Saara Aalto has made it through to the X-Factor final. When Saara first auditioned for the UK X-Factor, it seemed impossible to imagine that she would get through to the judges houses let alone the final. If Saara wins, she will be the first foreigner to win the X-Factor UK.
Saara Aalto must feel like all of her Christmases have come at once. After two impeccable performances in Christmas week on the X-Factor UK, she has secured herself a place in the final. The final will be screened live on ITV from Wembley Arena in London and will see Saara perform a special duet. Finalists in the competition have always duetted with another famous singer. These duets have often been a crucial part of the final as usually the best duet has often featured the contestant who has then gone on to win the show.
The singer who Saara will be dueting with has yet to be announced. However, past singers gracing the stage with contestants in the past have included Beyoncé, Ed Sheeran and Rhianna. It has been reported that Ed Sheeran has written the winner’s single this year.
During this years Christmas themed weekend the contestants were tasked with singing one Christmas song alongside a second song of their choice. Saara performed a rendition of Mariah Carey’s classic All I Want For Christmas Is You. Alongside this, she also sang Chandelier by Sia. This was the very first song that Saara performed in front of the X Factor judges during her audition. Saara received praise for both of this weekend’s performances. However, it was her second song Chandelier which earned her another standing ovation from all four judges. “Oh beep!’ was Simon Cowell’s reaction to the performance while Saara’s mentor Sharon Osbourne could not speak for tears. The studio audience were also impressed with the performance as they chanted “Saara, Saara, Saara” following the judges comments.
Non English acts in the X-Factor UK
If Saara Aalto wins series 13 of the X-Factor UK, she will go down in history as the first foreigner to win the show. Back in series 5 of the competition (2008) Ruth Lorenzo who represented Spain in Copenhagen entered the talent show. Similarly to Saara, Ruth found her self in the bottom two on more than one occasion. She was able to make it through until week 8. During the competition Ruth sang Take My Breath Away from the movie Top Gun which she sang in a mixture of English and Spanish. Saara has yet to perform a track on the X-Factor in her native language. Although, she did sing a song in French during the six chair challenge which didn’t go down well with the audience. This originally cost her a place in the next round until she was selected as a wild card.
One year later, Jedward burst on to the X-Factor stage and were mentored by Louis Walsh. The twins from Dublin, Ireland were branded as a novelty act by the British public. Jedward later went on to represent Ireland at the Eurovision song contest 2011 in Dusseldorf, finishing in 8th place. The following year they were back and represented their country again in Baku, Azerbaijan with their song Waterline. They didn’t place as high the second time around scoring in 16th position.
Last year, Ghanasian music duo Reggie ‘n’ Bollie became the first twosome to reach the final since 2007. They finished in 2nd place behind Louisa Johnson. They also beat Filipino girl group 4th Impact who finished the show in 5th place.
Can Saara Aalto win The X-Factor?
Saara has gone from strength to strength since her initial shaky start in the live shows. She placed in the bottom two weeks consecutively in the first two weeks, being saved by the judges each time. Her fan base has been steadily growing since her performance of Oh so quiet which was made famous by Bjork. This marked the start of a turn around in her X Factor journey and she hasn’t looked back since.
The favourite to win has been changing throughout the latter stages of the competition. Saara along with Matt Terry from Nicole Scherzinger’s boy’s category are the firm favourites to win next weekend.
The X Factor final will take place on Saturday 10th and Sunday 11th December at Wembley Stadium, London. Three acts have gone through to the final and one of these acts will be eliminated in Saturday night’s show. The final two acts will battle it out in the Sunday show where the winner will finally be revealed.
You can see both of this weekend’s performances below. Do you think she has what it takes to win the X-Factor UK?
