It's the X Factor semi finals and the four remaining acts are just a week away from the show's largest ever final at Wembley arena, plus the chance of winning a "life changing" recording contract. Tonight they sang one classic Motown tune and one song they believe would win the public votes ahead of tomorrow's results show.
Last week we saw Janet Devlin booted out of the competition and tonight just Amelia Lily, Misha B, Little Mix and Marcus Collins were left to battle it out on the X Factor stage...
Kicking off the show, Misha B sang one of Motown's signature songs by Martha and the Vandellas, Dancing In The Street. She got the audience up on their feet and Louis said: "I want you in the final because you deserve to be." Tulisa added: "I think this performance will get you through to the final."
Amelia Lily was up next with Diana Ross and Marvin Gaye's Ain't No Mountain High Enough. Louis said: "You remind me of Christina Aguilera." Not quite Diana Ross then? Gary commented: "You keep coming back and wowing us every week." Kelly said her girl was "on fire".
Tulisa's "little muffins" Little Mix took on the ultimate girl band - The Supremes. Their vocals lacked the power of original group, but was their rendition of You Keep Me Hanging On enough to impress the judges?
Louis said: "It was like you lost your mojo." Kelly agreed: "I've seen you do better vocal performances." Gary cut to the chase, adding: "Perrie is the best singer, she should be given more lines." Perrie shot back: "we can all sing". Is it time the group, just like The Supremes, picked a lead singer?
Marcus Collins, introduced as "one man loving Motown week" by his mentor Gary Barlow, performed "his favourite genre of music" next with The Temptations' My Girl. Tulisa said: "You look very handsome in that jacket." Keeping her comments to the actual performance, Kelly said: "I hoped you were singing to me, you sounded beautiful."
After the halfway point the acts stopped murdering classics and turned to songs more likely to get them to the final.
Misha B admitted she'd been hanging out with Jennifer Hudson before belting out an emotional rendition of Perfect by Pink.
It was a poignant song choice in which Misha rapped "they don't like my jeans and they don't like my hair" - a reference to her lack of popularity with the public perhaps? Whatever the reason for the remix it worked and even had Tulisa praising the Mancunian star, saying: "I would buy your record." But Gary added: "The negative side of you being here is you've been wrongfully accused of things in the past... I don't think you can win." Kelly pointed out she doesn't need to win the show to be a star, a statement that's been proved by her fantastic performances tonight.
Amelia Lily chose Avril Lavigne's I'm With You for her second performance. It was distinctly shouty, although Louis said: "That's the best vocal performance of the night." Was he watching the same performance? Gary, the sane judge of the competition, agreed with the audience. "It wasn't the best vocal performance of the night Louis," said the Take That star.
The only male left in the competition, Marcus, chose to sing The Jackson 5's Can You Feel It - we're not sure why. Louis agreed: "There was something missing with that song." Tulisa said: "That wasn't the right song for me." Even Kelly commented: "You seemed like you were really trying, rather than it oozing out of you." Of course Gary didn't agree with any of it.
Closing the show was Little Mix, the band that was formed at Boot Camp. This was their chance to redeem themselves from their Motown disaster. They picked Beyonce's If I Were A Boy and let Perrie take the lead.
It was better than their earlier performance, however the song required a low register that none of the girls could quite reach. Louis said: "It wasn't perfect" and Gary agreed: "These vocals just aren't good enough tonight."
Tulisa got violent, slapping the table and viscously stabbing the air as she shouted about how her girls should win. While we wouldn't like to get on the wrong side of her, we think it's time she admits her act just isn’t all that.
Check out our slideshow of all the weekend's X Factor acts and click on who you think should be walking off with this year's title...
