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Articles from Talented Young People Reviews

X-Factor ‘Semi Finals’ (08/12/07) -Review 2007-12-15 05:18:32 December 8th saw the broadcast for the Semi Final of The X Factor season 4. Once again, the remaining acts were to sing two songs each, but this time it was to secure a place in the grand final. And this time, the acts faced a master class with swing artist Michael Bublé – Leon’s idol (!). Who would reach the last stage, and who would fall at this stage out of the remaining four contestants? First up came Niki, singing the Fleetwood Mac song “Songbird”, though coming more accustomed towards Eva Cassidy’s cover just like last week. Accompanied by an acoustic guitar performer, she focused everything on just showing her voice to the audience. While she sung well, the song choice wasn’t fully welcomed. Sharon explained her reasoning to her – “Beautiful song but too laid back, but you sang it well.” Dannii felt the same way, additionally stating the difficulty to open the show but she showed more praise to the point of referring to Niki as the show’s songbird. Simon ju ...

X-Factor ‘Live Show 7’ (01/12/07) -Review 2007-12-08 06:10:28 On December 1st, the seventh live show for the fourth season of the X Factor took place. The remaining five acts were to perform what can be seen as the “Best of British” – two songs each. The public vote counted more than ever as the artist with the least amount of votes was left to go home. And to cap it off, Duran Duran were the guest stars – anyone remember the episode of the Xtra Factor before the live shows begun, with Niki being really excited at the prospect of seeing lead singer Simon le Bon in person? Odds are tonight would be a case of déjà vu! Opening the show was Rhydian singing Queen’s “Somebody to Love”, doing much of his rendition atop a grand piano. Louis was convinced that he’ll reach the final, adding – “Freddie Mercury would have loved that performance, ‘cause it was a great, passionate, powerful performance.” Sharon thought on the same lines before remarking on Brian Friedman’s choreography – “What happened to you with those dancers ...

X-Factor ‘Live Show 6’ (24/11/07) -Review 2007-12-01 13:58:39 On November 25th, the sixth X Factor live show took place and the theme for that was love songs, with Westlife being the guest act. The remaining six acts took to the stage in a series of low-to-mid-tempo numbers in a bid to remain in the competition. The first person that came to sing was Beverley with a rendition of Badfinger’s “Without You”, with a pianist on stage to carry her vocal support throughout the song. I admit, I was worried for her but I thought she performed it a lot better than I thought she would. The judges equally stated appraisal for her – Sharon stated that she sung one of the greatest love songs written and loved it, and Dannii was taken back by surprise stating that she struggled during the dress rehersal and felt she “got in the zone” again in the real one. Simon did have concerns over the song and her nerves on wanting to get into the top 5, but stated his thoughts – “even though it wasn’t perfect, you made it special and I believed everythin ...

X-Factor ‘Live Show 5’ (17/11/07) -Review 2007-11-24 13:35:13 November 17th saw the fifth of the X Factor live shows, with the theme being Disco. All remaining seven acts were to ride a Saturday night groove train in their attempts to impress the audience and viewing public with their performances and – hopefully – equally score some positive feedback from “Cowell and the Gang”. First came Leon singing Dan Hartman’s “Relight My Fire”, complete with several dancing females around him as he showcased his vocals. His performance was well received from the audience, and even Louis was taken by surprise, seeing it as his best performance so far - though he thought he couldn’t compare to Rhydian in the competition, in which Leon thought he was in the same league in. Sharon, who was equally as optimistic over his performance, thought otherwise – “You’ve got to have likeability… you’ve got to have charisma… and all the best things come in little packages and you’re all little and lovely!” Simon, in spite of thinking that ...

X-Factor ‘Live Show 4’ (10/11/07) -Review 2007-11-13 17:46:08 November 10th was when the fourth of the X Factor Season 4 live shows took place. The remaining eight contestants were challenged to perform songs made recognisable in the 21st Century, so that meant a wide range of modern era hits were to be performed on the night. Niki, one of the two females representing Louis’ Over 25s, started the show by performing Kelly Clarkson’s “Because of You” wearing a black number that tried just as much to get her into present day as the song. Sharon found herself struggling to push her positive “British belter” commentary over a reactive audience, with even Simon agreeing with her later. However, Dannii begged to differ due to the song choice – “I didn’t think it was right for you because I didn’t believe that you loved the song. A few bits were out of sync, a few bits were sharp and flat… it wasn’t your best performance.” Simon on the other hand loved how Niki zeroed in on her, thus stating that he was “more important to (he ...

Italian Job - Computer Game 2007-11-13 14:56:30 What is it? In 1969 Peter Collinson’s original “The Italian job” movie was thrust onto the big screens. It became an instant classic and to this day is an hilarious gag, that represents everything we love about British comedy. With the video-games industry a fast growing market, it seemed inevitable that our well liked car chasing motion picture would have its very own tie-in video game. Sure enough, thanks to SCI , The Italian Job PC game came into existence. Everyone’s favorite film redefined through 16 trivial car racing missions. It takes you anywhere from the red bus thronged streets of London to the cramped suburbs and busy highways of Turin. The story line, narrated by fake British voice actors, loosely follows the film plot. This has little bearing on the player whose missions exclusively involve driving to a location within a certain time limit. Certainly no attempt has been made to include humor or entertainment into the frequent mini cut-scenes. Dri ...

X-Factor ‘Live Show 3’ (03/11/07) -Review 2007-11-06 15:24:25 On November 3rd, the third X Factor Season 4 live show took place and it was up to the remaining ten contestants to deliver another set of live performances in front of the judges… or rather, nine? “Some viewers might be aware this week, serious allegations about aggressive behaviour came to light regarding one of our contestants, Emily Nakanda”, explained presenter Dermot O’ Leary in a pre-recorded clip before the pre-show footage began. “The producers have carried out a thorough investigation in conjunction with Emily’s family and this has resulted in Emily withdrawing from The X Factor. For the remaining nine acts, the competition continues.” And what a competition it turned out to be – for tonight, the acts were expected to perform with a 27-piece live orchestra in a Big Band themed night. But unlike last year’s Big Band theme when pop standards were mainly the order of the day, the acts ended up singing songs in the style of Big Band for most of the time. Shame ...

X-Factor ‘Live Show 2’ (27/10/07) -Review 2007-11-03 05:54:48 On October 27th, the second of the X Factor live shows occurred; the theme was ‘Songs from the Silver Screen’ and all eleven contestants not only had performances to learn but also they had a masterclass with that week’s guest star – Celine Dion. Opening the show was Hope doing a flirtatious rendition of “Lady Marmalade” from Moulin Rouge. I’m probably speaking for myself here but I didn’t find it as impressive as last week’s performance – the solos were rough all over the place, and the choral parts didn’t gel as much as I thought they did before. Oddly enough, the judges gave them unanimous praise, with Louis claiming that they look as if they were “doing it for years”, Sharon claiming that the Pussycat Dolls should move over, Dannii believing the audience reaction would say everything about their performance and Simon thinking they were the “best group (they’ve) ever had on (the show)”. Sanity was soon restored with Leon coming to the fore next, sin ...

X-Factor ‘Live Show 1’ (20/10/07) -Review 2007-10-26 18:04:59 The first Live Show for Season 4 of the X Factor took place on October 20th, with the theme being “Number Ones”. Over the past few weeks we saw 200,000 contestants gradually weeded down to just the final twelve, all of which were put to the test to sing live on television for the chance to gain a million pound record contract. Going onto the performances for tonight, Kimberley came first with a rendition of “It’s Raining Men” that made the judges generally agree that she brought the fun factor. Simon added that it was “karaoke on a big budget”, further stating: “It was a bit shrieky, the dancers struggled in the middle, but it was fun.” Andy’s “I Don’t Want To Talk About It” received appraisal in general, with Simon seeing him as a “singing puppy” in addition to his generally good comments. Mentor Dannii was also happy with his performance, stating that she had “so much more to show” from him. Then came Futureproof with “She’s The One”, and as mu ...

X-Factor ‘The Final Selection’ (06/10/07) -Review 2007-10-13 08:30:05 Last week saw two episodes of the X Factor, both concerning the choice of the final twelve acts for the live show stages. And with the mentors decided on and the batch of 24 to choose from, the Judges took them to different locations around the world. All of the acts were to perform a song that the judges felt best suited them, in a bid to get further. First we saw Dannii take the six remaining Boys to Ibiza, where they all performed for her and for Terry Ronald, who has worked on some of Dannii’s hit singles as well as those for Girls Aloud and Westlife. The voice tones for both Leon and Andy were well welcomed by her, though she ended up concerned over his nerves when they sung in front of her individually. Charlie’s performance left Dannii with mixed reactions: “There was a couple of scary notes… this lad could be a star - there’s a few question marks there, but it’s something.” Rhydian was questioned over his pompous personality by Terry, however Dannii ended up stati ...