WATCH: Heartbreaks And High Notes! These Boys Are Sailing Through To The X Factor Live Shows With Judge Ray Mercieca
It wasn’t exactly time to say goodbye to everyone just yet – Ray’s boys were the latest X Factor Malta contestants to face the Judges’ House chop and we’ve now got three fine men moving on to the Live Shows.
Heartbreaks, high notes and humble beginnings was the name of the game Ray Mercieca played with us all.
Waving goodbye to three boys (Matt Blxck, Giovanni and Jurgen Volkov), Ray’s Live Show contribution will consist of the following:
Dav.Jr
He wowed guest judge Amelia Lily by incorporating live elements into his performance of an original song and, damn, did it pay off.
Kyle Cutajar
It was a tough choice for Ray in the final two, as Kyle and Matt Blxck were the only contestants left for him to choose from. Ultimately, Ray felt Matt hadn’t fought well enough for a place in the final after his appearance on the show last year, so Kyle came out on top as the final pick for the night.
Karl Schembri
Okay, that high note Ray asked Karl to “find within himself” was crazy.
I’ll admit, I may have said that we wouldn’t be seeing a place in the Eurovision finals if we sent Karl to the Netherlands next year but if you can bring someone like Amelia Lily to tears through a cover of Bocelli’s Con te partirò then you rightly so deserve a top spot.
Giovanni gave us an original song, something Ray has always said he admires.
But then didn’t give the 7th Wonder wonder-boy a spot in the Live Shows.
But can we all focus on the real deal at hand: Giovanni perfectly nailing that Ray cosplay.
And it looks like Jurgen might be waiting out the pouring rain just a tad longer…
Ray was joined by guest judge Amelia Lily, third runner-up of X Factor UK’s eighth season, as the boys gave their all in the final pre-recorded stage of the competition.
Amelia was a source of controversy for the 2011 season of X Factor in the UK as the centre of a number of “fixing” scandals hit the press during her time on the competition.
Amelia reached the final show, despite being voted off by her mentor Kelly Rowland in the first week of live shows. She was then brought back by a public vote after fellow contestant Frankie Cocozza was axed from the show amidst drug allegations.
Before presenter Dermot O’Leary told viewers that voting lines were no longer open, ITV’s Scottish franchise STV claimed that Amelia had been voted back in, leading to rumours of the voting being rigged along running rife.
Her winning single was also uploaded onto HMV’s digital download server before the live finals had aired. HMV responded that a “technical error” was to blame, but the public were sent into an uproar and demanded an explanation from X Factor’s production heads.