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Tag: Alex & Sierra

  • The X Factor USA Recap: Season 3 – And Then There Were 3

    X Factor usa recap

    You have to hand it to the X Factor producers. They were able to stretch a show with just three acts left who were performing three times each, all the way up to the two hour mark. They sure stretched that first hour out, getting in just three full performances. But it was good TV.

    One of the things they do well is produce compelling human interest packages. It’s one thing to produce a talent show and it’s another to make people care about things they didn’t know they cared about. And it sounds like they’ll be back next year which is a good thing since this season was so excellent. The question is if Simon Cowell will have the same role that he’s had since the beginning of the US version of the show.

    We’re going to do this a bit differently than we’ve done this season. Who deserves to win? And who is going to win.

    Let’s get to the X Factor USA recap.

    Who should win?

    X Factor USA recap
    Via their Twitter page
    Everyone should know my love for Sierra by now. She’s all that and a bag of chips. While I jokingly say things like Alex doesn’t deserve Sierra and how when they break up I have dibs, he truly is the steak of the group. She’s the sizzle. But from the beginning of this show until now, she’s improved so much that if she were a solo act, I still think she’d be the front runner to win the show. She’s that magnetic.

    They also smartly performed Say Something which reminded everyone how their first performance of the same song was the best performance all season. They reminded folks who was boss.

    Carlito Olivero is the obviously not in the same class of singer that the other two acts are. But does he need to be? He probably doesn’t need to be now that he’s in the final three. I thought it would catch up with him before the finals, but his charisma carried him. He’s also clearly a hard worker. The man nearly sweats as much as James Brown in his prime. It’s all about the female vote. If he kills it with them, he could definitely win. But it doesn’t mean he deserves it.

    Jeff Gutt is also very deserving. I feel like Jeff wins last season running away and gives Melanie Amaro a helluva run on season one. He just has Alex & Sierra in front of him. But he also has a fantastic story. He was too big of a downer for me early on and while he has opened up his personality somewhat, there’s still some dark edges there. Will that hurt him? I think it will.

    I’m leaning Alex & Sierra with Jeff Gutt on their heels when it comes to who should win.

    Who will win?

    I think it comes down to a few things.

    1. Do the female voters love Sierra enough?
    It seems that they do. While the haters may be out there, I haven’t really seen them. I don’t think she did anything to irritate the young female voter on Wednesday, she and Alex are probably okay with the females.

    2. Is Carlito just cooler than everyone else?
    This is still a popularity contest. And you have to admit that Carlito is a cool dude. His performance with Prince Royce on Wednesday’s show wasn’t the greatest performance of all-time, but he looked like he belonged on stage. Now, I don’t really know Prince Royce’s work other than the popular cover of Stand By Me, but Carlito wasn’t overshadowed by him and belonged.

    3. Will Jeff’s tears overcome?
    I’m not sure if this was strategic or not, but Jeff Gutt cried his eyes out. He showed love for his mentor Kelly Rowand by giving her a photo of them together. He was cut previously. He does it for his son. His son gives him inspiration. If you’re looking to vote for someone based on story, Jeff has to be your guy. But to people like me, it came off a little heavy handed and I found myself a slightly lesser fan. It’s not because I’m cold-hearted. It just seemed a bit strategic, even if it wasn’t.

    Measuring all of those things, I still think Alex & Sierra win the entire thing. But if they don’t, I can see Carlito sneaking in. And if he does, we riot.

  • The X Factor USA Recap: Season 3 – And Then There Were 6

    X Factor usa recap

    Sometimes, I’m pretty good at this.

    At the end of last week’s show, I predicted that Josh Levi and Carlito Olivero (who I always pick) would be the two going home. But my sleeper pick was Lillie McCloud. If this were an actual singing contest instead of a popularity contest, McCloud is a shoe-in for the final three and possibly wins. But that’s not what this is. Early on, her story was strong. She’s a grandmother who looks twenty years younger than her age who had a music dream that was lost and this was her comeback.

    I felt that they started to lose interest in her. Much of the voting on shows like this is heavily influenced by the production. It seemed like there was less and less attention to Lillie’s story. Was it by design? Who knows. But I do think that they started paying less attention to her and thus, because of it, one of the best voices on the show can go home very early in the ball game.

    It’s time for this week’s X Factor USA recap. Each act performed two songs so they could make sure to keep us in front of the TV for two hours like always. The first song was a diva song, which seemed to be there so that guys would have to perform powerful songs by female artists. The second, and better song for most, was the unplugged performance.

    Performances of the night

    It was yet another strong night, but I’ll keep it at my favorite two.

    My favorite performance of the night was by Rion Paige, who has taken this show by storm. Her first song was a Carrie Underwood cover and she made a lot of ugly faces in the performance. But her second song was Glass by Thompson Square. It was the perfect touch of emotion and vocals I’ve seen so far on this season. Tremendous.

    What was my second favorite performance? Well, I’m biased toward Sierra (and really, this groups should be called Sierra & Alex rather than Alex & Sierra), but this time, I didn’t have to be. I enjoyed both of their performances. They did Destiny’s Child’s Say My Name which was fun, but their second performance was mean. It’s a song I hadn’t heard of until today called Say Something by A Great Big World. Sierra went behind the piano and you could tell she was nervous and her hands were shaking. But she delivered, Alex brought the chops, and it was magnificent.

    Have I mentioned that Sierra is fine?

    Duds of the night

    Duds have been hard to find these days. I’d say the worst song choice was Ellona Santiago’s If I Were A Boy. The irony of that song is that if Beyonce were a boy, she’d be about 1/10th as famous as she is.

    I don’t mean to pick on Carlito Olivero, but Let’s Get Loud was probably the worst performance of the night.

    Who are the front runners?

    If I were to rank the competitors at this point, here’s how I’d rank them (with their Twitter handles if anyone cares):

    6. Carlito Olivero
    5. Restless Road
    4. Alex & Sierra
    3. Ellona Santiago
    2. Jeff Gutt
    1. Rion Page

    Alex and Sierra

    For the second week in a row, I’ve given them their own section. You can watch their performance that I described above:

    Have I mentioned that Sierra is fine?

    Who goes home?

    Two go home again. One of them has to be Carlito right? If he doesn’t go, I think the show is worse off next week. There’s another act that’s set to go home next week and while I think it should be Restless Road, I think their fans will save them. (By the way, I thoroughly enjoyed Emblem3 last year and haven’t yet looked forward to watching Restless Road.) I think it could be between Jeff and Ellona. I’ll say that Ellona goes home as a surprise.

  • The X Factor USA Recap: Season 3 – And Then There Were 12

    X Factor elimination

    Oh X Factor. Why can’t you do anything right? And how much of this is to blame on Simon Cowell? Well, from a technical perspective, it’s not his fault that there was a technical slip-up, but this is his baby and the Mickey Mouse mistakes will all direct back to him as the face of the show.

    If you had invested two hours into Wednesday’s show like I did and then saw on Thursday that you weren’t going to get what was promised, which was an elimination, did you even bother with Thursday’s show? I don’t see why you would’ve. According to the ratings, no one did.

    The rhythm of the show is off. After eliminating someone tonight, they’re eliminating two people tomorrow. I wish the show was more organized. You have to think that this is probably the last season of the X Factor in the USA.

    X Factor Elimination

    Carlos Guevara was eliminated surprisingly. It made sense in that he was a great story, but when it came time to deliver, he didn’t deliver. Still, from a human interest story, they have to be disappointed that he was the first elimination. They could’ve told many more stories about Carlos.

    Performances of the night

    It was 80s night. This was both good and bad. It was good in the sense that most of the songs were fun and recognizable. But being recognizable made some of the acts try and change them up too much.

    Khaya Cohen performed Madonna’s Borderline, which was the perfect performance of the night. She has that Amy Winehouse twang. To me, it’s one of Madonna’s most fun song and Khaya’s performance was fun as well. However, she has the chops to sing it better than Madonna ever could.

    Rachel Potter and her legs performed Heart’s Alone. It was a diversion from her country style, but it worked well because it showed off her vocals and stage presence. She was once booed on stage, but now she’s getting those cheers, deservedly.

    Rion Paige sang Pat Benetar’s We Belong very well. She’s such a ball of fire.

    Duds of the night

    Tim Olstad just doesn’t have it. He redid Phil Collins’ Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now) and if I closed my eyes, I’d think he did a pretty good job. But in watching him, I had to see how uncomfortable he was (which made me feel uncomfortable) and since this is a TV show, he just doesn’t have it. Demi said it best. He doesn’t have the X factor.

    No one else really did terribly. Even though Carlito Olivero is a mess on stage, I found his energetic performance of Rhythm Is Gonna Get You fine. Can you really do an outstanding performance of that song, or is it supposed to be a clusterf***?

    Who are the front runners?

    At this point, my girl Khaya is the best singer. Simon is propping up Restless Road as the best thing since Wonder bread. And Alex & Sierra to me, seem to be the best mix of solid vocals, excellent stage presence, and creative versions of the songs they’re singing. Either that, or I just dig me some Sierra. She’s the baddest girl in his history of this show.

    I wasn’t a fan of Josh Levi’s version of Straight Up, but he’s got a mini-Usher vibe going. Everyone’s favorite grandmother, Lille McCloud took a step backward by doing Chaka Khan, but she’s still really good. I still think Rachel Potter has her work cut out for her, no matter how well she’s done so far.

    Who goes home?

    I think Tim is done. He’s like Old Yeller after getting rabies. We just have to shoot him out of his misery.