Photobucket
Last night's auditions were fantastic, tonight we see the remainder of the auditionees vying out for a place in bootcamp and as we have seen, not everyone is able to impress in front of a full audience. Will anyone crack tonight and more importantly, who will set the place alight?

Recap and videos after the JUMP...

 
Up first tonight is Charlie Martinez, the US Marine who caught Cheryl and Mel B's eye in the first auditions. Taking on 'You and I' by One Direction, he manages to impress most of the judges once again. He has a surprisingly stronger voice than I anticipated him having and I sort of like his husky tone on the song although it does sound very similar to the original. However, surprisingly Mel B isn't quite as keen and says that he nearly bored her asleep. So Charlie only manages to get three yeses, still enough to get him through to the next round.


Party girl Ten Senah is up next, she didn't impress Mel in the first auditions after revealing that she hadn't been to bed before her audition and it seems like the Spice Girl still hasn't been won round, branding her 'annoying' after her performance of 'Mama Knows Best' by Jessie J. In fairness, the vocals weren't as strong as they were in her first audition and she did go a little bit pitchy but overall, I feel that Ten has some potential and it seems like Mel's colleagues feel the same way as they give Ten a yes, sending her through to bootcamp.


Michael Marouli is another one who doesn't impress Mel B as she describes his audition as being like 'in a tacky discotheque in Magaluf'. Despite this, he manages to get through, I suppose it's a good thing Simon wasn't there as I'm not sure what he would have made of Michael's audition. 


With Scary Spice living up to her name, Dubliner Janet Grogan hopes to be the first person of the day to put a smile on Mel's face. She was given huge praise in her first audition after her performance of 'I Can't Make You Love Me' by Bonnie Raitt and as she launches into 'Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For', finally someone has brought the judges together in unity. Mel B absolutely loves the audition, telling Janet 'I love you' and saying that it was 'bloody great'. Janet has a really strong voice and connects with the audience, something I feel a lot of auditionees haven't been so good at this year. Winning the whole panel over, Janet sails through to bootcamp, she's another act to add to the already large list of very good overs.


14-year-old Charlie Jones is also risking the wrath of Mel B...due to his song choice, he's taking on one of Spice Girls' biggest hits 'Wannabe'. Hoping that he'll be able to impress Mel by doing his own spin on her hit pays off for Charlie as the judges are really impressed. Although his voice isn't the strongest, I think the arrangement of the song is good and he really adds his own flavour to the track. Simon describes his audition as 'very memorable' with Louis winding Mel up by calling his cover 'better than the original'. So it looks like Charlie is another contender heading into bootcamp as he sails through with four yeses.


Mother of two Helen Fulthorpe memorably revealed in the first audition that she hadn't actually applied for the show herself, instead it was her 12-year-old son who submitted her application on her behalf. However, it seems like her son's move was a genius one as she takes to the stage in front of a packed out Wembley arena with her rendition of Otis Redding's 'Try A Little Tenderness'. We heard Andrea sing it in arenas last week and although they take very different approaches to the song, I think vocally, Helen clinches it. She has a great upper range, but more importantly I feel that she knows how to use her voice correctly and doesn't just belt the whole thing out. A really strong audition gets Helen a standing ovation and four yeses.


Tom Mann returned to the arena stage having previously auditioned last year where he was sent home during the six chair challenge. He reveals that the song he is singing was written just after Louis sent him home from bootcamp, he starts singing it but to be honest, it's not very good and his voice sounds very irritating. Simon stops him and asks him to sing his second song telling him if he was ugly, he wouldn't have been cheered by the crowd. Harsh but probably true. He sings 'I Want It That Way' by The Backstreet Boys acoustically and to be honest, it's only marginally better than the first performance, vocally he's still quite shaky and hits quite a few bum notes. I'm not that keen on Tom to be honest, he's alright but I think there's far stronger talent in his category. Cheryl, Louis and Simon all say 'Yes' though I don't think any of them are blown away.


Jake Sims impresses the panel with his performance of 'When The Sun Goes Down' by The Arctic Monkeys. It's quite a soundalike rendition but he has a lot of stage presence and as Simon says, is like a great band frontman. He gets through with four yeses.


Jordan Morris reveals that it's surreal to be performing in Wembley as he used to work in a chip shop at the back of the arena apparently. He's told that he has 'an R & B voice' after singing 'All Of Me' by John Legend, I'm not so sure myself, I didn't think that it was a great performance and think his voice needs quite a bit of work but he's given the benefit of the doubt and put through.


Another returnee, albeit one we have already met at room auditions in Jake Quickenden now. The TV presenter and singer was told to channel more emotion into his performances in his first audition so he's going to try and do that today, singing Jessie J's 'Who You Are'. This is better than his first audition, he seems so much more natural whereas I didn't feel much emotion from him the first time around. Vocally, it still needs a little work, I didn't feel that he really went for it and thus it sounded a bit tame at times but he's definitely a good singer. Simon tells him that he shouldn't have been sent home the first time he auditioned, personally I disagree as he's a lot stronger than he was the first time he was on the show. Jake is through to bootcamp.


Leah Kennedy isn't quite as lucky as her rendition of 'It Will Rain' by Bruno Mars results in her leaving the stage in tears after the judges don't put her through to bootcamp. I think nerves affected her, she had some glimpses of genius but the performance just wasn't consistent enough.


Hoping that she'll be able to top her first audition is Geordie fishmonger Lola Saunders. She had one of the standout auditions of the rooms when she sang 'Make You Feel My Love' by Bob Dylan and she hopes to be able to do the same this time. She almost falters to start with and has to get a support hug from Mel B but as soon as she gets back into the song, she gets into her stride. It's not as good as her first audition in my opinion, there are definitely some pitchy parts but she does the song justice and deserves her four yeses.


With the auditions over, the judges are being given their categories. Mel B has the Boys, Cheryl has the Girls (her third time having them in four series), Simon has the Overs (my personal favourite category this year) and Louis is lumbered with the Groups again. Good to see there's no favouritism shown in the category selection there.

And that's the auditions over, next week is a mammoth three days of episodes as the remaining singers hit bootcamp and the six chair challenge delivers even more emotion and tears as the judges make some unpopular decisions.
Share this :