Thursday, November 29, 2012

X Factor US 2: Top 8

Tonight was better than last week, but I wish they had better songs to perform. I was seriously hoping for something more current, but instead we got the usual stuff. This show was hilarious, most of the time, unintentionally. Haha.

As for Demi Lovato, just quit the show. Simon was treating her worse than Paula and the interaction between them got really uncomfortable to watch. What was that all about? Oh, and Britney Spears is turning out to be a good judge. Very nice.

Anyway, on to the rankings!

08. Vino Alan
You've Lost That Loving Feeling
Aside from the fact that this was a weird song choice for Vino, the arrangement was absolutely horrible. I don't know what LA Reid was thinking, but this just didn't work. I hated how the beat abruptly evolved into reggae and he seriously looked uncomfortable while singing the song. He did the best he could do with it though, so there's that. Haha. 5/10

07. Emblem3
I'm A Believer
Another predictably lame song choice! Part of me enjoyed the staging and I couldn't deny the fact that they sounded good for the most part, but I just can't with this song choice. They looked sloppy on running around on stage and there wasn't anything new with their overall performance. Yes, it felt like I've seen and heard them do that before. Like Britney, I was hoping for something out of the box from them. 6/10

06. Diamond White
I Wanna Dance With Somebody
A Whitney Houston song again? Granted that Diamond started the song solidly and she sounded great for the most part, the busy staging and production towards the end somehow made me like the performance less. I also understand the need for her to go upbeat as this will add some sense of youth to her, but the whole performance was oddly forgettable. I don't know. Something more current would've been a better choice for her. 7/10

05.Tate Stevens
Somebody Like You
And of course, Tate suddenly pulled out the secret weapon in winning a reality singing competition - THE GUITAR! Haha. No, there's really nothing special about his voice and he's no different than any other male country singer out there today, but I must admit that Tate is a stand up guy and utterly relatable. So while his vocals were uncharacteristically pitchy, it was actually a smart move to go upbeat and the song choice fits him like a glove. Not a fan, but I enjoyed this. 7/10

04. Cece Frey
Lady Marmalade
While Cece's performance was still vocally uneven, I thought that this was the best she has ever sounded. Her vocal control was still all over the place, but she managed to still sing on key for the most part and she hits her high notes pretty well while a visual clusterf*ck was happening on stage. Somehow the dancers enhanced the total performance, but I digress. This was strangely compelling. 7.5/10

03. Fifth Harmony
Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You)
I mentioned before that if one can't top Kelly Clarkson, don't do any of her songs. While I wouldn't particularly say that Fifth Harmony sounded better than the original American Idol, this was actually pretty terrific. Lauren, who acted as the lead, sounded fantastic and Dinah actually gave dimension to their vocals. I also liked that they actually had harmonies with a bass line and a melody line that supported the main melody. I agree with Demi that they needed better choreography on this, but that's just nitpicking. 8.5/10

02. Carly Rose Sonenclar
Rolling In The Deep
When Amanda Brown covered Someone Like You on The Voice this week,  I said that there's NOTHING she could do to make her rendition better than Adele's or change the song up in any way that would leave anyone amazed. Simply put, Adele songs should, in general, be left alone. Color me surprised when I actually found Carly Rose's version of this popular Adele song quite impressive. Her vocal control was impeccable with some pretty ridiculous range. But it was her fantastic phrasing that made all the difference as she managed to make some interesting stylistic choices on her vocals to differentiate her version to Adele. She didn't translate too much emotion - she looked disconnected from it - but vocally, this was sensational. 9/10

01. Paige Thomas
Never Gonna Give Up
Paige will NEVER be as good of a vocalist as Carly Rose, but she looked like a seasoned performer on stage - something that trumps vocal prowess on this show since this is about that X Factor. I was seriously perplexed with her song choice, but she pulled it off amazingly. I thought she sounded great especially during the verses and she managed to be on pitch even after she started moving. I loved the arrangement of the song, she looked like a legitimate star and I liked that she was having fun on stage. This was significantly better than usual and she's possibly one of the few that didn't get swallowed by the big production. Good job. 9/10

PREDICTION
Who should go home?
Vino Alan
Emblem3
Who will go home?
Vino Alan
Cece Frey

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

Carly Rose was my favorite of the night. Agree with you about the emotional connection to the song but then again shes only 13 doubt she has had the experience to connect with such a soulful song.

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