The end of the road has come for twenty-two-year-old singer Alisah Bonaobra as she was eliminated from today’s episode of The X Factor UK. This week, contestants were asked to sing a George Michael song where Alisah opened the show with her version of Praying For Time.
Her soulful performance of the song may have not been enough for the voters but the judges and the rest of the contestants were all very much impressed.
Judge Louis Walsh could not help but wonder week after week where her voice comes from. “You come out like a little Filipina tigress and you sing every note and it’s all perfect! You picked the right song, Praying For Time, this is your time!” he shared.
Half Filipina judge Nicole Scherzinger has always been supportive and impressed with Alisah’s vocals, “You are such a little thing but your voice is limitless. It has no boundaries to it. I’ve always said you’re a little Disney warrior princess and you take us to your world. You are a little Filipino powerhouse up there and when you just sing you open up and your heart and your soul just soar out. Beautiful, stunning, performance!” she expressed.
Simon Cowell may have been impressed, but just like the previous weeks, he always gave his constructive criticisms. “Alisah, you know what, I knew you were gonna sing that song well, it is one of my favorite songs of all time. You have an amazing voice. Here’s my only issue, I’m gonna keep on saying this to you. This is not going to move the dial. In other words, there was too much cream in the coffee,” he said. But the audience and the other judges booed him; and judges Louis and Nicole expressed that they like it that way. “What I’m trying to say is, every time you do one of these songs, it’s very old- fashioned, and that’s not why you’re here. You want to be a contemporary singer. I still don’t think you’ve nailed your version of a song yet, and you had the opportunity tonight.” Simon added.
Judge Louis Walsh strongly disagreed with Simon. “Hello? Simon that was great! You’re just looking for negativity!”
Judge and Girls category mentor Sharon Osbourne gave her share of compliments and criticism. “Alisah, you know what, you connected with this song lyrically. For me, the one thing I do agree with this is that you have been amazing, but you haven’t had that one moment that is yours. You haven’t had that yet, but my God you have a voice that is unstoppable. How can you not love her?”
But the judges’ compliments were not enough for her to survive this week as she got voted off in the end of the episode.
In the end, Alisah expressed her surprise for making it far in the competition and thanked everyone who supported her. Her journey in the competition was rough but she was seen to keep fighting thru her performances week after week.
The X Factor UK airs first and exclusive on RTL CBS Entertainment same day as the UK on Sundays and Mondays at 10:30am with primetime encores Sundays, Mondays and Thursdays at 9:00pm.
RTL CBS Entertainment is available on SKYcable channels 53(SD) and 196(HD), SKYdirect channel 35, Destiny Cable channel 53, and Cablelink channels 37(SD) and 313(HD).