I totally agree with America’s eliminations. However, there were a handful of people at Michaela and Adriana’s level that could have interchangeably gone home instead (and no one would have complained). That being said, I think my rankings shifted a bit this week… but not much.
Here’s what I’ve got, now that Michaela and Adriana are out of the competition.
10) Dez Duron– At some point, his looks aren’t going to be enough. He is by far the weakest singer still left in the competition. Even though he wasn’t in the bottom last week, I’m still putting him in 10th place. I’m more surprised each week that Dez survives than if he were to be eliminated.
9) Melanie Martinez– She’s almost been eliminated 2 weeks in a row now. Obviously her fanbase isn’t as deep as her initial audition might have suggested. I think either Cody or Melanie will go home next week (with Dez hopefully), and it will come down to song choice.
8) Cody Belew– Again, an inability to pull himself out of danger (and backmouthing Christina Aguilera) is keeping him low. He’s the best singer out of my “bottom 3”, by far, but he’s lacking a specific “genre” each week, which makes him come across as just a karaoke singer. I don’t expect Cody to last more than 2 weeks. He won’t crack the top 6.
7) Nicholas David– I think his throwback style has limited appeal (especially as the field narrows). There are stronger singers who are more “radio ready” than Nicholas, who lets be honest, has no real future in the current recording industry. He’s a great cover singer, but he’s no top 40 artist, or a country star, or even really a potential christian artist. Where does he fit in?
6) Sylvia Yacoub– My Heart Will Go On? Ummm… this girl needs more guidance from Christina when choosing her songs. I think Christina will be absent from the finale this year. Sorry. She’s a strong singer, but if she keeps choosing sleepy ballads, she’ll be gone.
5) Bryan Keith– He’s not the best singer, but his voice is radio friendly, and I get that. His stage presence is getting better each week. I think Adam might actually have two singers in the finale (since the format changed, and no longer guarantees each coach a spot in the final 4). He still has a lot of room to grow, and really doesn’t have much room to have a “mess up” week.
4) Cassadee Pope– The audiences seem to love her. She does well on Itunes. She’s one of the weaker singers in the competition. However, I still say her past experience with Hey Monday is showing and it’s what is keeping her near the front. She looks great on stage performing (even if she doesn’t sound great).
3) Terry McDermott– If Adam doesn’t have two singers in the finale, Blake will. Terry and Cassadee are a strong pairing. Terry gets the edge though as he is a much better singer. I am a bit afraid that he doesn’t really fit any kind of current trend in music (much like Nicholas).
2) Amanda Brown– There’s no doubt that her performance this week didn’t live up to the hype of last week. She put a little “dent” in her ascension to the top. She needs to correct her song choices in coming weeks, or she’ll be in danger of losing her front runner status.
1) Trevin Hunte– He was top of the pack on Itunes, and lets face it, he gave the best performance last week. He can really sing, and he’s Amanda’s biggest threat. He also seems to know which songs suit his style, and which don’t. While Amanda now has a rough week to her resume, Trevin doesn’t. Don’t forget… Trevin beat Amanda in the knock out rounds. He could do it again.
I think this is a five horse race. Trevin, Amanda, Terry, Cassadee, and Bryan. One of them will miss out on the Top 5, the other four will compete in a potentially close season. I think it’s mainly between Trevin and Amanda, but who knows. It would be nice for Cee-Lo to nab a win, rather than Adam grab his second in three seasons, but that’s just being nitpicky.
Now, onto X-Factor thoughts…
12) Paige Thomas– I was dumbfounded when I saw that Paige was 8th place last week. Seriously, America? Alright. In the HISTORY of reality shows, I think that everyone who has sung Last Dance has been eliminated. So, I think the curse will at least cause her to be in the bottom 3 this week. She’s the worst singer in the competition, so I can’t see her staying around for another week. Even if her sing off is against CeCe.
11) Beatrice Miller– I can’t help but think this girl is being given terrible advice. Time After Time was a horrible choice for her. I would NOT be surprised if Beatrice was signing for her life tonight (or if she went straight home). I don’t know what her target demo is with the way that Britney is mentoring her. Demi gets a lot of crap for her shenanigans with Paige and CeCe, but Britney isn’t much better.
10) Cece Frey– Her pimp spot gives her a bit of a boost. Also, any fans who didn’t vote last week might vote this week to keep her safe. There’s a chance Demi loses two singers tonight, but I think Cece would survive a sing off if Paige went home just to keep Demi from going off the deep end. But those vocals were rough. I think she really needs to be going into a pop star direction like Gaga or Kesha. She’s not the next Whitney Houston. She’s not even the next Jessica Sanchez. She’s a little like your drunk friend at karaoke who warbles her way through ballads that are way out of her range.
9) Arin Ray– I didn’t hate is as much as I thought, but it wasn’t the right song for him. He’s getting slightly better advice than Beatrice, which almost makes me feel like Britney is purposefully sabotaging Beatrice to save her other kids. I hope he stays. If the sing off was Arin vs Beatrice, it’d be really telling to see Britney pick Arin over Beatrice.
8) Diamond White– She had an inflated vote result because of her dramatic reentry. I think she’s gonna settle down a bit this week. Her vocals were really shaky. As far as her staying in the competition for the long haul, there just are better singers than Diamond. They continue to give her rep that’s too big for her voice. She needs to sing some Rihanna or Ciara, so that way she’s being given easier music to sing.
7) Fifth Harmony– I still say this group is 5 soloists who sing really well, but not an actual group with the ability to really sing well together. They’re a lot better than that group from last season that was thrown together. They’re somewhere in the middle of the pack, I think, right now.
6) Vino Alan– It’s hard to put him so low when you know he polled third. Conventional thinking says… there’s no way he keeps up that momentum. Now that he’s taken Simon’s advice and strayed away from the rock songs, he’s actually been pretty good the last two weeks. So, I think he’ll earn a few more weeks going this way instead of growling out Nickleback songs.
5) Jennel Garcia– She’s still looking like mini-Demi, but she’s Demi’s ONLY HOPE of having something in the competition beyond next week. I don’t think Paige and Cece can survive this AND next week, especially with a double elimination (maybe even 2?) in play. She’s a great performer too.
4) Lyric 145- I’m surprised they’re polling so low. I guess America hates rap music. I don’t expect them to go home the first time they’re in the bottom (unless they’re up against Tate). Lyric is a star, with or without the 145.
3) Carly Rose– Awful song choice this week. But I don’t think it matters. People seem to really enjoy Carly Rose (who needs to permanently lose the Sonenclair part of her name). I mean, she sung well, but… it’s like a funeral dirge.
2) Emblem3– These guys are complete douchebags, but they deliver strong performances every week. I can’t imagine they don’t make the finale. 6th place for a group that’s a perceived “front runner” isn’t bad. It might have awakened their fans a bit. If they go up in the rankings this week, I’ll know they have a shot. If they stay the same or go down, I guess I’ll have to retire the idea that Emblem3 is finale material.
1) Tate Stevens– It’s hard to see a finale without Tate in it. I see him on the stage at the CMA awards in like a year, singing, and maybe competing for Best New Artist. I think he has a real career ahead of him.
I disagree with MJ. She named Tate, Carly, and Vino as “knowing who they are as artists”. I think only Tate and Emblem3 know who they are as artists, and I would give a slight nod to Lyric145 for possibly knowing who they want to be (but having a really hard time with bizarre theme weeks that are not conducive to a rap group). I think Vino tackling Nickelback 2 weeks ago proves he has no idea what’s going on. Either that or LA Reid hates Vino.
