X Factor Final 3: Their best and their worst

It's Saturday night and the time has come for the three finalists of X Factor 2016 to do battle in order to become winners of the 13th series of the show.

It's undoubtedly been one of the tightest series in the history of the show - you could argue a case that any of the final 3 could win the show, not least because we were told by Dermot last week that all of the finalists have TOPPED the voting figures at least once and all of the finalists have found themselves in the bottom two at least once during the live shows.

It's gonna be a tight one.

We can't call it between Finland's eccentric but loveable Saara Aalto, RnB boyband 5 After Midnight and the last remaining boy Matt Terry.

So, with the final about to get under way very soon - we thought we'd look at each of the finalists and applaud them for their successes whilst scolding them with our tea on their weakest moments to date.

5 AFTER MIDNIGHT

It's almost like we've cast our minds back to 2008 with these guys as there's a definite touch of JLS about them but that's certainly a compliment. With slick dance moves and natural swagger pouring from each and every performance, it's easy to see why these guys have picked up such a following even if their vocals are probably the weakest of the finalists left.

But the show is called The X Factor for a reason and it's not all about *ahem* the voice. The appearance of these guys is slick and each and every performance feels like an event ready for the live tour.

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Their best moment so far... Say You'll Be There by Spice Girls

They've had some great moments such as 'Signed, Sealed, Delivered' and 'Get Ready' but they were both pretty standard of what you'd expect an RnB band to deliver but when they turned Spice Girls into a Bruno Mars-ready funk anthem, this was when they really became contenders for the win.

We love when artists on X Factor, in the words of Louis Walsh, "make the song their own" and this is completely accurate to how we feel when listening to their switch up of a Spice Girls classic. Turning girl power into one funky boyband bop, we'd love to see them reprise this in the final.

This is probably the tightest their vocals have sounded aswell, more where this came from, guys!

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Their worst moment so far is... Beneath Your Beautiful by Labrinth & Emeli Sande

They'd just landed in the bottom two for the first time in the live shows, so this was the moment where they really had to pull something special out of the bag to stay in. Needless to say they survived the sing off, but it definitely wasn't thanks to their weak vocals.

The three piece have always been popular due to high energy performance, dance breaks and uptempo tracks but when it came to a ballad such as 'Beneath Your Beautiful' for the sing off, it exposed their vocals to be extremely weak. 

I think we've long established that Kieran is the only one who can seemingly hold a tune which is why he sings so much of each track but the sing off performance did little to dispel any myths that their performance abilities were masking a lack of talent in the vocal department. Could their weak vocals hold them back from clinching the title? We think it might...

MATT TERRY

If you could blend all of the qualities that make your typical, run of the mill male winner of X Factor into a blender, it'd probably spit out something that looked and sounded like Matt Terry. Likeable, good looking, likes a good ballad and you'd be more than happy to take him home to your mum for a roast dinner.

So why is it not painfully obvious that falsetto wailing Matt will win? Well, after being favourite for all previous 8 weeks of the competition, two unexciting semi final performances dropped him into the bottom two last week which would indicate he's the least popular of the 3 finalists at this stage. Will that be the case? Somehow we think he could still win it but it's too tough to call.

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His best performance so far... Writing's On The Wall by Sam Smith

For somebody with such an undeniably fantastic voice and a pretty impressive falsetto, we don't think Matt has been given enough of the right songs to shine this year. But if ever there was a song made for him, it came in Movie Week as this impressive falsetto was given every room to deliver Sam Smith's 'Writing's On The Wall'.

The song itself is a bit of a drab when done by Sam Smith but it was transported into something quite magical when in the hands of Matt Terry, who was able to offer it some beautiful light and shade, mixing his power with some beautiful tender moments. With all the drama that you'd expect from a Bond theme tune, it suited Matt to a tee to create an angsty moment.

This kind of current ballad is what we'd see him doing as an artist outside of the show, so hats off to him for this.

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His worst performance so far... I'm Your Man by WHAM!

This is the turning point for when Matt went from an unbeatable front runner to just a "likely winner" due to being given one too many cheesy, dated songs. I'm Your Man, released in 1985, followed performances of his of songs released in 1965, 1968 and 1970. Hardly a strong case for throwing out a current artist out into the real world as an X Factor winner.

Everything about this performance just felt way too average for a supposed winner and with a Boyband vs Girlband theme, it left us wondering why they couldn't have gone for something much cooler and current, given the vast choice of current groups to choose from, 

We want to think Matt is a bit cooler than some of the songs he's performed but if you watched I'm Your Man, you certainly wouldn't think you were looking at a future star.

SAARA AALTO

It's been a rocky road to the final for Saara, infact we don't think there's ever been a journey quite like it. Hailing from Finland, the songstress was knocked out of the competition at the Six Chair Challenge by Sharon Osbourne, but she was then brought back as a wildcard. Since then she's been in the bottom two THREE times, which is unheard of for an act who is now tipped to win the entire competition.

The transformation she's had has been quite a special spectacle to behold as the UK slowly started to take Saara in as one of their own. Her kooky personality, wacky performances and insane vocals have made her impossible to deny as an incredible talent... but is it enough to win the hearts of the nation so much that they vote for her to win?

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Her best moment so far is... Chandelier by Sia

It's pretty difficult to single out any one moment as being Saara's best - she's definitely the best vocallist that the show has to offer this year and she's delivered bonkers uptempos followed by haunting, stunning ballads to demonstrate just how versatile she is.

But we chose 'Chandelier' as it was the moment she switched with Matt Terry to become the favourite to win the show. It's easy to see why - the goosebumps-inducing last minute of the song when you think "surely she can't push this any further" and yet her vocals continue to hit notes that completely blew you away, that will surely be seen as her winning moment.

We could've easily picked the stunning 'The Winner Takes It All' or 'It's Oh So Quiet' as our favourites as she's delivered some real stand out performances this year, but we think this vocal for Chandelier is absolutely undeniable.

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Her worst moment so far is... Sound Of The Underground by Girls Aloud

We adore Saara's quirky side as much as anyone else but there's definitely been times when the line has been crossed just so ever so slightly - this is definitely the strongest case of that, just what exactly is going on with that wig?!

We've always been able to love that Saara mixes her fantastic vocals with some wacky performance but the track never really gave her a chance to shine due to how low it is for much of the song and there was way too much going on with the staging that we had no idea where to put our focus. It landed Saara in the bottom two for the third time and this could've been the final hurrah for our favourite loopy Finn.

Thankfully it wasn't and the performances have, by and large, been toned down to something a bit more refined for the past few weeks allowing her vocals to do most of the talking. No more chocolate fountain wigs please, Saara.

Who is YOUR favourite for X Factor 2016? Let us know in the comments below!