<p>^^^ Simon seems to have mellowed on X-Factor. I kinda miss that edge he gave to Idol…</p>
<p>It’s still early for Simon…Britney Spears seems to have stopped making cutting comments about the bad contestants compared to the first showing of the auditions.</p>
<p>I didn’t watch the show the first season, and have only looked in for short periods this time. The audience is filled with teenage girls who scream hysterically and jump to their feet every time a contestant comes on who manages to sing in key–no doubt egged on by the producing staff. It’s incredibly annoying. If any of the judges had anything more substantive to say than “You’re a rockstar” or “You have the X Factor!” or “I didn’t expect that from you!” I might have more tolerance, but they’re a boring bunch. Does it get better after the initial rounds? Do the girls ever stop screaming?</p>
<p>Panda made a big impression on me … I hope she does get well because her voice was the most amazing voice of the day for me. I could listen to her all day. “The Voice” would have flipped out for her, too.</p>
<p>Minaj, ugh. Seems like a freak show now, maybe she’ll surprise us. I will be interested to see how Mariah does. I watched an interview with her, and she didn’t seem like a diva at all. Very sweet, soft spoken. Perhaps too much so, and it gets boring when they won’t criticize the contestants.</p>
<p>Gene Simmon’s and Shannon Tweed’s daughter, Sophie, got through. Definitely not one of the highlight performances of Wednesday night’s show. I applaud LA Reid for telling her “no”. I thought it was funny how she kept saying how she didn’t want to ride her daddy’s coat tails but when it came time to introduce herself before her audition she said her name was “Sophie Tweed Simmons”. There can be only one kid with the name “Tweed Simmons”. I think the girl who followed her, can’t remember her name except that Simon said afterward that she is THE “drama queen” of the season, will be interesting to watch and listen to at boot camp. It will be interesting to see if she ends up in the same group with Sophie Simmons, since she obviously didn’t think Sophie made it through on talent alone.</p>
<p>Drama Queen was such a jerk! And Simon was right in that she SOOO oversang her song! I thought Sophie had promise…how was she supposed to introduce herself? Just Sophie? It must be tough to have a famous parent. People will always assume that you got ahead on your connections, whether you have talent or not. </p>
<p>I don’t think Sophie has enough seasoning to continue far in the competition, though.</p>
<p>elle, she could have just said my name is Sophie Simmons. The minute she added her mama’s name, her identity was revealed. I agreed with the drama queen, she was nothing special, and I am hoping the DQ sticks around for awhile-- she is extremely talented!</p>
<p>Talented, perhaps, and I can hardly wait to see how she badmouths more of her competition, lol! Her problem is hubris…she will make disastrous song choices or oversing her songs in a way that will just make us cringe–and think that she is doing the right thing. As you go deeper into the competition, song choice can be make or break.</p>
<p>There’s a ton of depth this season with the young talent. Notables for me this week were 15-year-old Lauren Jauregui, who sounds like she’s 25 not 15, as well as Nick Perelli, who sang “Fly Me To The Moon”. Also liked Dinah Jane, another 15-year-old phenom who lives in a house with 20 relatives. Even little 12-year-old Jordyn was so darn entertaining!</p>
<p>I’ve been watching X-factor just to see Jordyn – she was in a show with my daughter. The family invited a lot of their friends and theatre friends to go backstage and watch the audition, so I went. We got there at 8:00 in the morning, thinking she would get to audition in front of the judges in the afternoon, but she didn’t get to go on until it was around 8:00 in the evening. It was a long day! She did great. Cheerful the whole day, even though she must have been exhausted by the time they finally heard her – really a trouper.</p>
<p>mstee, Jordyn’s nerves at her first boot camp audition, along with the song, got the best of her. For me, the shocker of the evening was Nick Perrelli. Unlike his initial audition, he was a train wreck during his first boot camp audition. I actually thought he would make a nice run for several weeks but it’s not looking good. No results yet getting down to 60 from 120, here on the West Coast.</p>
<p>Sorry but the judges voted yes for Jordyn for the sole reason of annoying Simon. She got another shot of doing just that. And, the fact that the poor girl was sent home this early is probably the sweetest thing that could have happened. Did her parents not watch the show last year and witness the mental collapse of the young girl who was pumped up way beyond her talent level. </p>
<p>There is something tragic about putting young children on display in shows such as the X-factor. Exploitation and poor parental judgment come to mind. Are we really running out of crappy pageants and middle school productions?</p>
<p>No, I don’t think we’re not running out of pageants and middle school productions, LOL. Some kids are starstruck, and they see other youngsters on TV, and they want that too. My own daughter is starstruck and envies what she sees other youngsters doing on these shows and on You Tube. Sometimes the parents push the kids into these things, but sometimes the kids push the parents. I didn’t see the show last year – who is the young girl you are referencing from last season? I’m curious, and wonder if my daughter might benefit from seeing that (reality check). It has been a reality check for her watching what Jordyn has gone through, for sure. Some of the comments on You Tube and Twitter are cruel and vicious. A person has to have a very thick skin to put him or herself out there like that.</p>
<p>Rachel Crow was just 13 and Drew Ryniwiecz (?) was 14 on last season’s XFactor.</p>
<p>Is no one watching XFactor this season? Is there another thread or, if you are like me, having KK and Mario Lopez as co-hosts is just too painful to watch. These two make Steve Jones look like he was on par with Ryan Seacrest. Mario is fine on his “local” gig but not worthy of national attention. I won’t even comment any further on KK other than to say she is way over her head in both stature and ability.</p>
<p>Oh, we’re watching…painfully. My DH likes this show for some unknown reason. KK is just too bad for words. She can’t even read off the teleprompter. There are a couple of standouts this season for me but I’m waiting to see if they can continue to entertain without getting boring. As we found with Cee Cee, she had a couple of songs nailed, which we saw in auditions…take her out of that comfort zone and she’s really, really struggled.</p>
<p>KK needs to go.</p>
<p>You guys do realize all these “shows” are scripted, right?</p>
<p>IM - yes, I’m perfectly aware that they’re scripted. Demi and Simon are obviously playing off one another this season, picking on each others choices for their contestants. This is the entire point…even with the entire show written for her KK can’t get through it. You did read my post noting she couldn’t even read a teleprompter…ie, her lines, right?<br>
I’m not concerned that its scripted, it’s usually entertaining. She is just completely out of her league.</p>