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Pop Rock Nation

Tag: The X-Factor

  • The X Factor – Who Makes The Top Five?

    Before we get into the show, I learned that Paula Abdul and Chris Rene are linked in some odd way. I have a friend who has met Paula Abdul before. If you know me or read me at all, you know I’m a huge Paula fan. So what if she didn’t have a fantastic voice. She was a huge pop star at one time and I wanted to marry her.

    The way my friend knows Paula is that her aunt (who has been in a few things herself) and Paula used to be best friends. I’ve seen photographical evidence. My friend’s aunt is Chris Rene’s cousin. So back in the day, little Chris and Paula may have crossed paths. Why is that at all meaningful? Well, maybe when my friend and I go to LA, we’ll “run into” Paula and now Chris. Maybe I’ll get to sing background on the Young Homie remix. Okay, onto the show.

    It was Michael Jackson night last night. Tito, Marlon, Jackie, Mama Katharine, Prince, Paris, and mean-muggin’ Blanket were all there. Where was greasy Jermaine?

    If you didn’t see last night’s show, you can get the recap on Popblerd.

    Based on last night, here’s my top 2 and bottom 2:

    Top 2
    Melanie Amaro and Astro

    Bottom 2
    Drew and Marcus

    I’ve been on a roll in picking who goes home, but I’m not quite confident now. With two more going home tonight, we’ll be down to five. I think Drew is caught in the crossfire of the Simon/LA turf war and it could be her undoing. And I just think Marcus’ lack of vocals are catching up with him. His charisma may possibly get him through though.

    The finalists are performing Man In The Mirror. Let’s just say that Chris Rene struggled. My man is out there without a life jacket when he has to hit certain notes.

    We’re getting right to at least one of the eliminations. It’s quite apparent who is running the show. LA and Simon still have all of their finalists left. Poor Paula.

    Chris Rene, the Teflon Don is through to next week.

    Melanie Amaro is also through to next week.

    Rachel Crow is also through to next week. Marcus, Astro, Drew, and Josh are still on the chopping block. Only one of them is completely safe from elimination. Drew looks terrified. Astro is swaggin’ it out. Marcus says he’s staying strong. And Josh is a little nervous.

    Tinie Tempah is performing tonight. If you watched WrestleMania or any of the baseball playoffs this year, you heard his big single, Written In The Stars.

    His performance consists of him jumping in place. If you can’t rap better than Astro, I’m not sure you should be on the stage on this show. Then again, my man sold millions of his single, so I guess he deserves to be there. At least he got Nicole and Paula to shut up and dance. Whoops, I mean stand up and dance.

    And Josh Krajcik is through. Well, my bottom two are in the bottom three. I really hope Astro gets through, but at this point, if Drew doesn’t make it, it’s entirely LA and Simon’s fault. And she’s already crying.

    And it’s Astro who is a goner. You can blame that one on Simon for two weeks ago. Blood on your hands Simon!

    I would imagine that my man is tied up with whatever Sony record label they are working with. LA should definitely be involved in the making of his record and call in his friends. I think it could be a decent sized success.

    Drew is up first to sing for her X Factor life with Listen To Your Heart. Based on her first few lines, vocally, this is going to be a complete mismatch. Marcus is going to have to get on his knees and beg. Drew is killing it on her way to next week. LA may lose two of his guys on the same show.

    Marcus has those “I’m done” eyes. What’s interesting is that Paula and Nicole have to make the decision. They both seem to be huge Marcus fans. But Marcus’ voice is just cracking all over the place. There’s no way he should make it.

    Predictably, LA is sending home Drew.

    Simon says it’s his fault that Drew is in the bottom because he has presented her wrong. He’s sending home Marcus. Simon cut a really nice “save Drew” promo. The guy is a master.

    Nicole says that based on the song each just performed, she’s sending home Drew. Nicole is deaf. Marcus was terrible.

    Paula says the save me song has to move her and she sends home Drew. Paula is not on my good list anymore. Nicole is deaf. Paula is blind. They’re both dumb. Game over. Simon and LA should be ashamed of themselves, but so should Paula and Nicole. The vote was in their hands.

  • The X Factor – Who Makes It To The Top 11?

    In my X Factor live blog last night for Popblerd, I gave out my top and bottom three based on performances.

    Top 3
    Drew, Melanie Amaro, and Stacy Francis

    Bottom 3
    InTENsity, LeRoy Bell, Chris Rene

    We’ll see how well I compare to America.

    I have never seen any of the X Factor UK elimination shows so I’m not quite sure what will happen tonight. One thing I do know for sure though is that Steve Jones’ nickname should be Mr. Anti-Charisma. Where’s Ryno Seacrest when you need him?

    (By the way, last night Drew really knocked it out of the park last night. Check out how she flipped Nelly’s Just A Dream. So creative.)

    I was hoping that they wouldn’t do the corny group song and dance ala American Idol, but alas, they are. All 12 are performing together. And LeRoy Bell missed his queue so badly that anyone who was thinking they were singing live just figured out that they weren’t. They should just eliminate him right now and save us an hour. They performed David Guetta/Usher’s Without You by the way.

    Also, just like American Idol, there’s a horrendously forced commercial spot. This time, the contestants are trying to pretend that they care about winning the show because not only will they get 5 million dollars, but they’ll also get to be in a Pepsi commercial.

    A dude named Outasight is performing a song called Tonight Is The Night, which is also *gasp* the jingle for the Pepsi spot that’s currently playing. I think I’m drinking Coke in protest. The only thing good about Outasight is that I thought he was the host of this show, Mr. Anti-Charisma Steve Jones. Wait, that’d have been a bad thing. Never mind.

    Finally, we get to the important stuff. Each mentor walks out on the stage with their peoples. As annoying as Nicole Scherzinger is every second of her life, I have to give it up to her. She looks well tonight.

    Jones announces that Marcus Canty is the first one through and he Dougie’s in happiness.

    The next person through is Drew.

    The third person through is LeRoy Bell. Um, ok.

    Astro is next.

    Lakoda Rayne also makes it.

    Rachel Crow is next through.

    Chris Rene also makes it through. All of LA Reid’s fellas are in.

    Josh Krajcik makes it as does Melanie Amaro. That means that Simon has all three of his acts into next week.

    One more act goes through and the two lowest voted on acts have to sing for their X Factor lives.

    Stacy Francis goes through so it’s up to The Stereo Hogzz and InTENsity to battle it out. It’s absolutely amazing that LeRoy Bell had more votes than The Stereo Hogzz. Shame on you America. Shame on you.

    The Stereo Hogzz are up first singing some beautiful Bee Gees via Destiny’s Child with Emotions. I guess they wanted to go safe for Paula, rather than in full swag. InTENsity is singing a very scared version of My Life Would Suck Without You (give them a break, they’re kids I say to myself). I can’t see the judges choosing them to go on.

    The InTENsity kids look very sad. Simon chooses The Stereo Hogzz to go home. That’s a bit of gamesmanship there. He doesn’t believe InTENsity is better one bit. Not after saying that the Hogzz were one of the greatest groups going today. Paula chooses to send home InTENsity. She knows she won’t win with InTENsity, but has a small chance with the Hogzz. Nicole in the most annoying way possible, says she sends home InTENsity. You know LA isn’t sending home Stereo Hogzz. No way, no how. LA sends home InTENsity. The girl in the red jacket is weeping hard.

    One thing I learned about this show is that if the Stereo Hogzz can’t get votes, no group is going to win this thing.

  • Big in the UK: Cooking the Charts with They Might Be Giants

    This is the sort of thing that probably wouldn’t happen here. I just don’t think Americans take their pop charts quite as personally or as democratically as they do in the U.K. Earlier this summer, a brand of kid’s shoes put out an ad featuring “Birdhouse in Your Soul”, the 1990 major label debut single by They Might Be Giants. The duo of John Linnell and John Flansburgh have, since they started recording original songs onto a standard answering machine in the early 80s, become the godfathers of nerd-rock, and now that their original fans (like me) are pushing middle age with mortgages and children, the band have found renewed success recording four albums of “children’s music”, and performing alternate shows for grown-ups and kids on tour. The idea of sticking TMBG’s loving ode to the nightlight into an ad for kids’ shoes might’ve been genius if it weren’t so self-evidently perfect.

    I don’t know how it’s working out for Clark Shoes, but it seems to be doing well for They Might Be Giants. The song re-entered the British Top 100 pop songs late last month. Of course, songs featured in popular ads often get enjoy a run on the pop charts here as well – just as Sara Bareilles, Yael Naim, or Phoenix – but those successes seem more like happy accidents. In the case of “Birdhouse In Your Soul”, a strange populist cause – okay, a facebook group – has formed around keeping the song on the charts and trying to advance it to the top spot. That said, after four weeks, the song has only gone so far as #70 (on the chart dated 8/21; the song falls back to #72 on the 8/28 chart).

    But that’s not to say it couldn’t eventually succeed. This isn’t the first instance of the Brits attempting to cook their pop charts. See also: Buckley v. Burke. In 2008, after Alexandra Burke won the TV talent show The X-Factor, a campaign by apostles of the tragic 90s singer-songwriter Jeff Buckley attempted to thwart Burke’s cover of the Leonard Cohen song “Hallelujah” from making its predicted number one debut over that year’s Christmas sales week by urging fans to download Buckley’s own version of the song.

    It’s a Brand New Record for 1990!

    The campaign failed, but just barely. Buckley’s song charted at #2 behind Burke’s. Still, the TMBG song, while it may linger on the chart for as long as the ad airs, probably won’t reach those sorts of heights. For one thing, “Birdhouse In Your Soul” isn’t being pitted against another version of itself, or even another song. Moreover the Alexandra Burke debut was a one-off event sales week; it was also a holiday week, and it’s a holiday week that The X-Factor has annually co-opted for just this eventful purpose. So Buckley v. Burke was framed as the classic battle over artistic legitimacy between a tragic rock icon and a freshly minted “mass-produced” pop idol for the very soul of the pop chart.

    As a fan of both Burke and Buckley (although, when it comes to “Hallelujah”, count me in with Team John Cale), I, frankly, prefer not having to choose sides. They Might Be Giants‘ Elektra debut record Flood was essentially the first record of 1990, and “Birdhouse In Your Soul” was instant classic that still makes me giddy and giggly every time I hear it – even more so now that I’ve got two kids singing along with me.

    Here’s the original video from 1990: