Last night's episode of The X Factor NZ was a celebration of Americana with all acts singing songs from the land of the free and the home of the brave.
Moorhouse, or 'The Hotdogs' as Dominic Bowden called them, left the stage to dance with people in the studio mosh pit. Singing Usher's 'OMG', the boys delivered what was the performance of the night for me.
High energy and perfect for the pop market, Moorhouse are emerging as real contenders for the final.
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Jackie Thomas covered Britney Spears' 'Toxic' but her performance in my opinion means she will be lucky to survive tonight's vote. It was a very odd rock/acoustic version of the hit song.
Mel Blatt tauntingly said she got the impression Thomas was singing to someone.
"I know Tom can smell a bit toxic sometimes," Blatt said, referring to Thomas' rumoured relationship with eliminated contestant Tom Batchelor.
Whenua Patuwai had a taxi waiting for him when he delivered what Blatt called his "most comfortable performance" singing 'Empire State of Mind Part II'
His performance was flawless, but the message again from the judges was that although he sounds amazing he is still just a voice.
"The set was cheese and you just haven't progressed" Blatt said.
Cassie Henderson sang the perfect song for her target audience. 'Love Story' by Taylor Swift was well received by the judges.
Blatt however said she would never buy it herself, "although I'm not a 14-year -old girl".
Daniel Bedingfield said something but it lasted about 3 seconds and sounded a bit like a mumble so who knows what it was.
Now to a performance that may make or break X Factor for one of the acts.
I had high hopes for GAP5's Destiny's Child medley but again they fell short.
Ruby Frost said it felt a bit like karaoke. And not very good karaoke at that with one of the girls forgetting the words.
Stan Walker shared some words of wisdom: "You should never look like you've forgotten the words. I forget my words all the time and you've got to have a poker face. Fake it 'til you make it!"
The show wrapped up with Benny Tipene covering the theme song from TV show The O.C.
The acoustic version of Phantom Planet's 'California' suited Tipene's style perfectly and I personally loved it.
The judges disagreed however, and really went to town.
"That was the weakest of the night," Walker said.
"You're having problems connecting," Bedingfield added.
Then Blatt gave us the quote of the night: "The most exciting thing about that performance was your socks."
Tonight at 8pm we will find out if those socks will survive for another week, or if they will be hung out to dry.
3 News
source: newshub archive
