We’re only two weeks into the live shows of the X Factor Malta and already things are getting dramatic. Tonight, one of the big favourites from last week was the first to be eliminated, while other acts showed there’s some tough competition for that ticket to Rotterdam.
This week’s song theme was Guilty Pleasures — which is the X Factor‘s way of saying “pop classics”. The ten remaining contestants gave their interpretation of hit songs from the past four decades, hoping to impress both the judges and viewers.
There was no group performance this week, with the contestants dedicating all their efforts to their own songs. We don’t have the space to go over all ten performances of the evening, but we will look at one stand-out performance from each category.
X Factor Malta – Second live show
Last week all three acts in the Overs category were in the bottom three, with Celine the lucky one who survived the sing-off. This week she had to lift her game — and that she did. Celine tackled the Eurythmics synthpop classic “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)”. It’s not the kind of music that Celine normally performs, but she brought an intriguing edge to the performance, with her soulful growl bringing warmth to the clean synth sounds.
At the age of 16, Girls category singer Justine Shorfid is the youngest contestant in the show, but she has one of the most mature voices. This week Justine performed Tones and I’s recent international hit “Dance Monkey”. She was joined by the X Factor Malta dancers, but Justine didn’t need the dancers to stand out. We reckon this was Justine’s best vocal performance yet.
As much as Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up” is a meme, it’s also a pop classic. In the Boys category, Kyle Cutajar tackled the 1980s tune. Kyle has a musical-theatre quality to his voice, and a song like this is a good choice. He gave a strong, assured performance.
In the Groups category, Julia and Samira of Bloodline delivered another solid performance. Toning down their quirky styling (which, hilariously, was still too quirky as far as Judge Alex was concerned) the duo performed a stripped-down version of Alphaville’s pop classic “Forever Young”. The pair again brought their vocal harmony A-game and delivered a moving performance.
The eliminations
But as always, two acts had to go home. And this week brought a shocking surprise. First to go — the act with the fewest votes in the audience televote — was 2018 national finalist and predicted X Factor finalist Jasmine Abela.
It’s a huge change of fortune from last week when her performance of “Crazy in Love” became the most popular X Factor Malta video of the week – and was even the No.1 trending video in Malta. But without her week one “wall of sex” dance troupe, Jasmine looked alone and didn’t command the stage with her performance of Madonna’s “Material Girl”.
In the bottom two was the duo Yazmin & James and singer-songwriter Dav. Jr. Both acts had a lot of potential coming into the contest, but both had been let down by lacklustre performances. After the sing-off, the judges went to Deadlock, making Dav. Jr the next to go with the next lowest audience vote.
X Factor Malta – Live show 2 performances
- F.A.I.T.H – “Wannabe”
- Celine – “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)”
- Jasmine Abela – “Material Girl” (ELIMINATED)
- Dav. Jr – “Umbrella” (ELIMINATED)
- Justine Shorfid – “Dance Monkey”
- Bloodline – “Forever Young”
- Yazmin & James – “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life”
- Kyle Cutajar – “Never Gonna Give You Up”
- Destiny – “I Will Survive”
- Karl Schembri – “I’ll Fly with You”
- Yazmin & James vs Dav. Jr – Sing-off
The X Factor Malta continues next Sunday, with the third live show, including more performances and more eliminations.
What do you think? Which performances did you like? Are you happy with this week’s eliminations? Tell us in the comment section below!
Justine Shorfid is my fave:)
Bloodline are the best , in my opinion.
Destiny had a huge chance to show a different side of her talent but she played it safe in singing anotjer soul filled song…yes its a pop soul song but dang…
Seems like Destiny is trying to channel her inner Mary Byrne (UK X-Factor)!
CELINE is safe again i’m so happy <3
Was expecting Jasmine to go further. Just goes to show that you can’t take results for granted. Destiny may be going home next week even.