Malta | Five Singers sent home we'd like to see as Wildcards
Six Chair Challenge ended last week and we saw the remaining contestants culled down to 6 per category! Tomorrow night Judges Houses kicks off and we'll see which three people in the girls and overs category will make it through to the live shows. We lost some incredible talent along the way and felt it was only fair to remind everybody of those who were sent home at six chair challenge that we feel deserve to still be in the competition as wildcards with a chance at representing Malta at the Eurovision Song Contest 2019.
1. Shauna Vassallo
There was absolutely no reason that Shauna could possibly have been sent home! From the start she's given amazing performance after amazing performance. Her audition of Sia's 'Chandelier' was criminally underrated by the judges but then she came back with 'Eye of the Needle' which was even better! Then at Bootcamp her group performance of The Weeknd was brilliant and then her solo of 'Feeling Good' gave both host Ben Camille and us here at Eurovoxx goosebumps. Her Six Chair Challenge rendition of Bishop Briggs' 'River' was excellent. She showed stage presence, attitude, her incredible tone so we were shocked when the judges feedback wasn't overwhelmingly positive. Alexandra Alden called her the dark horse of the competition and said there was some mystery about her as a performer ... dark horses are the perfect candidate to be a wildcard!
2. Miguel Bonello
One of the biggest shocks of X Factor Malta Six Chair Challenge was when one of the front-runners of the boys category Miguel was sent home. He gave us one of our favourite moments at Bootcamp with his incredible cover of 'Say Something' originally sung by A Great Big World and Christina Aguilera. The power in his voice, the tone and just the ability to convey emotion he gave us left us shook to the core! He had the judges and the other contestants watching in tears and our eyes started to water too ... must be allergies. Singing 'Feeling Good' at Six Chair Challenge, the young man showed us the depth of his voice with some amazing vocal gymnastics and a powerful range. We definitely hope to see Miguel back either this year or next year because he's a little star!
3. Kelly Moncado
Kelly gave us one of our favourite auditions and then continued to impress with her performances at Bootcamp. Her group performance of Dua Lipa's 'Be The One' was easily one of the best and we remain big fans. Admittedly, her six chair challenge rendition of James Arthur's 'Impossible' was not her best performance however we learned following the show airing that Kelly was battling vocal nodules at the time - a condition that impacts the vocal folds and therefore restricts the vocal cords and ability to sing. Knowing that, her performance looks even better! It's such a shame she was sick because we feel her performance would've been absolutely epic otherwise. Kelly has just released a new single 'Breathe' which you can check out here and is now available to be purchased through digital outlets. We'd absolutely love to see her on the Eurovision stage one day ... come back next year?
4. Kim Cortis
One of our favourites in the Overs category from the start - we thought Kim was an absolute lock for Judges Houses. Unfortunately, it wasn't meant to be. Accompanied by her guitar, her soft voice gave us goosebumps time after time and that didn't change at the six chair challenge when she took on Birdy's 'Skinny Love'. She proves that you don't have to have a massive voice with all the belting diva moments to sing with conviction and the delicate nature of her voice really brings artistry. It's a shame she didn't make it through as we feel Kim definitely had more to give and show off her beautiful tone of voice even more. Belgium's 2017 representative Blanche showed us that somebody like Kim could be really successful at Eurovision and we feel she could really pull it out of the bag next year if she re-auditioned (or came back as a wildcard this year!)
5. Gail Attard
It feels like a cop out for us to add ANOTHER person from the girls category to this Top 5 list however we can't deny that somebody like Gail would be the perfect representative for Malta at Eurovision. She has a unique sounding voice with a beautiful tone, stage presence and would be able to give us a powerful performance with conviction. Regrettably, her audition passed us by a little however Gail cemented herself as one of our favourites after her performance of U2's 'One' during Bootcamp and then her solo at the end of the round was also fantastic and powerful. We destroyed our replay button to her part in the group performance - "And I can keep holding on, to what you got, cause all you got is hurt" - wow!! Performing 'You Got The Love' by Florence + the Machine at six chair challenge, Gail impressed us again and undoubtedly gave one of the best performances of the night. It takes skill to have a voice that powerful without it sounding like shouting so we were blown away when she was swapped out of her seat towards the end of the show ... wildcard please!
Do you agree with our picks for wildcards? Is there anybody we left out you'd have added? Follow Eurovoxx on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram & YouTube for the latest Eurovision news, national selection updates and exclusive video content!
