X Factor Finalists

Even if you weren’t an Emblem3 fan, you had to be surprised to see them go instead of Fifth Harmony. Simon’s pandering to the audience for votes for Fifth Harmony more than likely hurt Emblem3’s chances. He pandered for the wrong team.

It left us with a rather bland final three. Tate Stevens was an early favorite who got boring mid-season and finished strong. Carly Rose has been consistently good all season long. And Fifth Harmony has been terribly inconsistent and didn’t really finish strong. They just survived.

No matter what happens, this show needs some fine tuning. From Khloe Kardashian not being ready to host to the double eliminations every week which was absolutely unfair to the person who finished third from the bottom, to a not-so-interesting cast of acts, they have some work to do for season three. Season one was much more memorable.

Okay, we’re going time capsule style for this show.

X Factor USA Season 2 Finale Play By Play

8:00PM: Simon introduced the show by talking about the Newtown tragedy and dedicated all the acts singing Michael Jackson’s You Are Not Alone to Sandy Hook. The performance showed that it must be hard to sing that song. Outside of Arin Ray, no one really sang it all that well, including my little homie Beatrice Miller. I think Simon has big plans for Emblem3’s lead singer though. He got the most camera time of everyone, including a solo.

8:09PM: Khloe and Mario came out and Khloe was wearing a tuxedo-like blouse and skirt. She looked like a penguin only Lamar Odom could love.

(Each contestant was set to sing three times. The first song was the “Song Of The Season” (whatever that means), a duet, and then their single if they win.)

8:18PM: Carly threw the gauntlet down with her performance of Feeling Good. If you weren’t watching and just listening, you wouldn’t have known she was singing live.

8:28PM: I swear LA Reid introduced Tate Stevens as “Taint” Stevens.

8:33PM: Taint’s, I mean Tate’s Anything Goes was good, but a little soft compared to Carly Rose’s performance. He’s not winning round one.

8:36PM: The mayor of Tate’s hometown wanted to put his name on the local water tower, causing Tate to get a bit emotional and Khloe deadpans and asks him, “Why are you so emotional?” Really Khloe? Did the mayor just say he was going to put his name on the water tower? His entire town is cheering for him. And you ask him why he’s crying?

8:47PM: Fifth Harmony did Ellie Goulding’s Anything Could Happen again and while it’s probably their strongest performance so far, I can’t imagine a young girl group winning this show. They don’t have the polish that Carly Rose does.

8:57PM: Now, I’m not sure about this, but LeeAnn Rimes may be drunk. Carly Rose just sang her under the table on her own song, How Do I Live. Carly Rose also said it was one of her favorite moments on the stage. Singing with LeeAnn Rimes isn’t your favorite moment on the stage, but just one of them? I think that was a sneak diss.

9:07PM: I think I just found my favorite country singer. Tate Stevens performed with Little Big Town and whoever the brunette lead singer is, let’s just say that I’m a fan.

9:18PM: Fifth Harmony and Demi Lovato gave our hearts a break. The thing that really separates Fifth Harmony from the other two acts is that they truly can’t believe they made it this far. And it’s really easy to root for the underdog. Even Demi’s eyebrows looked fine.

9:27PM: I’m not so sure it was a good idea to have Carly Rose sing Hallelujah. She really did a great job, but how many times must hopefuls sing this song on singing shows? She may be teflon when it comes to being aged, but I think it did her more harm than good.

9:38PM: A lot of the R&B acts get punished for doing “karaoke” on these kinds of shows. They are discounted for copycat performances. Go find Chris Young’s version of Tomorrow and then watch Tate’s performance and tell me that it’s not karaoke.

9:50PM: Simon Cowell is a slick dude. He had Fifth Harmony perform Let It Be as if they were a church choir. It worked. It was also the ballsiest performance of the final three.

Who do I think should win?

If we are to take this entire show as a canvas for the winning performer, Carly Rose Sonenclair wins hands down. She’s been consistently the best performer week after week. Melanie Amaro was the front runner all season long last year and she won. Fantasia was the single most ass-kickingest contestant in a singing contest ever and she won. So maybe Carly can win. But I think she’s going to be overlooked.

Who am I rooting for?

My friend Tiffany and I (and we should have a podcast on Friday talking about the entire season) have been Fifth Harmony fans from the get-go (from when they were LYLAS). But even she’ll agree that they fell off at some point and they probably made it because of Simon’s insistence that they were good even if they weren’t. And by the time we were in the stretch run, it didn’t seem like they were going to make it. But then on semi-final night, they did a pretty good job and Simon sold out Emblem3 in order to get Fifth Harmony through. And on Wednesday? Bam. They chose a great night to have their best night. I’m rooting for them.

Who will win?

I think it’s going to be an uninteresting win. I think Carly Rose and Fifth Harmony do a little bit of splitting of votes and Tate steals the victory. He probably has most of middle America voting for him because he’s a country artist. And, he ranked very highly throughout the season so we know the votes have been there. I don’t know if they’ll let us know, but I think it wil be Tate, Carly Rose, and Fifth Harmony.