Malta | Half of Acts Eliminated; Four X Factor Finalists Confirmed
Tonight marked the semi-finals of Maltese selection show X Factor Malta and the final eight acts performed once again - this time to the theme 'Movies Spectacular'. With next week being the final, tonight was always going to be brutal as the acts were halved down to the final four and it proved a night of great performances and shocking results! Did your favourite make it through? Find out what happened below...
Tonight was split in to two rounds of performances... All eight performed in the first round a song from a movie - in order the performances were:
Owen Leuellen - "Gangsta's Paradise" (Coolio)
Ben Purplle - "Pretty Woman" (Roy Orbison)
Nicole Frendo - "Skyfall" (Adele)
Norbert - "Never Enough" (Loren Allred)
Michela Pace - "I Don't Wanna Miss A Thing" (Aerosmith)
Luke Chappell - "Heathens" (twenty one pilots)
Kelsey Bellante - "Pray For Me" (The Weeknd & Kendrick Lamar)
Petra - "We Don't Need Another Hero" (Tina Turner)
Owen Leuellen kicked off the night with his rendition of iconic hip hop song 'Gangsta's 'aradise'. He's perhaps been the most shocking of the all finalists with his high-energy performances in previous weeks making him a surprise favourite. This lacked the same energy however the darker performance and choreography worked for him. Second up was Ben Purplle who was in the sing-off last week. Singing the Pretty Woman classic was Ben in his comfort zone however the judges weren't convinced - particularly Alexandra Alden who felt that it was lacking.
Nicole Frendo was the first of the three girls to perform where she sung Bond anthem 'Skyfall'. A huge performance from the young lady and here at Eurovoxx we'd give that a standing ovation! She displayed great rawness in her vocals that worked really well - and the last 30 seconds in particular was incredibly powerful. Nicole has her eyes on a spot in the final next week!! Norbert was up next, taking on 'Never Enough' from the huge 2018 hit soundtrack to 'The Greatest Showman'. It's a massive ask and Norbert rose to the challenge - so much better than last weeks performance! The judges felt that it was a good effort but just a little something was missing in the passion. Will the voters agree?
Favourite to win Michela Pace was fifth to perform, taking on 'I Don't Want To Miss A Thing' from the Armageddon soundtrack. Her unique vocals sounded flawless as always on the huge power ballad and unsurprisingly the crowd adored it! We feel this could be the type of song that Michela performs at Eurovision if she was to win next weekend. The judges also seemed ecstatic with the performance, calling her incredible and being impressed by her vulnerability. Taking on the most recent song so far is Luke Chappell - and the twenty one pilots track from Suicide Squad seemed a great fit for his vocals. This week Luke gave more of a 'performance' on stage which was great to see and there's no doubting he's getting more confident with every week.
Once again Kelsey Bellante delivers a strong and modern performance that is almost ready to be in charts globally. Singing 2018 hit 'Pray For Me' by The Weeknd and Kendrick Lemar, she owned the stage with great choreography and strong vocals and rap. Ira said she was amazing, Alexandra called her spectacular, and Ray said she had something special! Closing round one is Petra who has perhaps the biggest voice in the competition. Her take on the Tina Turner classic was a great end to the round - she was looking fierce and sounded even fiercer!
We then had our first results of the night - with Kelsey Bellante and Ben Purplle being eliminated from the competition in eighth and seventh respectively.
The remaining six then took on round two - a six way sudden death sing off for the spots in the final:
Luke Chappell - "What Do You Mean" (Justin Bieber)
Petra - "Set Fire To The Rain" (Adele)
Norbert - "Empty Space" (James Arthur)
Michela Pace - "Shallow" (Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper)
Owen Leuellen - Original Song
Nicole Frendo - "Scared to Be Lonely" (Martin Garrix ft. Dua Lipa)
The final four were then decided in the final vote ... Norbert was the one who polled least and eliminated in sixth position. The remaining two boys, Luke & Owen, had the final spot in next weeks finale decided by the judges. Eliminated in fifth position after resorting to deadlock (so decided by the public vote) is... Luke Chappell.
Which of the four finalists do YOU want to win? Make sure to vote in the poll here:
