<p>Good point. Having the groups pre-selected eliminated a lot of the needless drama.</p>
<p>I’m enjoying the talent but for some reason I find the show very chopped up. It seems like a series of sound bites. I am sticking with it though and agree that it is 100 percent better than AI.</p>
<p>Well, my favorites made it through, along with some I don’t like at all. I can’t stand sock-monkey-girl or rehab guy (because he reminds me of someone I know) and the little rapper boy. I haven’t learned most of their names yet. I like the over 30s, and it will be interesting to see how the groups progress.</p>
<p>Who is “sock-monkey-girl”? hahaha I must have missed that one.</p>
<p>I wasn’t impressed at all when rehab guy attempted to sing this week. </p>
<p>I do like the show. I’m interested to watch how the contestants progress with the help of their assigned mentor.</p>
<p>I’m not a big country fan, but I liked the guy with the baseball cap (Tim?), and the rather hairy guy with the raspy voice. They didn’t seem to show the performances of a couple of the girls I like in the past, but that made it through. </p>
<p>I’m not keen on the little rapper either. But then I don’t like rap.</p>
<p>The little rapper needs to check his attitude and ego. I understand his hunger and drive and admire his fire, but I hope his mentor can teach him the difference between confidence and cockiness.</p>
<p>sock-monkey girl is the one with the large red lipstick that sang a capella in her first audition and changed keys a lot. Paula and Nicole voted no but Simon wanted to keep her. She sang better in later rounds but she just rubs me the wrong way and I don’t like the way she flaps her fingers on the mic. And the little rapper turned me off when he refused to dance. Plus I don’t like rap music either. On a positive note, I really like some of the younger girls (Jazzlyn, Ryan, Rachel, and the rugby coach) and I like Josh and the pretty boy and most of the others. I don’t remember all of their names yet.</p>
<p>I’m loving the 59-year old, Leroy. I was amazed at how awful Stacy (another over 30) was last night and then how great she was again today. She’s not one of my favorites, but she made it through. I thought Rachel, the 13-year old, was outstanding tonight and I’m glad she made it through. I’m a fan of “rehab guy” although I didn’t totally love his latest performance. I’m surprised that Dexter made it through, but I will be interested to see what they do with him - whether whoever mentors him can move him away from his James Brown impersonator silliness.</p>
<p>I, too, think there is so much talent here and I am enjoying this more than AI or The Voice.</p>
<p>There really seems to be an endless pool of amazing talent out there and it can be a joy to watch them blossom.</p>
<p>Commenting on the “35 songs to pick from” round, before the next cut is announced, here on the West Coast:</p>
<p>Disappointed with Rachel’s song choice but like her.
Liked Josh’s song choice and delivery.
Liked “rehab boy” Chris Rene’s original audition performance better
Like Stacy before she starts belting those high notes and oversings. Sorry about her dad.
Tiah’s getting stronger but those twitchy fingers?! (I’m with musicmom, there.)
I LOVE Leroy, just like jmmom. One of my faves!
I thought the groups overall were just so-so.</p>
<p>I’m really glad they added 2 more groups to the competition, using some of the solo competitors who didn’t make the initial cut tonight. </p>
<p>They gave Paula the groups? That’s not good-- for the groups. Glad Paula didn’t get the young boys.
I think Simon lucked out getting the girls. He probably made this decision.</p>
<p>Maybe they thought Paula would be less emo with groups rather than individuals.</p>
<p>I am sure Simon did have a say about which group he got. It’s his show. But I don’t think the girls are a shoo in. There are several guys I really like that seem to have that extra “something”. And several of them are in the over 30 group (Leroy, Josh? - is Josh an over 30).</p>
<p>I have not enjoyed any of Stacys performances since her original audition. I seem to remember really liking Melanie Amarro’s original audition - pretty sure she made it to the last 32 - did they even show her performances the last two nights? I am wondering if she is one of those they are not putting emphasis on so she can be the “surprise” standout in coming weeks.</p>
<p>Paula is a choreographer. Maybe that’s why they gave her the groups.</p>
<p>swimcat, Melanie Amaro had a brief solo in the same group with Jazzlyn. She sounded good but, compared to Jazzlyn, Jazzlyn stood out a little more. She’s still one of my favorites though. I was a little surprised when I found out Josh is over 30. At my age, it’s so hard to tell anymore.</p>
<p>soprano, I think you’re right. Give the groups to the choreographer. I wonder if the judges will have any “assistants” during these mentor sessions?</p>
<p>I hope they will. I enjoy Nicole as a judge much more than I anticipated (she seems remarkably a remarkably sweet person - somehow not what I expected from someone whose performances are so overly sexual - is that judgmental of me?), but I’m not sure what to expect of her as a mentor. She does not seem to have the same sort of background experience as the other judges.</p>
<p>Good point about Paula and the choreography. I hope they aren’t going to go all boy or girl bandy on us though.</p>
<p>Huh, I totally missed melanie’s group performance, and I remember seeing Jazzlyn’s. I guess I was so caught up in Jazzlyn’s whole emotional meltdown (that girl needs to get some self confidence!!) that I was just focusing on her.</p>
<p>Sock monkey girl! You guys crack me up. I wouldn’t have thought of that but if the shoe fits…</p>
<p>Paige Ogle is a local girl so I’m glad she was put into one of the new groups. </p>
<p>I thought putting through the girl who didn’t remember any of the lyrics called into question the entire process. Why did they even need that round if they were going to ignore it? I guess they couldn’t resist putting her through for the drama aspect. There is no way those choices are all based on talent of course. The producers have to try to put together a group with the potential for conflict and melt downs.</p>
<p>Not only did that girl not remember ANY of the lyrics, but the melody didn’t even slightly resemble “Your Song,” at least not to me. I agree with cartera45 that putting her through makes one question the whole process.</p>
<p>OK, am I the only on completely confused and exasperated that tonight’s X Factor is just a rehash of last week? Is the entire 2 hours just a replay?</p>
<p>We didn’t get X factor at all. Switched it on and the DVR said it was X factor, but unless the challenge this week was for them all to look like guys in baseball uniforms playing in the rain, the DVR lied.</p>
<p>The rain delay in the baseball game caused Fox to pull the show. It will be on tomorrow night.</p>
<p>The next show will air on Thursday night, when the 4 groups visit the judge’s homes. As for me, I will be visiting the temporary home of the California Golden Bears when they play USC on Thursday.</p>