, to be honest. I tend to think that if she’s up against anybody but Rachel in a sing-off then ALW will save her. I thought his comment to Ashley was totally uncalled-for; I think they’d all been told to be more controversial tonight. I’m not a Rachel fan particularly; thought she was OK. Niamh is not Nancy in a million years and Samantha had an awful song. Jodie isn’t Nancy for me either. If I could have voted, just on last night’s performances, then I suppose I might have chosen Ashley. Looking forward to tonight!
May 13th, 2008 at 2:06 am
Good point Leafy! Fighter was a disaster (for any Nancy). I feel I must correct a small but important point. On Jessie, it is said in a comment above: “…her Irishness is overpowering-Niamh and Ashley come from other parts of the UK, but they are not defined by their accents, whereas Jessie has too strong an accent.” “Other parts of the UK”? I hope kingathon27 is not suggesting that Jessie is from part of the UK? I am moved to address what I hope is a simple typo. I must comment as I recently met a lovely couple from England who genuinely believed Ireland was in the UK! Bizarre stuff! Anyway, if you genuinely listen to Jessie’s accent you will notice that the Irish accent does a far better job at pronouncing letters than many English accents. The letter R for example…it is in fact correctly pronounced R and not ‘awe’ or ‘awh’. Just because you are not accustomed to an accent, this does not make it ‘overpowering’. Even if accents are to be considered overpowering, surely Cockney is the most overpowering of all?