<p>I don’t think it was scripted but I DO believe that Simon may have known during rehearsals that LA thought the song was too old for her and Simon may have suspected that LA would confront him on it during the telecast. Either way, it will be interesting to see if Drew is in the bottom two or not tonight. If she is, we won’t know for sure if that exchange between the two of them was the reason or not. One conclusion that I will personally draw, if she is in the bottom two, is that Simon’s lobbying powers to keep one of his own around have been significantly diminished since he lobbied very hard.</p>
<p>^^ Two will go and I do not think they will let the voters decide the bottom two. I expect them to bring the bottom three, send home the absolute lowest, and then let the next two attempt to be saved. It’s also fair to assume that the all three bottom-dwellers will be eliminated in a matter of weeks. </p>
<p>There is only so much judges can do to save their own favorites.</p>
<p>LA really instigated something when he commented that Drew sounds the same every week. Once he said that, I saw it repeated over and over. Truly, is there any one contestant that doesn’t sound the same every week? They are who they are.</p>
<p>Singing aside, which I’ll grant to all of them since they made it this far, the ones that have the “X Factor” for me are Drew, Astro, Leroy, and Chris. Those four intrique me. I want to know more about them.</p>
<p>I think Simon was in an incredibly bad mood! Not only did he get into it with LA, he told Paula to shut up and was treating her much worse than he ever did on American Idol. Given that Paula can be wacky, that is why Simon brought her back, isn’t it?</p>
<p>Josh is still my favorite, but I don’t think he will win. He is not going to appeal to the 12-25 crowd that is the sweet spot for the show’s audience. It will be Astro. Rachel’s voice has some growing up to do. Astro has talent to write, although he can’t sing, but who needs rappers to sing? I don’t love rapping, but last night’s was somewhat tolerable for me.</p>
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<p>I really have no idea if that’s the “sweet spot” age group for X factor. It could very well be, but what is for sure is that the voting has not supported the groups and Astro. So far, it seems that the judges have lauded Astro, but that the voters placed in the bottom two, in spite of having really shaky contestants. </p>
<p>We’ll see tonight, but if he is in the bottom 2 or 3, he is toast. As he should have been last week. His salvation was to be opposed to the worst contestant in the finals.</p>
<p>Anyway, the quicker we will be able to fast forward to the next week, the better it will be. There are really fewer than 5 contestants who have a legit chance to emerge.</p>
<p>I wonder if Lacoda Rayne is getting voted through via the “vote for the worst” group which was famous for helping the least talented singers on AI to make it through week after week.</p>
<p>Drew bores the heck out of me–Every song sounds the same. </p>
<p>LeRoy is boring.</p>
<p>Melanie can sing, but she’s boring too. Maybe she should stick to gospel music.</p>
<p>Josh needs to clean himself up. </p>
<p>Marcus needs a pro to take him under his wing and mentor him a bit before he turns pro. He has the raw talent, but needs a little more guidance to put it all together. </p>
<p>Rachel’s voice needs a little more time. I like her though. She’s young and with the right people put in place to help her, she should be able to cross over into the music industry.</p>
<p>Chris impressed me the first time I heard him, but hasn’t really impressed me since. I don’t think he’s grown much over the competition. </p>
<p>Astro: I want to see this young man make it. Unlike the rest of the competitors, he’s writing his own stuff week after week. For a 14 year old, he has an amazing amount of fortitude and raw talent. He wants it so bad. I realize that many people interpreted his behavior the other week as being obnoxious, but what I saw was a kid putting up a front as to not look weak in front of people (with tears streaming down his face). Where he lives, a 14 year old boy won’t last long crying in public. I think LA is probably going to end up mentoring him whether he wins the competition or not.</p>
<p>Well, we will know soon. I look forward to see Paula crying again. I think Simon will see his girls saved. LA might lose one but Leroy will have a hard time. Unfortunately, the little rapper and slow Drew will be there for a while longer … for the LA vs Simon script.</p>
<p>Is that a spoiler, xiggi ?</p>
<p>Wasn’t when I posted it. Now it is. Groups are done. Three boys and three girls left. LA vs Simon battles coming up. After peeling the groups one by one and most of the old timers, the public will move onto the LA Boys. </p>
<p>Of course, the worst mentor has the best talent in Josh.</p>
<p>My tv went out. Besides the girls group, who were the bottom two and who went home?</p>
<p>Bottom two are Leroy and Marcus.</p>
<p>Poor Leroy…was hoping he’d be saved at the end.</p>
<p>My guess of who goes home next week are Marcus and Astro. But what do I know?</p>
<p>I’m glad Leroy went out “on a good note”. He sounded great tonight and really outperformed Marcus head-to-head. </p>
<p>Happy Thanksgiving all!</p>
<p>Michael Jackson’s children are in attendance tonight to see performances of their dad’s music.</p>
<p>Waiting for it to air here on the west coast. Wondering how Drew will fare, given the theme of tonight’'s show. One would think Marcus would be in good shape this week.</p>
<p>Yuck! What an atrocious and ridiculous production. Horribly scripted, awful song choices, Astro allowed to butcher songs at will, the usual slow Drew (surprise) and even Josh was at its worst by forcing a MJ song onto him. Did they expect him to launch into a falsetto or a moonwalk! The Jacksons could not wait to bolt. OTOH, they did not screw with Melanie too much for predictable results. That will probably come next week!</p>
<p>It has gotten so bad that it is hard to care about who goes home tomorrow.</p>
<p>I didn’t make it past Drew. The show should be renamed the “Why Factor.”</p>
<p>I agree, it was a big yawn tonight. </p>
<p>Drew has a great voice, but she only has one tempo, and it is getting very boring. My favorite, Josh, did not sound great tonight. Rachel looked awkward and over produced. </p>
<p>I continue to watch, but my heart isn’t in it at all.</p>
<p>Saw the previews, though, for American Idol. Can’t wait for January!</p>
<p>Melanie was the standout of the night-- by a mile. Probably not saying much.</p>
<p>I really liked Drew and thought it was one of her better vocal performances. Granted, she doesn’t change it up much but I still like her sound and quirkiness. </p>
<p>Nicole did her best to sabotage Josh’s performance. Those dancing girls were completely unnecessary! I was beginning to think the guitar was just a prop. I hope he uses it more in the coming weeks.</p>
<p>Ditto for LA Reid’s inclusion of so many girls in Marcus’s performance: The silhouettes of those girls reminded me of the wheel flaps on those big-rig trucks. I thought his opening was fine but then went downhill from there, including the back flip.</p>
<p>I liked Astro and thought he had good “positive” energy tonight.</p>
<p>Since it is going to be a double-elimination this week I think Chris Rene is in big trouble, but I’m not sure who the other performer going home should be.</p>
<p>My biggest disappointment with the show overall is the lack of instruments that each remaining performer plays. It would add another dimension to the performances if each singer would accompany themselves more with an instrument of their choosing.</p>