As the 15th series of The X Factor UK continues, Irish Eurovision singer Brendan Murray has narrowly escaped elimination. The “Dying to Try” singer found himself in the bottom three this week, but missed out on being one of the two eliminated acts by winning the Deadlock vote.
The action started on Saturday night’s performance show. Brendan performed a dramatic orchestral version of Cher’s hit “Believe”.
The judges reaction was mixed. Ayda Field pulled no punches when she said, “I’ve never felt depressed after a Cher song and I kind of did just now.” Robbie Williams praised Brendan’s vocals, but said his stage presence wasn’t strong enough.
Simon Cowell said the performance was better than last week, but said Brendan should have more say in the staging. Mentor Louis Tomlinson empathised with Brendan receiving negative comments and praised his act.
The audience voted overnight and the contestants’ fate was revealed on Sunday’s results show. 1990s eurodance diva Janice Robinson had the lowest number of votes and was immediately eliminated from the show.
The other acts in the bottom were revealed to be the 15-person singing group LMA Choir and Brendan Murray. It came down to the sing-off performance, where Brendan performed Radiohead’s “High and Dry”.
The judges continued to be divided. Robbie and Simon voted for Brendan to be eliminated, while Louis and Ayda voted to eliminate LMA choir.
The tie meant it came down to Deadlock, where the votes results of the public vote decided the winner. In the end it was Brendan who had the advantage. While the choir was sent home, Brendan will survive another week. He still has plenty of fans who were relieved to see him beat the elimination.
But being in the bottom three is not necessarily a bad thing. In 2016, Saara Aalto faced elimination three times. She then went on to come top in three shows and went on to place second in the overall show.
What do you think? Can Brendan survive the live shows? Share your thoughts below!
I would feel depressed having to look at this jury. Like, “why am I doing this to myself?”.
Louis walsh won’t be happy with this
They are definitely creating a Saara Aalto momentum here! Brendan has by far the strongest and most interesting voice, but they don’t want to put him in this favorite role every weekend, because it would be boring for the audience. So let’s face him dramatically sing-offs and after all he will win or come second! 😀
If he is the saara alto of his season, the show clearly has a problem.
Brendan – needs to push back against the persona that the show is painting him with. It’s hurting him with the televote. Switch up the staging and go big with something next week. This stage is too big, and he looks shy and demure so far. He needs some flash and pazzazz to stand out. So far all the reliance has been on the strength of his tone being the unique factor — it’s not enough. The public perception need a lot more cool factor of a contemporary artist to continue voting. He needs to watch some videos of Benjamin… Read more »
Brendan definitely has the potential to win X Factor. I think one of the best and worst things about him is that he’s such a nice guy. His performance of “High and Dry” was excellent and he deserved to stay in. Louis is letting him down in a big way. The song choices and staging haven’t worked for him. Brendan needs to be braver and he needs songs which really show off his vocals. He needs lots of big notes and something that can get people emotional. I’m hoping tonight’s result will really drive him on.
JANICE’s elimination wasn’t a surprise. But let’s face it, UNITED FIVE gave the worst performance of the night and seeing them pass through just pissed me off. Brendan, although I agree with the comments of the judges about staging and giving stronger performance deserves much better. Hopefully, this bottom three placement will wake him up and bring out the best in him. GO BRENDAN… <3
Yes spot on….they were really terrible and deserved to go. I think they are called Union Vibe, or are they ?
Brendan has a very devisive voice ….you either love it or it makes you cringe. I don’t like it myself, but because he seems like such a decent bloke, I have no problem with him progressing further.
News update…….they were bottom and went automatically…..and rightly so.