Before I get into ranking the X-Factor top 17 field, I wanted to discuss the coach’s choices. Everyone has their opinion, but I don’t think they did a bad job at all. I did get a kick out of Simon finagling his way into getting 5 finalists instead of 4. I think it was his way of telling LA Reid that while Reid may be charming the viewers, this is still his show damnit!
(I was absolutely appalled when Simon eliminated Melania Amaro from the girls’ side of things. She’s the absolute best singer in the field. Now, being the best singer doesn’t equate with being the chosen one. Ask Jennifer Hudson that one (though, I think Fantasia might’ve still beat her head-up on American Idol). Thankfully, he righted that wrong, or maybe they just wanted to have a dramatic ending to the taped shows. But she was the only one elimination that I had a big problem with. The others who were eliminated were definitely eliminated for good reason.)
LA Reid
Being that country seems to be a very good genre to market to these days because of a very loyal fanbase, I was surprised that LA dismissed two country artists. Skyelor Anderson has a Darius Rucker vibe to him, but the worry was that he was too country. Tim Cifers didn’t do anything for me, but he fit the country description. Reid went with both Brian Bradley (aka Astro) and Marcus Canty instead, which shows you that he thinks the young rapper and Usher Jr. have more star potential. LA’s biggest surprise was Phillip Lomax. As Jay Caspian Kang said in his write-up, “Crooners are to singing competitions as kung fu was to old MMA.”
Simon
I thought his choices were the right ones after he re-added Amaro back into the field, except for one. I think he missed huge on Jazzlyn Little and basically put all his energy into Tiah Tolliver. Both Jazzlyn and Tiah are a bit raw and they need a ton of work, but I’d have put my money on Jazzlyn being a star over Tiah. I know some people were bothered over Caitlyn Koch being eliminated, but I’m not sure what she did that made her stand out. Her personality was bland. Rachel Crow is going to go pretty far.
Nicole
She had the easiest choices to make. The only one you could really question was Dexter Haygood over James Kenney. But I get it. Kenney may have the better voice, but Haygood has the better story. He was in the group Xavion, who supposedly were the first African American rock group put on MTV. He then hit rock bottom and was homeless. Who isn’t going to be rooting for Haygood this season?
Paula
Having groups on here is just wacky to me. Paula’s choices were fairly easy to explain. The Brewer Boys made it because they need to hit that Jonas Brothers demographic. InTENsity is there because people love kids. Lakoda Rayne is your female group. And The Stereo Hogzz is your male group. I know people really liked 4Shore, but we already have one Boyz II Men and the Boyz II Men copycats were gone by the late 90s. I thought The Anser had an interesting mix, but their last performance was pretty corny.
Onto the rankings …
No Chance In Hell
Phillip Lomax – Remember John Stevens from the third season of American Idol? No? Red hair, stick-like figure? Well, at least Phillip is better than him. There aren’t enough Frank Sinatra fans to save Phillip and Frank’s fans who are watching will claim that no one can touch Frank and thus, they won’t vote for him either. Sucks to be Phillip.
Dexter Haygood – He’s an oddball because his James Brown schtick was old the second time he did it, but he has charisma. He’s also vying to steal Stacy Francis’ crown of the show’s biggest cryer. Hopefully for him, when he gets voted out, there’s some champagne for the pain.
Leroy Bell – When Nicole Scherzinger says that your nerves are getting to her, that’s not a good thing. He looks like what you’d expect Common’s dad to look like and he has a cool vibe, but I can’t see him getting past the first few shows.
Simone Battle – The girl is just as confident as she is talented. That’s a terrible mix for a show in which teenage girls are the main voters. It might be unfair, but I don’t see her sticking around very long.
InTENsity – They may show some teeth later on, but they were so saccharine. The group has some kids who can really sing, but if they put together weeks of candy coated versions of songs like “That’s Not My Name” and “You Make My Dreams”, they’re run will be short like leprechauns.
The Pretenders
Lakoda Rayne – Wacky name aside, I like them. They tried out as solo artists and didn’t make it. But the X-Factor judges or producers heard their nice voices, saw their blond hair and put them together as a group. I don’t think any of them has enough personality to capture the attention of America and remember what I said about teenage girls voting. This could bite them in their collective rear ends.
The Brewer Boys – These guys made it simply because of the success of Justin Bieber and the Jonas Brothers. At some point, you could even send a shout out to Hanson. They’re young brothers who harmonize together. Vocally, they’re probably the weakest of the 17 acts left, but it’s clear that it’s more important to be able to sell yourself than it is to sing well. And you know how I keep bringing up those young girls? Yep, these guys will do well with them.
Tiah Tolliver – Simon loved her spunk. And he absolutely forced Nicole and Paula to rethink their opinion on her. I’ve never seen him so insistent on someone who didn’t seem like a no question superstar. He obviously sees more in her than most. I think she’ll benefit from being Simon’s hand-picked starlet early on. But when it comes down to the nitty gritty, I think the talent will show that she’s not in the top tier.
Peaked Too Early
Chris Rene – If he waited until the show’s finale and performed “Young Homie”, he wins hands down. It’s just too bad that he’ll probably never do any better. And really, why can’t I download “Young Homie” from iTunes? I need me some “Young Homie”!
Brian “Astro” Bradley – He was fantastic when he was chastising Simon for checking out his moms. And he was excellent when he rapped to “The Message” beat. But I can’t see him being able to put together X-Factor demo-friendly rhymes week after week. I may be underestimating him though. He’s my 10-year old son’s favorite by far.
The Top 6
6. Stacy Francis – This woman has some pipes. It’s almost as if she was the fifth member of En Vogue but missed her plane on the way to the studio. My main problem with her is that she plays the victim role on the TV screen with the waterfall of tears that come down her cheeks. We get it. You want to win badly. But so does everyone else. She’s easy to root for, but also easy to roll your eyes at.
5. Rachel Crow – She might be the best 13-year old I’ve ever seen on a talent show. She put some stank on Beyonce’s “If I Were A Boy” and I hate Beyonce’s version. Her youth is in her favor because she doesn’t seem to know that she’s supposed to be scared and performs like a pro. As Duke told Apollo Creed one time, “He doesn’t know it’s a damn show! He thinks it’s a damn fight!” Rachel doesn’t know she’s not supposed to do well in this thing.
3. Marcus Canty – I think he should go the Usher route. He needs to show energy and develop a female following if he has a chance to win. He’s not as technically good as most of the top singers, but he’s the only one who I think will hit his marks in the performance every time.
2. Drew Ryniewicz – She’s awkward. She’s gawky. But she can sang. Also, because of her style of singing, she’s going to get the least amount of backlash from the female voters. I think she needs to work on her facial expressions, but maybe the pained look is a good thing. If she can continue being creative like flipping Justin Bieber’s “Baby” (and do it right in front of LA Reid’s face), I think she goes far.
1. Melanie Amaro – Her rendition of Beyonce’s “Listen” was immaculate. I couldn’t believe it was a live performance. She didn’t only hit the vocals, but she hit the emotion of the song. After her first audition LA Reid talked about her like he was a scout and she was a 5-tool baseball player. And when they sang together, even though she didn’t try, she sang Stacy Francis and Jazzlyn Little off the stage. She’s my front winner to win the show.
Hey, young homie what you trippin’ on
Looking at life, like how did I get it wrong,
Life’s too short gotta live it long,
To my brothers and sisters when will we get along
8 comments
Matt B says:
Oct 20, 2011
Don’t underestimate the stories of Chris and Dexter. that will get them far on this show, just like the Brewer Boys. I knew once the two new groups were formed, they’d be in. The InTENsity group certainly should get the Glee type of votes and the one kid in that group (that was in the duo with his best friend originally) is the obvious main star/singer. I have a feeling that he’ll end up on Glee to replace the Kurt character next year, sometime after the group goes home, he may end up there (in fact, the whole group may end up on Glee, competing, lol).
I was surprised that LA didn’t take the older country guy because country, well it owns 1/3 of the Top 45 on this week’s SoundScan. He had the potential to be an Aldean type of artist IMO but I get why LA didn’t take him. The story of Chris Rene, the potential of “Astro” (I find him as annoying as hell), the potential for Marcus and then, the girls vote for the Lomax guy. I get it.
I was as shocked at Melanie being passed over but I really think you’re right, that was Simon’s way to get Tiah into the show and just ‘right a wrong’ by taking Melanie. She’s a downright diva in training who could be a HUGE world star (given that the world likes Celine-like pop balladry more than USA).
My final six:
6: Drew Ryniewicz: She’s the one I see potentially being a “country” singer, I also think she will likely get a nose job down the line.
5.Josh Krajcik/LeRoy Bell/Dexter Haygood: I think one of these threeo guys will end up here. Part of it is that the voters of this show, if it’s like Idol, will include grannies and they like stories and plus, who cannot get behind the homeless man striking rich in Dexter? I mean, that’s what made Kevin Skinner win AGT a couple of years ago and he’s a horrible country singer (who made a terrible album with his own money). America likes to vote for ‘last chance’ or ‘stories’.
4. Brewer Boys: For much of the same reason you said above, they’ve got the Bieber/Jonas thing going on. I also could see them trying some sort of country-ish thing given they play mandolins and stuff already or perhaps a young “Mumford & Sons” with more pop-leaning sounds? Either way, they’re the group I see going places here (though I prefer StereoHogz myself).
3: Chris Rene: You know that part about stories? Well, that’s exactly what he’s got in spades (along with some good talent). I think he can most certainly overcome the early peak and if this show’s like UK X-Factor editions, “Young Homie” may make an appearance in the live shows. If “Astro” wasn’t such a toxic personality to some, I’d say he ends up instead of Chris but given that and Chris’ amazing ‘second chance,’ I think he’s in the final three.
2: Rachel Crow: She’s just too damn cute and too damn good and too damn likable to not make it to the final grouping here.
1: Melanie Amaro: Simon pulled a coup by keeping Tiah or Simone instead of Melanie (Simone is downright wretched IMO) only to garner her more sympathy as the ‘extra’ girl who was always the most talented. The minute I saw her perform “Listen” I knew she’d be the one to beat.
Of the final four, the two most likely to get a chance to unseat Melanie are Rachel and The Brewer Boys. Basically because of their ‘cute’ factor, the boys have a big shot, and Rachel because she’s downright remarkable and sometimes America won’t pick the most talented winner thinking that the exposure from the show will get them a contract anyway (think Pia Toscano on Idol).
Drew says:
Oct 20, 2011
I haven’t been keeping up on “X-Factor” (although, full disclosure, I’ve been watching “The Sing-Off” religiously), so I don’t have much to weigh in about, but damn… that was a stellar “Listen”. Chick’s got it down pat.
GG says:
Oct 20, 2011
@Matt B:
Thanks for chiming in. I always like to see your thoughts on this kind of thing because you eat, sleep, and drink the music business.
The more and more that I think about it, Simon could’ve hoodwinked his producers by originally eliminating Melanie because there was going to be an uproar if she was going home. He could’ve made the excuses of being too young for Drew and Rachel, and those excuses would’ve been good enough. But if he sends the best girl home, the producers (or him) are justified in bringing her back and making it 5 and still keeping his girl in. It’s a bit shady, but hell, it’s his show.
I love the stories of Dexter and Chris, but I just worry that they look like a fish out of water come competition time. Dexter seems like a one-trick pony, but maybe he’ll surprise us? If Chris had a better judge’s house performance, I would’ve ranked him higher. But his Everyday People was a bit disappointing.
I like your thinking behind both the Brewer Brothers and Rachel. It’s going to be hard to not vote for Rachel if she stays confident.
GG says:
Oct 20, 2011
@Drew – I sort of watched the editions while half paying attention, but when I heard her singing, I thought, “What’s Beyonce doing on this show?” and it caught my attention. And then I thought, “Who is this girl doing Beyonce better than Beyonce?” From that moment, I kind of figured she’d be the lead in the race.
HB says:
Oct 21, 2011
I am boycotting this show and so should you. The 12 year old girl in that big kiddie group should not even be on tv. She is my teacher’s daughter. When we asked about her, he said he did not even give the show permission to put her on tv. The show knows they do not have his permission but put his little girl on tv anyway. That is just wrong! We are boycotting this show and so should you. They are breaking up families!!!!!
GG says:
Oct 21, 2011
I would imagine that the second she agreed to audition, she signed her TV rights away.
Candy says:
Oct 25, 2011
I have been hooked on X so far, but almost want to quit now that adorable and talented Miss JazzLyn is off. Simon is so stupid to have picked Tiah over Jazzlyn. What happened to “You could be a World Star!”? Tiah barely made it out of the first round.
Anyway, my top three favorites were Melanie, Josh and JazzLyn. Now I am replacing Jazzlyn with Rachel Crow.
GG says:
Oct 25, 2011
That’s a good top three! I think Jazzlyn could’ve done big things for sure on this show.