Via the LA Times

Via the LA Times

Finally, oh finally, CeCe Frey was given the boot by America. Sadly, so was Diamond White and not Tate Stevens, who I’d been finding to be a bit boring until Wednesday night.

But we’re down the the final four. Right now, Tate Stevens, Emblem3, Carly Rose Sonenclar, and Fifth Harmony are left. Simon’s the only one with two acts left. And poor Demi’s eye brows has no one left.

Mario and Khloe let us know that there would be no sing-off and the mentors won’t matter tomorrow. It’s all about America’s vote. And next week is the glorious finals. This is what happens when you speed through the season, knocking off two people every week. It feels like the live show just started. But, oh well, it just means I don’t have to see Khloe screw up on live television anymore.

She’d been okay the last few weeks, but asked Carly Rose the dumbest question. After Carly Rose was all done performing and couldn’t do anything else to sway the audience, Khloe asked her what else she would do to make sure she moves on to the finals. I’m not sure if she expected Carly Rose to run out during Fifth Harmony’s final performance and clothesline all of them, but it was really dumb.

(Before we move on, this has to be bit of a disappointing final four compared to last year. There’s no Melanie Amaro when it comes to power vocals, but I guess Carly Rose comes close.)

Performances Of The Night

You’d have to say that it was Emblem3’s night. I thought Tate Stevens did the best he’s ever done and Carly Rose is always good, so it leaves 5th Harmony out. But at the end of 5th Harmony’s performance of Impossible (which they’d already performed at the mentor’s house), Simon put a big call out to their fans to vote and who knows, it may have helped.

I’m not sure I really liked the selection of songs for Emblem3, but they made them both work. While Baby, I Love Your Way was something you’d expect them to perform, Hey Jude sure wasn’t. If you remember Chris Rene’s Young Homie from last season, this was Emblem3’s Young Homie performance. It wasn’t perfect, but it was charismatic.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZZE5ITvsHE?rel=0]

Both of Tate Stevens’ performances were strong. His first performance of Bonfire may have been his strongest performance of the season. He looked a little pissed off too, maybe because he knew he had to step it up. Carly’s version of Your Song was incredible, but she’s raised the bar so high that the reception wasn’t as impressive as you’d expect.

Were There Any Duds?

There were no CeCe Frey-like performances on this show, so the answer would be no. But as for worst performance, it seemed like Fifth Harmony’s Impossible was worst received. For one, they’d already performed it before, but since that wasn’t a live show, I’m not sure why that mattered. Simon knew that it’d be knocked for the same reason and changed it up a bit by having some of the verses sung in Spanish. I think that hurt it because it showed that he felt they needed a gimmick to get through.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcAksVSlnlo?rel=0]

Who Improved Their Stock?

Tate Stevens came back with a vengeance this week. He was much better than he’d been either all season, or maybe since the beginning when he took the early lead.

I think Emblem3 also finally showed their true potential. But they haven’t been in the top spot once this season and it’s still simply a popularity contest.

Who Hurt Themselves?

Sadly, no matter how hard Simon pushed them in the end, it still seemed like Fifth Harmony was the one act that didn’t fit. Maybe it’s just the story that the show told. But it seemed that everyone knew they were the fourth act out of four. Personally, I like them more than I like Tate Stevens, but I’m guessing that I’m in the minority.

Who Goes Home?

I picked Fifth Harmony to go home last week and they didn’t. So maybe America does like them more than I think. But unless Simon’s final speech to save them worked, I have to believe they’re going home.