I had to share this excellent analysis of Diana Vickers’ performances that was left by one of our commenters on the Ruth Lorenzo thread.

Needless to say, I totally agree with Michael’s comments, and I wanted to share them with you guys, because I feel that Diana has gone from being a frontrunner in this competition to being one of the weakest acts on X Factor right now.

How did someone go from being the most unique act in the competition to being among the worst? Read on…

I do think that Diana was initially very good though. If you go back to see her first show performance or the cut of her bootcamp version of ‘Alleluia’ you can see what she was made of.

Her voice had a pleasant and pure tone for the songs with an occasional twist of the pitch which complemented her singing and made her stand out. In the following performances, she’d gained the same confidence and charisma Eoghan had shown in the 2 shows before this last one, which made her a big contender.

Everything since her illness has been very weak. All the video clips and judges treatment of her was for damage limitation and since she’d received such acknowledgement of her ‘distinctive’ part of her singing, she’s tried too hard to use it as her unique selling point.

The pressure of her illness scandal also killed off her confidence. Her singing tone has been shaky and weak and she’s trying to rely too much on the vocal twist but she’s accentuating it and taking the pitch up and making it screech.

Her recent singing has not been particularly pleasant to listen to, I’m quite amazed that none of the mentors or vocal coaches have picked up on this and tried to correct it. Additionally, I think the X Factor gossip and fame pressure has given her depression, which has made her the least convincing and weakest of the remaining acts.

If she went back to the stage before the live shows and re-sang ‘Nothing Compares’ in her current state, I dunno if she’d have even made it to the finals. I think she should go, she needs a timeout and a re-think, but the potential will be there for her when she’s older and more comfortable with it all.

Well, what do you think? I reckon Michael’s just about summed it up, especially when he says “everything since her illness has been weak”. And like Michael, I think she needs to back out of the competition now and rebuild her confidence.