After the rigours of the Bootcamp, the remaining contestants in the X Factor Malta now must face the gruelling Chair Challenge. This week, the Girls category was first to face the chairs of fate. There were 13 acts in this category, but only six seats. Who got a position? Read on to find out!
The first successful contestant was Marija Bellia. She performed Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance”… with a twist. As well as accompanying herself on acoustic guitar, Marija also livened things up by throwing in a rap verse. The audience were impressed and gave Marija a standing ovation — and Girls category judge Ira Losco was impressed so Marija got herself a seat.
The next successful act was Karin Duff. She found herself in the same place last year, where she also successfully made it to Judges Houses. This year Karin delivered a version of Ariana Grande’s “Dangerous Woman”. The judges liked what they heard, with Ray reckoning it was “one of the best performances of this evening”. Ira gave Karin a seat.
Next was Malta Eurovision Song Contest 2018 finalist Jasmine Abela. She also took on an Ariana Grande song, delivering the saucy “Side to Side”. Jasmine confidently demonstrated her strong vocal chops, which prompted Ira to exclaim “You have the pipes”. The performance was enough to earn Jasmine a seat.
The next artist to get a seat was Malta’s Junior Eurovision star Destiny Chukunyere. While Destiny is perhaps most comfortable tackling soul classics, this time she chose a modern track — Mabel’s “Don’t Call Me Up”. Destiny showed she could handle a contemporary pop track and again impressed the judges with her vocal power. Judge Ira gave Destiny a seat.
Next up was Justine Shorfid, who has taken out her braids seen in earlier episodes. She performed Rihanna’s “Man Down”, a song which let her show off both her vocals and her performance skills. Judge Alex was impressed, saying “This is exactly what X Factor needs”. Ira was impressed as well and gave Justine a seat.Along with Destiny, Justine looks like one of the strongest performers in the category.
The sixth and final Girl who’ll be heading to Judges Houses was Gail Attard. She made it to the Chair Challenge last year but was eliminated. This time she had better luck, giving an emotive performance of Hozier’s “Take Me to Church”.
Commiserations go to the seven unsuccessful acts, Charisse Vassallo, Danika Catuajar, Jelena Attard, Julia Camilleri, Kylie Meilak, Lisa Marie Tabone and Maria Ellul. If the X Factor Malta has shown, not making it out of the Chair Challenge isn’t the end.
Next month Destiny, Gail, Jasmine, Justine, Karin and Marija will battle it out at the Judges Houses round, hoping for one of the few places in the live shows. And one of them could end up being the artist Malta sends to Eurovision 2020.
Next Sunday Howard Keith Debono’s Groups category will be the next lot to fight for those six chairs.
What do you think of the final six Girls? Could Malta’s act for Rotterdam be in this category? Tell us your thoughts below!
Jasmine is just slaying Destiny too so yeah that’s the top two this year agqgqgq
None of them has made that Wow impression to the public, judges & viewers that Michela did last year during the chair challenge.
I don’t think a girl will win this year.
Destiny is barreling through this like Bullet Bill in Mario Kart. Shes gonna Rybak-Loreen-Sobral her way through at this rate.
Not at ESC probably, but given her talent and local status she’ll easily go to Rotterdam
That’s more what I meant. Unless she gets a better than average power ballad, I don’t know how she’d actually do at Eurovision, but she may have XFM in the bag.
For a moment, I misread “XFM” in your post and thought you’re referring to a particular radio station. 😀