The X Factor USA Season 2 – And Then There Were 12

I think we need to hold a moment of silence for my guy, Jason Brock who was unjustly eliminated last week. In three, two, one …

I’m not exactly sure why anyone would vote for CeCe Fray after her horrendous performance of Eye Of The Tiger. Jason Brock wasn’t great himself, but from a talent standpoint, you can at least tell that he was head and shoulders above CeCe. But America didn’t think so and they sent him home.

What about this week? It was “diva” week, which meant that everyone performed a song by a famous diva. Well, except Lyric 145. For whatever reason, they were allowed to perform what was essentially Queen’s We Will Rock You. They added a small portion of Katy Perry’s ET to get around it. Vino Alan kind of cheated too. He performed Let’s Stay Together very well, but last I checked, Al Green wasn’t diva. Oh, it was Tina Turner’s version? Eh, that’s Al.

For the most part, the show was good. There were a few missteps which we’ll get to below, but this is now two weeks in a row in which the performances have been good after that shaky, shaky first week.

Performances Of The Night

Carly Rose Sonenclar’s version of My Heart Will Go On is now my preferred version. I’ve never really liked that song because I thought it was way over the top with unnecessary theatrics. But Carly Rose knocked it out of the park. I’m not sure she’s playful enough to win America’s vote, but from a technical standpoint, she’s the best of the acts.

Jennel Garcia started the show with a really good version of Proud Mary and it brought back her fun side which was replaced of late by a dramatic-emo side. Tate Stevens followed her with From This Moment On which was a bit cracky at points, but so emotional. Fifth Harmony nearly committed X Factor-cide by singing Mariah Carey’s Hero, but because they perform in harmony, it added substance and wasn’t boring.

And last, but not least, Emblem3 flipped Alicia Keys’ No One like I’ve never heard it flipped. It literally could drop as a single today and go top ten.

Were There Any Duds?

Arin Ray was quite boring, though I wouldn’t say his version of Madonna’s Crazy For You was bad. It was just boring. He’s the one guy in the competition who can actually use energy and dance moves to enhance his performance like Marcus Canty last year, so to sit him down and make him immobile was a mistake. The song was probably a mistake too because while Ray’s strength isn’t in a diva-like strong voice, there were diva acts that he could’ve performed better.

But that wasn’t the worst of it. After hearing the negative feedback, Ray had the worst boo-boo face on of all-time. It was as if he admitted failure, which I don’t imagine will hold well with America. That boo-boo face could cost him.

CeCe Fray, oh CeCe Fray. Even when she doesn’t do terribly, she still loses. There’s something about her that makes you feel whatever the reverse of inspiration is. And it’s not like she’s not charismatic. She is, but now, you feel sorry for her whenever you see her perform. She tried to sing Celine’s All By Myself and Simon said it should’ve been performed all by herself, as in without an audience. Ouch!

Who Improved Their Stock?

Slowly, but surely, Paige Thomas is coming into her own. Like Demi mentioned, Paige does need to show a fun side rather than always being so dramatic, but so far it’s worked. While her version of Last Dance wasn’t one of the best performances, she’s finally meeting expectations. Because of how they marketed her early on in the show, we expected her to immediately become one of the best performers (this also hurt CeCe). She didn’t meet those early expectations, but now she’s come into her own. Her sets are the most creative and brave and she’s always changing up her look.

Who Hurt Themselves?

Lyric 145 has been hot and cold and I actually dig them now more than ever, but Lyric Da Queen may get them booted. After their “cheating” performance, the group didn’t get great feedback from LA, Britney, and then Demi. While Demi was giving her criticism, Lyric spoke into the mic and told her fans that she loved them too. It was a huge diss to Demi and was really rude and made the viewer feel uncomfortable. Lyric, they already want to get you out of there because you’re hip hop, don’t give them more reasons.

(Edit: My friend @TVProducerLady said it may have been a bad cut that made it look like Lyric was being rude rather than her actually being rude.)

Beatrice Miller needs to find what she had in the auditions and find it fast. She’s so talented, yet hasn’t shown it on the live shows.

Khloe Watch

I think I’m going to have to lay off Khloe for a little while. She didn’t actually bother me this week. They limited her role by not allowing her to speak on the live mic that much. She was in and out quickly and was actually good in her role of trying to make the acts feel better when they received negative feedback.

Who Goes Home?

I think it’s going to be CeCe again like I picked last week, but my worry is that Lyric Da Queen’s shenanigans may hurt Lyric 145. I’ll still go with CeCe, but not as confidently.