This weekend is somewhat different from other weekends.. Well, the fact that it is a Bank Holiday weekend means that we are all having an extra day of break on Monday.. Maybe it is due.. Anyway, we have spent the last few weeks watching Britain's Got Talent (BGT) and somewhat pondering and wondering on who was to win Britain's most prolific talent show and later having the chance to perform in front of the Queen..
Hmm.. What a season of this talent show.. Maybe it would be interesting to know what my thoughts are on these finalists..Acts
1. Flawless - I had always been amazed and flabbergasted by the sharp choreography this group had shown since their audition several weeks ago.. Certainly since George Sampson won it last year and the cheeky Signature came second place, dance act has become among the act that has the 'promising glow' to snatch the title.. Unfortunately, their final act tonight had less electric from their show in the audition and in the semi-finals, and seemed to be drowned in the anticipation of a cracking finale and, probably, maybe I was hoping for them to perform another eye-opening presentation.. Or maybe the pressure of being the first act proved to be too much to handle..
2. Shaheen Jafargholi - This young man certainly has the world to look for after this.. The talent show has, undoubtedly, dug this boy from his slumber and introduced him to the public scene.. Bearing in mind that Shaheen almost stumbled at the first hurdle, the audition.. If my memory serves me correctly, this 12-year old schoolboy from Swansea came out in front of the three judges and sang Valerie (Amy Winehouse) and was stopped by Simon Cowell just after a few seconds.. Simon gave him another go and he went with MJ's Who's Loving You.. And quite correctly like Simon commented afterwards, "This is how one song can change a life".. For his final performance, he perfectly sang his life-changing song again and, in fact, performed it better than his audition.. But at this very tender age, he is a singer but not quite yet a stage performer - stage use and movements.. Nevertheless, the future is bright for this chubby-cheek kid..
3. 2 Grand - This act may well be one which touches your heart, just by hearing their story.. For John (76), a husband who lost his wife 18 months ago, been given the chance to see some brightness and share that happy experience with his grand-daughter Sally (12) may well be a memory to lift his days to come.. Of course, being a singer himself during his earlier years in life made him not much of a new face on the scene with stage-fright conquering his expressions, albeit not a professional singer.. For Sally, on the other hand, this girl with such mature voice may still have some future in the singing career.. However, in their final act, I have to say, John did forget that it was his line to sing and that flaw was obvious when audience were expecting a perfect partnership show..
4. Hollie Steel - This 10-year-old girl from Acrington was the nation's sweetheart when she first stepped in front of Simon and the gang.. In her audition, she tip-toed her way but that was not the impressive part at all.. Simon did not expect it at all when she opened her mouth and started singing.. She does have a very strong vocal, undoubtedly.. In her semi-final act, again she was the one with the drama when half-way through her song, she forgot her lyrics and stopped singing and started crying! Maybe she did charm her cute way through by asking to be given another chance and eventually managed to sing and got through to the finals, disposing Callum Francis in the process.. I am not a big fan of drama queens, so I was not her fan when she performed in the finals.. And I never saw her even as top three in the finals as I felt her performance, although better than her semi-final act, was too mediocre for my liking..
5. Aidan Davis - Certainly this young body-popper has a bright future ahead, and he is only 11.. Sweet-face and confident, he has the right ingredients to make it big.. Stunned the judges in his audition with Flo-Rida's Low and choreographed everything himself.. In fact, he is self-trained! In his semi-final act, he produced most probably the best one-man dance act of the year.. Unfortunately for him, his semi-final act was the day before the finals.. Unlike Hollie who pretty much needed just to choose a song and train, Aidan had to come up with a totally different routine within 24 hours.. And there was where he lost.. His performance lacked ingenuity and originality, merely by the strain of time to choreograph a new routine.. Hence, he lost his flair and flame in the final act when it really mattered.. Even Simon noticed the difference, and his tears after Simon's comment said it all.. But I am sure there is more to come from this young maestro..
6. Stavros Flatley - Another family duo but this dance is the funniest act of the season.. They made their Brit entrance with a cheeky self-choreographed Irish riverdance performance.. Now, you have to admit, nobody would ever thought that an Irish-dancing Greek-family-duo would be in the Britain's Got Talent finals.. But, the act has the perfect combination of electric and entertainment in it.. On top of that, the emotion shown between the father and the son was just touching.. Some people may say that was what entertainment meant - family coming together.. Hilarious routine, made better by the proper Irish dancing troupe behind them, to the level that it was concluded that Simon is so cool that 'no one is that cool and is not a bit Greek'! Absolute utter genius and hilarious..
7. Shaun Smith - This 17-year-old clean-face rugby boy came to the scene with such mature voice, singing his way through his way to the finals.. He was dubbed the biggest competition for Susan Boyle.. His song in the finals was the classical Ain't No Sunshine (Bill Withers, 1971), the same song he auditioned with.. Nobody could doubt his talent when he sang U2's With Or Without You in the semis.. Nicknamed the real-life Troy Bolton!
8. Susan Boyle (First runner-up) - Now here's the lady who did not realize she was famous, to the level that she was a big hit in America! In seven weeks, she transformed from an anonymous Scot to a world icon.. Her popularity only made better by her strong vocals.. Unfortunately for her, due to the media attention she had, she had been marked as having a 'dark side' not worthy of representing Britain as a celebrity.. Well, put it this way, rather than bottling up and giving in, she stepped her game up and gave her best performance to the top notch.. Deserved the attention and certainly the credit..
9. Diversity (Winner) - I may not be the biggest fan of this group, I have to say, merely by the fact that they were already a successful dance group, albeit not on mainstream.. However, I will not deny their talent and perfection in the final act.. The Transformers routine was not new, that they had performed it already in 2008 (in UK Streetdance Championship), but the 3-X buzzes imaging the BGT judges was certainly new and original.. They did, in my opinion, better than Flawless, especially if we were to compare from humour and creativity checkbox.. Certainly deserved the GBP100,000 price!
10. Julian Smith (Second runner-up) - Julian was probably a nobody before BGT.. This humble guy came in to the scene with his saxophone and awed the judges and audience.. From my perspective, he is the only act among the ten finalists who has the soothing and calming charm.. He performed his audition song again in the finals and nailed it so good.. Simon was probably right, he needs to get his doubts out of his mind and tell the world what he could do.. He had always seen himself as 'almost there but never get it'-type of a person, but the Brits now would disagree with him every single time.. Julian Smith is in the house and has every shot of the future..
Our Verdict
This is what I felt the final rankings are (excluding the top three)
1. Diversity
2. Susan Boyle
3. Julian Smith
4. Stavros Flatley
5. Shaheen Jafargholi
6. Shaun Smith
7. Flawless
8. Aidan Davis
9. Hollie Steel
10. 2 Grand
Well, it has been a great season for BGT.. Maybe better next year.. We never know.. And I end this entry with, what I think, the most entertaining performance of the final..
Salam..
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