X factor USA Season 2

[taf2002]

Fifth Harmony & Lyric 5 are the only one that I really enjoyed. I would rank Tate & Vino next. Carly sounded amazing but that song makes me barf. There were several who were just ok like Beatrice. Arin was boring & Cece was horrendous. So was Paige & Emblem 3.

[barbk]

Carly didn't sound all that good in the early part of the song, but I wonder whether it sounded a lot different in the room. She also had a few pitchy moments -- I wonder if the in-ear-monitors are as badly balanced as the rest of the sound and lighting for this show. She doesn't normally go off pitch so much.

(And what kind of lighting director & set designer puts a girl in a red sparkly dress in front of a pulsting red background with red lighting? I feel sorry for Paige. Tate luckily escaped the incompetent staging, and I wish more would do the same.)

[my little pony]

paige looked like the cutest girl in sgt pepper's lonely hearts club band

[BigB08822]

everyone's so overproduced. the backup singers were so loud on the cowboy's song it sounded like a duet in parts. they would really benefit from an unplugged week.

Well it was a duet originally so that could have been intentional.

[moebius]

Carly sang the song better than Sylvia from the 'Voice'.

[Mayra]

Britney makes awful choices for her kids.

I think she's got it mostly right with Arin Ray, Diamond and Carly. Beatrice is a whole other matter IMO. She goes out week after week with zero confidence in her ability or the song choice. All the other 13 year olds + Arin Ray are going out there seemingly without a care in the world, and she's singing like she's got the world on her shoulders. The background on her home life shed some light on that and I would agree with her that it is a lot for a 13 year old to carry.

Count me in as another who enjoys Lyric 145. Having said that, I think Fifth Harmony, Carly Rose and possibly Tate Stevens are going to be battling it out for the top spot.

[BaileyCatts]

At least CeCe's dress was nice and she looked good with her hair toned down. A little consolation for getting booted tomorrow night I guess.

Arin will probably go as well. I can't even remember how the rest did. I don't think anyone was particularly outstanding, but Carly and Tate will probably be 1-2 again.

[Aceon6]

Fast forwarded through the whole show last night. The only performances viewed in their entirety were Vino's and Lyric's. Did rewind to see the 2nd half of Carly's to see if she hit and she did, unfortunately her lower register isn't all that secure. CeCe seemed to be better this week than last, Arin worse. Still see them as B2.

[BaileyCatts]

Well I guess I didn't get that call right. But come on, CeCe was horrendous last night. How could she have come in 5th?! Arin wasn't that great either. Paige and Jannel definitely were not the worst of the night. And if Demi didn't want to make that call, she should have just picked Paige and let it go to viewer vote.

Poor Mario. I bet Simon is going to mess with him like that the entire season. He's done that both vote out shows so far. Good thing Mario can think fast on his feet. He's pretty good at hosting and keeping the show going but good gawd please get rid of Khole!!

[barbk]

I feel sorry for Jennel -- the songs that were picked for her were not generally at all good. Actually, the song choices are pretty awful from all the coaches -- and it sounds like the producers are picking a lot of the songs, very late in the game -- wasn't it mentioned that one of the groups only got their song at midnight the night before? Why?

I don't see any intrinsic reason why The Voice more often has good song choices, clearer audio, way better lighting, and infinitely better costuming/staging -- but if I were a singer and had a choice between the two shows, I think I'd much rather head to The Voice where I have at least a chance of selecting a coach, and a much better chance of getting some songs I could actually deliver well. (I wonder what Jason's time on X Factor would have been like had Simon been his mentor? Though, since the producers seem to be stirring the pot with song choices, maybe it wouldn't have mattered.)

Khloe is still awful. Frankly, I'd like to lock her and The Voice's Christina Millian (?) in the Sprint Skybox and launch them both into space. Cat Deeley puts all of the X Factor and The Voice hosts to shame.

[haribobo]

http://www.mjsbigblog.com/x-factor-a...dling-demi.htm

"And both acts were persuaded into performing songs they weren’t entirely comfortable with on the top 12 performance show. Garcia preferred the idea of Alanis Morissette’s iconic rocker “You Oughta Know” instead of Tina Turner’s “Proud Mary” and Lyric 145 wanted to transform Aretha Franklin’s “Respect” into a hip-hop anthem instead of performing the mashup of Katy Perry’s “E.T.” and Queen’s “We Will Rock You.”"

[Aceon6]

I'm going to miss Lyric 145, but I suspect that someone will pick them up. They're just likeable!

[Rob]

Britney's girls have no power in the lower registers. The songs she chooses have too much vocal range or they are just boring. Carly and Diamond pull it out at the end with the big notes. But Arin has been almost at the bottom for 2 weeks now, and Beatrice not far above him.

I can't believe CeCe was 5th - she was dreadful. But Demi totally blew it with Jennel. Lyric 145 was one of the only acts I liked and I am not that into rap or hip hop. Too bad they didn't get to sing the songs they wanted.

I thought Fifth Harmony was really good till the end, then they went all kinds of off key.

[BigB08822]

I think Britney's girls have no power in their lower register because she has the young group. Girls tend to develop a stronger lower register as they age and that often doesn't even really start to show much progress until well into the 20's I would say, if not later.

[taf2002]

Khloe is still awful. Frankly, I'd like to lock her and The Voice's Christina Millian (?) in the Sprint Skybox and launch them both into space. Cat Deeley puts all of the X Factor and The Voice hosts to shame.

I would put Cat Deeley in the same category as Christina although I admit Khloe is worse than either of them. Cat makes me want to barf.

[moebius]

The sing-offs are much better than the actual performances because the mentors don't know how to pick the right songs for them. Demi is trying to make Paige and CeCe into dance popsters which they are not. Paige, Cece's, and Jennel's sing offs showcased the strength in their vocals, unlike the their performances which emphasized on choreography, not voice. The choreography for all their perfomances are cheesy and overproduced which doesn't help them.

In all of the singing competitions, it seems that for all the ones that make it on the live shows, the auditions are their best performances because it is so organic and stripped down, not laden with all these superfluous additives.

[my little pony]

Khloe is still awful. Frankly, I'd like to lock her and The Voice's Christina Millian (?) in the Sprint Skybox and launch them both into space. Cat Deeley puts all of the X Factor and The Voice hosts to shame.

i'd love to get cat on another show. kloe's loud and stupid, mario's kind of douchey when they eliminate the people. i even prefer that guy from last season to them.

[Rob]

I think Britney's girls have no power in their lower register because she has the young group. Girls tend to develop a stronger lower register as they age and that often doesn't even really start to show much progress until well into the 20's I would say, if not later.

That is exactly why I think she isn't picking good songs for them.

[PeterG]

In all of the singing competitions, it seems that for all the ones that make it on the live shows, the auditions are their best performances because it is so organic and stripped down, not laden with all these superfluous additives.

I agree. When CeCe did "I Will Always Love You", she knocked it out of the park. Some of her competition performances make me wonder if she's the same person. But that's true for most of them. Most of this top group are not doing well vocally, Fifth Harmony being the exception and maybe Diamond White. Plus I think the performers are being pushed really hard to be too much of everything. Subtlety could win somebody this whole thing if they were brave enough to go against their mentors. "Landslide" is not a power ballad!

[my little pony]

i dont think britney is really allowed to pick her teams' songs. she isnt even allowed to hold her own money.