She’s survived being in the bottom three, but Saara Aalto wasn’t taking anything for granted as she delivered her week five performance on The X Factor UK. The Finnish diva delivered a bold performance of Girls Aloud’s “Sound of the Underground”, her choice for this week’s theme of “Girl bands vs boy bands”.
In her VT, Saara revealed that appearing on The X Factor had led to her being taking more seriously back home in Finland, with a Finnish TV crew coming out to visit her. Her quirky style was being more accepted. As Saara explained, “Finnish people see it’s okay to be different.”
On stage, Saara delivered a bold, extravagant performance of “Sound of the Underground”, with staging inspired by Japanese style.
Following on from last week’s hair transformation, Saara wore a giant, towering black wig. Her wardrobe included a pink kimono, which Saara later removed to reveal a corset top.
Girls Aloud’s 2003 debut single gave Saara opportunities to show off her vocal talents, and the judges agreed. Louis Walsh told her, “You don’t just sing, you perform, you take a risk. I want you to get a recording deal.”
Nicole Scherzinger appreciated the staging, saying, “That was outrageously bizarre. The beginning was epic. You’re bigger than that song and you did your thing on it.”
Simon Cowell also enjoyed the performance and remarked on Saara’s progress, saying, “It was fantastically nuts. The turnaround from when we first saw you is incredible.”
While Saara’s mentor Sharon Osbourne was full of praise, telling her act, “You throw yourself into it, you never complain. You come back every week fighting. I admire you so much.”
Simon also warned that the staging of Saara’s performances was perhaps a little too over-the-top, noting that she was the one performer with whom the staging team could really go crazy. But Saara wasn’t concerned, saying, “This was about going crazy!”
It was a special night for Saara, as she was also celebrating the birthday of her fiancée, Meri. Saara sent birthday greetings to her bae on Instagram, saying “Thank you for this crazy, funny family we have together!”
VOTE FOR SAARA AALTO
If you are in the UK, you can either vote by phone, text or on the X Factor app. Voting will close on Sunday during the live results show.
The bottom three acts face the Lifeline vote, where one of them will be saved by the public using the X Factor app during the allocated time. The other two compete in a sing-off, with the judges choosing which act will stay and who will go. If the judges are tied in their decision, this weekend’s public vote between the two acts will decide the result.
If you’re calling from a landline or mobile, Saara is #6. You can dial:
Landline: 090 20 50 51 06
Mobile: 6 50 51 06
What did you think of Saara’s performance? Is she too over-the-top? Or is it her style? Share your thoughts below!
Wiwi covered Charlie at the earlier stages of Idol, but seem to have forgotten about him for now! 🙂
Why won’t you write anything about Charlie Grönwall in Idol, he is in the live shows, actually in top 6, as there are only 6 left, including Charlie.
@Anthony
Yeah… that still doesn’t excuse her from looking like Loreen and Marge Simpson’s lovechild.
If y’all wondering what’s with Saara delivering Japanese realness last night, here’s why.
The outfit was horrendous. Everything masked the great vocal. Lots of mentioning she was from Finland this week again. All stacking up to not a promising Sunday night.
Vote to save the real Saara.
Very hard to succeed with a song like this, it’s not a song for live performances. Still it was fun and good thanks to the staging and Sarah’s steady vocals.
I think that her image is not an overkill, its what keeps her interesting to the viewer.
Didn’t know she was out, good for her.
That looked like a parody of Katy Perry’s “Unconditionally” performance at the 2013 AMAs. A performance which received tons of backlash, by the way.
They do not pick good songs for her at all.
This was pretty bad. I have no idea what the staging had to do with the song.
Kinda sad that the real Saara is being swallowed up by this “quirky” image they’re desperately trying to project onto her. Overkill.
X Factor does thing waaaaay over the top. I mean that in a negative way. It’s distracting and off-putting.
Jesus, who decided to go with the Japanese stereotypes? Great performance, but the staging was a disaster.
Fixed. Thanks for pointing it out Finnjävel! 😉
It’s 06 for Saara not 07
I really enjoyed the staging and performance, whoever complained about “cultural appropriation” get back to your safe space…
But she didn’t get to show off her vocals and it sounded quite bad sorry. I think she will be bottom 3 again unfortunately, which is a shame as I loved her the 2 weeks previously
So @robynesc wants to give Saara’s votes to Emily? Source: http://www.itv.com/xfactor/news/voting-information (while sending this reply the voting numbers was corrected on twitter but not here)
I am worried now she is doing the quirky thing too much, this didn’t fit the song but that aside her vocals again were stellar and going on that factor should be through to next week
yikes
slight cultural appropriation
Now I shouldn’t feel worried, but I hope she avoids the bottom 3 this week