Double the action, double the drama.
Last night's semi-final of The X Factor NZ had the remaining four acts perform twice each, with the themes 'Love and Heartbreak' and 'Best of Rock'.
- VIDEO: Episode 25 On Demand
- READ MORE: How to get tickets to live shows
Jackie Thomas was first up and covered 'Angel' by Sarah McLaughlin.
Although Daniel Bedingfield was in tears, the other three judges weren't too excited by the performance. Mel Blatt told Thomas she needed to take risks and Thomas agreed.
"I need to grow some balls" she said.
Benny Tipene provided one of the highlights of the night when he hit the stage with his emotional self-penned track 'Boxes'. Singing his own material opened up an entirely new side of him.
Blatt likened her opinion on Tipene to a Jennifer Aniston romantic comedy.
"I fell in love with you, then we hit a rough patch and things were messy, then I fell in love with you all over again," she gushed.
Moorhouse covered 'When I Was Your Man' by Bruno Mars with band member Rory McKenna on the piano – proving this act isn't just a bunch of pretty faces.
Stan Walker said the performance was good even though there were a few "Maori notes" from Marley Wilcox-Nanai.
By this stage Bedingfield was already on a different planet and rather than judge Moorhouse he continued to sing along to Tipene's performance of 'Boxes'.
But Whenua Patuai definitely got Bedingfield's attention when he bravely covered the song 'If You're Not The One', a song released by Bedingfield himself.
He was expectedly harsh in his feedback.
"Thank you for singing my song. You sung it out of tune" he said.
Blatt weighed in too, saying this weekend would be Patuai's last on the show.
The mood lifted during the second half of the show, which was all about rock!
Brock Ashby was the highlight of Moorhouse's performance.
He played an '80s electric guitar solo during the band's cover of the Kings of Leon's 'Use Somebody'.
Although I thought the performance was one of their best, all of the judges agreed that Moorhouse struggled with the rock genre.
Patuai covered Janis Joplin's 'Piece of My Heart', even though he had never heard of the singer until Ruby Frost played the song to him.
This performance got by far the biggest live studio audience response I've ever witnessed, and I've been at all the live shows.
There were people screaming, cheering, clapping and stomping. So much so that I struggled to hear what the judges had to say.
I did catch a "You smashed it!" from Ruby Frost though.
Thomas returned to the stage wearing what Stan Walker referred to as "a furry chicken" for her cover of 'Wonderwall' by Oasis.
Again, the rock genre didn't fit which does have me wondering why this theme was chosen in the first place.
The final act of the night was Tipene.
Blatt said he "smashed the bajeebers" out of his cover of Guns N' Roses' 'Sweet Child of Mine'.
Bedingfield didn't even know where the show was up to, having to ask if it was the grand final or the semi final of the show while congratulating Tipene on getting this far.
Tonight we find out which three acts will be heading to the grand final weekend. Out of this four, it's anyone's guess.
Time to get some rescue remedy and prepare for a massive night of television!
3 News
source: newshub archive
