Photo via Zap2It

As I mentioned in last week’s post, I’m going to start blogging this show a little differently. Rather than write it like I’m watching it live, I’m going to do more of a summary of the evening.

If you missed it earlier in the week, we did a podcast on Tuesday recapping the entire season so far. Check out the Reality Check Podcast.

Before I start, I know the whole “lip sync” someone else’s song and be silly while doing it is kind of old now, but that didn’t stop the X Factor kids from doing it!

Poor Carly Rose. Even when she’s given the chance to let her hair down, she can’t. I think she’s really a 45 year Hornswaggle.

The Big News

There was some big news to start the show. Diamond White, who I thought was the easiest person to root for on the entire show, was brought back to make it a top 13. Being grouped with the youngsters didn’t help her because there were two other young girls who were better than her and while she was a better singer than Arin Ray, he’s the only young guy in the entire competition they can market to young girls. You knew he was staying.

But Diamond adds something to the show that is lacking; childish fun. Beatrice also brings that to the table, but you just want to see Diamond do well.

Performances Of The Night

The theme of the show was “Songs From Movies”. This kind of theme is a hard one because you can either go chalk and do very memorable songs, or you can be creative and cheat the theme. Usually, when people cheat the theme by picking something that wasn’t really an important part of a movie, it allows them to personalize it more. Not like you can really personalize My Heart Will Go On.

This week was night and day compared to the first week of live shows. They really brought it.

Even though it’s so early in the ball game, Emblem3 is Michael, and everyone else is just Tito. They flipped about three songs in one performance and so easily dominated the night. I don’t even know his name, but their lead singer has the most charisma of anyone in the competition and it’s not close.

Vino Alan went back to his soulful side with When A Man Loves A Woman and was the single most improved singer from the first week. This is his zone and LA Reid needs to keep him in it.

Carly Rose Sonenclar performed Bruno Mars’ It Will Rain which is a super-dramatic song, perfect for the most emo-movie of all-time; Twilight. Carly Rose (who Simon called Carly Rae again) needs to stay super-dramatic like the 45-year old hornswaggle that she is. She looked unhappy trying to be young last week. Just be old Carly Rose, be old.

And how about Fifth Harmony (aka Young Eden’s Crush)? I shouldn’t like a girl group this much unless their name was Allure and they were remaking Lisa Lisa and Full Force.

As for the honorable mentions, the air machine nearly blew Paige Thomas’ clothes away and while her vocals were just okay, she showed star quality again. So did Arin Ray, but his dancing was a bit corny. Most authentic? Probably Tate Stevens.

Were There Any Duds?

The only real dud was CeCe Fray’s horrendous version of Eye Of The Tiger. The only time that song ever works is when a boxer is entering the ring. Why she and Demi decided on that is beyond me. It’s not a serious song and she tried to play it as a statement that she’s not ready to give up. And plus, weren’t those leopard spots on her face a couple months ago, not tiger stripes? It was all wrong, and all bad.

Jennel Garcia’s version of I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll was corny, but her vocals are too strong for it to be considered a dud. She needs to go away from the all black look now. She’s not cute anymore. Jason Brock needs to scrap the faux hawk and simply dress like a regular dude and he’d be fine. It’s not his voice. It’s his look.

Who Improved Their Stock?

I think Vino was probably going to be one of the bottom two if not for his comeback performance. He’s now right in the middle of the pack. And he has a cool factor that not even Emblem3 has.

Lyric 145 may have helped themselves out too. Their song choice of Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious was creative and had a high degree of difficulty. They finally showed their talent after taking the easy way out the last two weeks.

Who Hurt Themselves?

I will argue that Jennel Garcia’s performance hurt her more than CeCe Frey’s because Jennel had more to lose. I don’t think anyone is really taking CeCe seriously right now. But Jennel? The negative feedback that she received could hurt her come elimination time.

Khloe Watch

Via Khloe’s Twitter

On the podcast, Tiffany let me know that the reason the mentors have a hard time hearing Khloe on the mic is because she’s a mic rookie. She doesn’t speak into it properly and talks too fast. It took her just seconds to screw up a conversation with Britney at the start of the show.

She also pointed out backstage that Tate Stevens was sweaty and nervous, which I’m not sure was the right move. The acts are amateurs, but they’re trying to look as professional as possible and every week, Fox is trying to produce mini-concerts. Khloe nit picking at flaws hurts their mystique.

Also, as a host, she needs to stay more neutral. When she contradicts what Simon says, it comes off disrespectful. If they wanted her to be a judge, they’d have her be a judge. (And don’t say, well Ryan did it. Ryan and Simon had chemistry together and Ryan was just as big a part of that show as Simon was. That’s not the case here.)

Who Goes Home?

CeCe Frey, see ya, wouldn’t wanna be ya.