We need to talk about Andrea Faustini, who has become our favourite X Factor contestant and probably our favourite person ever, including our boyfriend and our gran. Here’s why, as far as we’re concerned, this year’s X Factor just became a one horse race…
1. He’s properly cute
From the moment he entered his first audition, wielding a Scary Spice doll, Andrea has been 100% adorable. So far our favourite Andrea-ism has been when he described himself as ‘the male version of Bridget Jones singing All By Myself on the sofa’. Someone fetch that boy a pug.
2. He makes everyone cry
Cheryl Cole has basically built a career on looking amazing while her face leaks, and Andrea has given her ample opportunity to showcase this enviable talent. He’s even made Mel B cry, which takes some doing, and provoked Emma Bunton to claim, ‘I’m emotionally drained, I feel like he’s taken it all away from me.’ We know how you feel Em, we were in pieces after he did I’m Telling You. We’re still recovering.
3. He’s received the best critique in X Factor history
On Saturday Simon Cowell actually said the words, ‘our little Italian bear took us to church.’ This was both the campest and the best sentence that has ever been uttered in the history of light entertainment. And we have Andrea to thank.
4. He can make any song his own
Confession time: when we heard that Andrea would be singing Earth Song on the first live show our hearts sank. Not that we don’t love songs about ‘crying whales’ and ‘the planet’s womb’, but the idea of Andreas screeching ‘what about elephants?’ seemed a bit niche for show one. However, Andreas made it work. Maybe it was all an elaborate ploy to demonstrate how he can literally sing anything. Next week he’ll be doing Agadoo.
5. He’s X Factor’s first male diva
So far Andrea’s done justice to songs by Whitney and Jennifer Hudson, which is no mean feat. We bet there’s a Mariah banger on the way – he’s already been doing some Mimi-diva-hands – and we couldn’t be happier. Somehow he manages to make every performance classy and life-affirming and we should basically just crown him the king of all things immediately, yes? Yes.
