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Pop Rock Nation

Author: GG

  • The X Factor USA Top 12 – What You May Have Missed

    Britney Spears X-Factor
    I’m thankful to be able to continue writing my X Factor recaps on Pop Rock Nation. And while writing the “live blog” version of the elimination show has been a blast, because of how late I watch it on the West Coast, it’s not really “live”. Thus, I’ll write more of a recap/review of the show, with the idea that the people reading just want the big happenings and not all the minutia.

    I’ll still have some of the minutia as I wouldn’t be me without the fun, but sometimes insignificant details. But we’ll hit all the big spots each week first and make them the priority.

    How did the mentors put their acts into the finals?

    There is no audience vote on this first show. That will start next week. Instead, with 24 contestants left, each judge was able to secure two out of their four finalists and keep them safe, at least until next week. The other two had a sing-off and their mentor had to choose between the two to decide who was safe and who was eliminated.

    The problem with this was that when it came down to the final two, it was the most nervous sing-off of all time. However, based on who made it through, I’m not sure the decisions were based on the final sing-off as much as how different they wanted their final three to be.

    For instance, LYRIC 145 doesn’t need to be anywhere near a final anything, yet Simon more than likely chose them because he didn’t want two young girl groups taking votes away from each other. And plus, LYRIC 145 is more different than any of the other acts.

    Other than LYRIC 145, did the mentors make any mistakes?

    Here’s who were sent home tonight: Willie Jones, Diamond White, David Correy, and Sister C.

    Britney smartly sent through Carly Rose and Beatrice. As long as they don’t fail because of the pressure, they are shoe-ins for the top five. In fact, they sit one and two in my prediction. That left Arin Ray and Diamond White who are completely different artists. Ray is needed because he’s the only young solo male in the competition left. But there may not be anyone more likable than Diamond White. And her voice is clearly better than Ray’s. While it was sad to see Diamond go, it was probably the right move by Britney. It was shrewd and proved she wasn’t crazy, at least for one week.

    So, the other decisions were correct?

    I had Willie Jones making it to the top 12 during my prediction piece, but he wasn’t sticking around long. And I didn’t expect Jennel Garcia to do so well on Wednesday. LA Reid made the right decision with his choices. Tate Stevens won’t win the show, but with Sister C gone, he’s the only country artist left so he could stick around for a long time. David Correy was far too annoying to stay on the show for any significant amount of time. Demi kept the Paige/CeCe rivalry alive which should be focused on more since they spent so much time on it during the auditions.

    And even though I loathe Emblem3’s image, it’s fair to say that they have a great chance to win this thing. Simon sees stars. The only thing that can stop Emblem3? Well, how about food poisoning/dehydration (we know what dehydration really stands for) or ruining hotel rooms.

    How’s Khloe Kardashian

    In a word? Terrible. In the first two shows, there have been many issues with Khloe.

    1. She’s too tall. She towers over all the girls and most of the guys.
    2. For whatever reason, Simon either can’t hear her when she asks him a question, or she talks too fast for him to understand.
    3. She cuts the acts off mid-sentence if they’re not answering how she wants them to.

    She also pauses and waits and seemingly can’t find what words to say when her timing with the mentors is off. My buddy @rcallen12 made a great call. We should start calling her Khloe Dunkleman.

    Which are the best five right now?

    Give me Carly Ray, Beatrice, Emblem3, CeCe Fray, and Jason Brock in the top five after this week. Though Brock has struggled so far, I still think there’s a certain charisma to him that will get him further.

    What should we rename 1432?

    Simon is asking America to help in the renaming of the former LYLAS and 1432. You can do so somewhere on the X Factor USA website.

    By the way, they may have had to change from LYLAS because Bruno Mars’ sisters have a group named The Lylas.

    I would name them New Eden’s Crush. Eden’s Crush was the all-girl group from the WB show Popstars. It was the first time we all saw Nicole Scherzinger who we’d eventually get tired of seeing.

    Eden’s Crush – Album Cover

    Compare that to the current 1432. Pretty uncanny resemblance I must say.

    Until next week …

  • American Idol Season 11 – And The Winner Is …

    After last night, it’s really a toss up to me. With a gun to my head, I would probably predict a Phillip victory. It has more to do with Idol history than because I think he’s a better singer than she is. In fact, it’s the opposite. But, no female contestant has won since season 6 and Phillip’s music and style is more digestible by far more of the viewing audience. Jessica’s pop princess style is hurt by the fact that many pop princesses out there today are hot messes.

    But let’s get to it.

    (By the way, I had a chance to be there live tonight. My friend, the great Tiffany (@TVProducerLady) had a ticket for me, but my niece should be born any minute now.)

    8:02 – The crew except for Phillip and Jessica, including a more slim version of Jeremy Rosado, perform Bruno Mars’ Runaway Baby. Okay, on second thought, he’s not slimmer. It was just good angle.

    8:03 – Joshua Lidet tried to jump into a split James Brown style and nearly broke his ass. Live TV everybody!

    8:06 – A Dean Cain sighting! Reek, Reek (Brenda Walsh voice)!

    8:12 – Phillip is performing with John Fogerty. Sadly, they’re not singing Centerfield. Put me in coach, I’m ready to play, today!

    8:14 – My youngest kid Double J has an opinion on the performance. “Dad, they suck together.” I guess he has some Simon in him.

    8:22 – Joshua starts to sing and brings out his biggest inspiration, none other than Fantasia Barrino. Fantasia has quite the long-haired straight wig on and is wearing a body suit that is reminiscent of Missy Elliot’s fat, rubber suit on The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly) video.

    8:31 – The female contestants butcher through some Chaka Khan classics before Chaka herself joins them. She’s also wearing a body suit and actually looks younger than Fantasia. But what the heck is up with body suits. Word to ‘Tasia. J-Lo should be wearing body suits. You should be wearing pants. (Fantasia is my favorite contestant of all time, so it’s not like I’m hating on her.)

    8:43 – Ri-Ri is performing Where Have You Been. She looks absolutely stunning, except for the pile of dreadlocks that sit on top of her head. In my best Buddy Love voice, “I know dreadlocks, but shitlocks?”

    8:54 – Skylar Laine just got done performing with Reba McIntyre. And you’ll never guess. She wore a body suit that made her look like a pasty red-headed pack of hot dogs. Okay, I’m kidding. She didn’t wear a body suit and looked pretty darn good.

    8:58 – Every year, the judges tell the contestants to not sing Whitney or Mariah. Now they find someone who can sing Whitney and Mariah and they make her sing Whitney time and time again. Jessica Sanchez performed I Will Always Love You again.

    Colton the Muskrat
    Colton the Muskrat
    9:00 – Hey, it’s the emo muskrat, Colton! He and the rest of the boys are singing with Neil Diamond. By the way, I really missed on Jeremy Rosado. I think he’s gained weight.

    9:11 – In maybe the single best American Idol skit of all-time, playing off Randall Jackson’s insistence to tell people who are good singers that they can sing the phone book, they put the finalists in robes and have them actually sing the phone book gospel style.

    9:14 – Something isn’t right America. Fantasia and Chaka Khan wore tight body suits. And it’s J. Lo’s turn to get on stage and she wears baggy glitter sweats, hiding the badonk?

    (By the way, J. Lo ain’t walking away from this show. Where else is she going to get so much TV time to push the J. Lo product?)

    9:24 – Ace Young just proposed to Diana Degarmo! Ace Young just proposed to Diana Degarmo! She said yes! She said yes! Every dude who brought his girl to the show just scooted a few inches in the opposite direction and looked the other way whistling.

    9:29 – Jordin Sparks has grown up and is looking like a PYT.

    9:39 – The male finalists performed some Beautiful Bee Gees, but it was uninspired. What is inspiring though is Jennifer Holliday and Jessica Sanchez singing And I’m Telling You. That might’ve been the best duet ever in the history of the show, even with all the crazy faces Holliday was making.

    9:49 – Aerosmith is performing and my oldest kid walks in the room to say, “Wow, they’re old.” Kids these days. Well, they are kind of old.

    10:00 – After having to perform together pretending that they like each other, it’s now time for a winner to be chosen. Jessica wins or we riot!

    10:02 – Damn, we rioting.

    I like Phillip. He did very well. But he’s going to sell just about as well as Lee DeWyze and Kris Allen. Well, that’s unless he does what I’ve been suggesting and that’s to come out as Taylor Hicks’ cooler, hipper, younger brother.

    Jessica Sanchez has a real chance because of her background to become more of an icon to little girls and to her fellow Filipicans. Hopefully, someone will see that and she’ll get that chance.

    We also didn’t get the great moment from last year when Scotty dissed Jack Black after winning.

    Lastly, I’ll give you Elliott Yamin’s thoughts on the show. Sing like Yamin it!

    Missed the idol finale 2nite #AI …..but it sounds like I didn’t miss much by the sounds of who “won” #justsayin jessica sanchez is a REAL singer!..I thought this was a singin competition??..what a shame

    Seacrest out!

  • American Idol Season 11 – Who Makes The Final 2?

    I personally thought last night was Phillip’s best night. While the judges loved Jessica and Joshua and seemingly want those two in the finale, I was impressed with Phillip more than both of them put together. If you missed the performances show, I blogged it for Popblerd.

    The show starts with the threesome singing Got To Get You Into My Life. At this point, I’m sick of duet and group performances. Let’s bring on the elimination!

    Jimmy Iovine doesn’t think Joshua had as good of a night as the judges did and even blamed himself for giving him No More Drama, but still thinks he should be in the final two.

    Lisa Marie Presley performed her new single, lip synced it, and looked extremely tired. The entire performance was just odd.

    Jimmy wasn’t sure that Jessica had that one performance that she needed to win the show. But he also said that he thought she was talented enough to sing at the Grammys.

    Adam Lambert performed his new single on stage, and let’s just say he looked only about 1,000% more into his performance than Lisa Marie did. Lambert can sing. His vocals are pretty amazing. (As is his hair.)

    Jimmy thought Phillip’s final performance was the best of the night and that he had strong performances for two out of the three.

    And the first person who makes it to the final two is none other than Jessica Sanchez. We may get a girl winner for the first time since Jordin Sparks after all.

    And, facing Jessica in the finals is Phillip Phillips. Joshua has to go home sweet home. Of course, he closed the show down with an ultra funky version of It’s A Man’s Man’s Man’s World.

    So we get the Jessica/Phillip showdown, which I figured was the scenario with the worst chance of happening. I thought we’d either see Jessica/Joshua like it seems Idol wanted, or the all male showdown. But I dig it.

    Joshua closed the show by bringing his mom onto the stage. It was perfect.

    Seacrest out!