The X-Factor (USA)

[bostonboy20]

CeCe and Paige both need to go...they really are not good. They sounded good in the audition rounds, but man, get them on the live show and they can hit their high notes but every other note is so off and flat and Paige's annunciation of words is horrible.

Carly needs to win...Emblem 3 I enjoy but the past 2 weeks the song choice has not been right. Everyone else is pretty forgettable each week.

[Laufey]

I knew Cece wouldn't be at the bottom this week.

I'm so glad Carly was #1 again.

Kinda shocking that Dino went home.

[Callum]

Surprised the judges enjoyed Carly this week. I for one found that rendition painful and utterly horrible.

[BreakTheIce]

Why are you guys talking about X-Factor (UK) in my X-Factor (USA) thread?

Britney Spears - on track to set record for most money earned per word said on a TV show judging panel.

[DonnieDarko]

I can't stop laughing at people saying Cece needs to go. She's the only one there that has the whole package - something that is used as a slogan for this show. Cece's voice is great, her personality outshines everyone else that is still in the competition. I'm not surprised that few episodes back, Britney wasn't able to say anything else than the already famous "sorry, I just don't get it". Cece was amazing and she'll be fine without winning the whole damn thing. She'll work her way out.

Most probably Carly will win, but I'm not sure if she's ready to be a real singer, you know, in the spotlight and all this stuff. Her last performance was awful. Glad that both Vin and Paige were voted off. Both, especially Paige, were rather bad. Now, Fifth Harmony and Diamond White needs to go. Not impressed by Emblem 3. Boring.

[Laufey]

The bitchy diva thing works for Christina I don't see why it wouldn't for Cece.

[Laufey]

Yeah but she is a famous woman and was once at the top, or well near the top. There are other factors in her drop than her stuck up bitchy personality.

[DonnieDarko]

The problem with Fece Fry is that she's just not likeable enough to snatch that #1 spot. She might have the glamour poppy stage presence down, but her oversinging (or lack of pitch control) really bogs down her performances, and her acting like she grew up in the streets and fought her way to be on the X-Factor Top 12 shit has really grown old fast... she needs to shed her fake-ass diva persona and just become a more humble person (and get rid of those effing cheetah spots; which she said to Demi during Home rounds that she'd get rid of forever - lie!) and then maybe she'll get somewhere on the show.

As for Emblem 3, they have the hormonal tween crowd flocking to their every bicep flexing, but they ain't gonna end up in the Top 2, I can bet you. Their singing style is basic as all hell, and they just don't really stand out as true musicians (even though douchenozzle blond boy keeps acting like they are). Can't wait to see their (esp. blond prick's) reaction when they get sent home.

I agree with everything you've said about Emblem 3.

As to Cece - you're saying she's not likeable enough. For whom? I like her enough, people like her, she's still on the show. Also, I have no idea why you think she's fake or not down to earth. She's friends with Jennel and Willie Jones (still stays in touch with both of them), she said she's having hard times after Paige left. Do I have to remind you that X Factor producers tried to fool us with their BS how Paige and Cece didn't get along? Since the start of the live shows I can't think of one situatiuon where she was bitchy or stuck up. I really can't.

It's obvious that the producers felt Cece had the personality that would make you love her or hate her (and good background story), however, it turned out she's just as nice and down to earth as, for example, Jennel Garcia or Tate Stevens. They really tried to make her look like an ultimate bitch, which she's really not. I do not want to be annoying but she never said the spots will be gone forever.

Just the other day I've seen this, she seems cool.

[Laufey]

Have they changed her blonde hair style/color or is it just that I have gotten used to it? I like it more now than I did at first.

[DonnieDarko]

Have they changed her blonde hair style/color or is it just that I have gotten used to it? I like it more now than I did at first.

They changed it. I had doubts about it, she was looking great with her natural hair, but the blonde is making her look more like a pop star (which is one of the elements that an X Factor winner should have).

And btw, Cece did great last night. Again, the judges hated it and that's why she'll make it through (I hope!).

[bostonboy20]

I'm sorry CeCe did not do great last night. Yes her first song was her best vocal yet (but she still was shouting and pitchy all overy the place)...but the Katy Perry song was just horrible.

[DonnieDarko]

I'm sorry CeCe did not do great last night. Yes her first song was her best vocal yet (but she still was shouting and pitchy all overy the place)...but the Katy Perry song was just horrible.

Well, I kinda agree. Edge Of Glory was amazing, the other song was good, but definitely not her best. Sad that she's gone, beacuse as Ive said earlier, she was the only one with the whole package.

Now that she's gone and Diamond is gone, Carly will win, no doubt. And that's not good, beacuse she's not ready.

[Laufey]

I'm worried Tate might win.

I'm rooting for Carly.

No doubt those two will end up in the top 2... like they have been for the past 5 weeks.

Cece not being in the finals sucks. Fifth "Harmony" aren't very memorable I'm shocked they have made it so far.

[Laufey]

Wow they really scared me last week. When Fifth Harmony made it through to the final I got worried that Carly might drop out. I'm glad it turned out to be Emblem3.

One thing which was odd though. When Britney was asked for a comment after Fifth Harmony made it through she said something like this: "I'm shocked... I thought it would be the other way around with the groups". At this point it had not yet been revealed that Emblem 3 didn't make it. Is it possible the judges already know the results and that she kinda slipped with that comment? On the other hand she looked really nervous when she was later up on stage with Carly and they were announcing whether she or Emblem3 would go to the finals.

Anyway I'm looking forward to seeing Carly win next week.

[BreakTheIce]

Finals next week? I'll be tuning in again. Last time I watched was in the top 12 week.

Hopefully the leftover contestants don't make me go

Cuz top 12 was a hot mess.

[Laufey]

LOL that animation is from when they announced Fifth Harmony was going through.

She looked really worried after that.

[AlmondMilk]

Well, now that Emblem3 is out, hopefully they can continue making music that's more like their audition piece.

My favorites from youtube videos (I still miss the show when it plays, and it rarely lasts On Demand) were Vino and Carly. Vino is gone...so Carly has to win.

[sokker]

Well, now that Emblem3 is out, hopefully they can continue making music that's more like their audition piece.

But it doesn't matter, because they'll still be obnoxious douchebags. Oh well.. I don't care. My boys got signed so I don't give a fuck what happens to Emblem 3.

[Laufey]

Which boys got signed?

[sokker]

Which boys got signed?

Union J from The X factor UK

[BreakTheIce]

Didn't watch all season after the top 12 but did watch the finale. I was glad to see that my favorite of Simon's groups was in the finals and I pretty much called out Carly as being Britney's best chance (and my favorite to win) but she came in second as America picks yet another country singer to win a reality singing competition. This isn't unexpected though and historically the country singers that win these shows (or that don't even win sometimes) have a better chance at a career than those pushed right into mainstream radio. Very few pop/rock artists have come out of these shows and sustained a proper career. Off the top of my head I can only think of Kelly Clarkson who's maintained her popularity well after her winning Idol.

Some thoughts on the show.

Carly - Brilliant vocalist at such a young age and I think will get signed regardless of finishing second. I think her duet with LeAnn Rimes really hurt her though as that just looked awkward and misplaced and to me was her weakest performance of the night. Still too soon to say if she can sustain a career. It will come down to how she is marketed. I hope they actually push her to sing ballads on her album and not just radio friendly pop and she ends up being a younger, refined Leona Lewis type.

Tate - I'm not a big fan of country music but he did seem to have a good string of performances. They just didn't entice me but I'm sure what he did was greatly appreciated by the country fanbase. There weren't that many other country singers in the competition to begin with so I feel as if he got lucky there because he wasn't forced to split votes with any other contestant. This probably is why he won because in my mind Fifth Harmony and Carly probably do have a minor overlapping fan base as they are young female vocalists and despite being in a group everyone in Fifth Harmony sings better than most girl group members. So I don't think boys drooling over a girl group would be voting for Fifth Harmony. They weren't about the sexual appeal of a girl band.

Fifth Harmony - I actually had a feeling this was Simon's best group and it was obvious they were (vocally at least). I think their performance with Demi was pretty nice actually and if they don't get signed they could just end up becoming her backup vocalists. Statistically girl groups don't do great in shows like this so good for them for finishing third.

Onto the judges:

Simon - has little credibility and is very predictable now. He was actually more appealing a decade or so ago during the earlier seasons of Idol because he was more cruel then (watch it back and you'll know what I mean). It seems that on his own show he tries to pimp the show and the contestants more than he should and I don't like him as a judge on this show.

Demi - her inexperience in the music field shows as she's (from what I've read) the weakest mentor on the panel. That said she can give good, sensible critiques and is a good vocalist. She isn't a bad choice for this show. However, I don't think she brought in the younger viewers the show was expecting to get when they signed her on. Demi's fan base is very loyal but very restricted as well. She lacks the broader appeal some of her other Disney co-stars have/had achieved (Miley for instance).

Britney - is (not surprisingly) a good mentor and can easily pick a style of music for each of her acts that suits them and knows instantly what type of music suits a person put under her wing because she's been in the industry ever since she was a child. Her critiques however are very abrupt, short, and rushed in my opinion and you kind of want to hear more of her thought process but she just leaves a listener vacant. I don't know if it was worth putting out $15 million to bring her onto the show.

LA - is a consistent but boring mentor/judge. It's good that he's leaving next season and I hope they bring in someone more lively.

My problem with the show - The winner of this show wins a $5 million recording contract. Yet, I have failed to see any music, video, album, magazine prints, promotion, press, etc. for the season 1 winner and it's been a year since she won. What ever happened to her contract? Will the same thing happen with this guy? Unless this show puts out someone who actually delivers on the charts, it has (for me) very little credibility in terms of finding a relevant recording artist.

As celebrity-obsessed Idol has become in recent seasons, where it went to a show where it was about the contestants to a show where it's mostly about the judges pimping their new music (JLo), it still has more credibility than both The Voice and X Factor (US) because it has delivered in terms of chart success. And I'm not taking about Kelly Clarkson's worldwide success here. She wasn't lucky to find Idol. Idol was lucky to find her.

But even beyond Kelly, Idol delivers better on the charts. I didn't even watch last season of Idol at all. Yet I find myself enjoying Home by Phillips and only then found out he came from that show.

[Callum]

110% sure when Britney leaned into Carly and spoke into her ear she told her she had a recording contract regardless of not winning.

So, all is well.

[Laufey]

I'm really sad about Carly not winning.

I think it would have been a more "even" victory for the two of them had Carly won. Even if Tate had been in 3rd place he could have started a successful career in Nashville.

But hey the runner ups in singing competition have often been more successful. Britney herself came second in Star Search when she was a child and the winner is probably living at his parents basement watching Britney videos on youtube (ok maybe a little exaggeration).

Britney better use her connections and get Carly a good contract. You could see how sad she was when Tate was announced the winner... and I actually respect her for not putting up a fake smile.

BreakTheIce: Britney was obviously put on the show to get all the Britney fans to tune in. Although the show didn't get higher ratings I still don't think we can underestimate the power of Britney because for all we know the ratings could have been much worse without her. I admit that it has often been painful to watch her repeat the same short lines as a judge (I think it has more to do with her anxious and shy personality than lack of knowledge) but thankfully she turned out to be a great mentor.

[punk301]

Yea but when you think about Carly clearly got the short end.i mean lets look at few things here.as far as the duets went.she got screwed.tate got a group that catered to his style.fifth harmony got Demi,who's got a huge fan base.and Carly got stuck with Leann rimes. Not that I don't like rimes.cause I do.but you could clearly tell she wasn't in a good state of being.there were points were she had to stop.which hindered the performance.you could see it on Carly's face were she was worried.hell you could see it on Britney's.carly had the song going good till she came out.you could clearly see where Carly wanted to go all out vocally and that she was clearly told not to.hell she seemed like she was holding back all through finals till she sang her last song.but it's all good cause I can definitely see her out selling both Tate and fifth harmony when the time does come.

[Mr-Pickles]

According to data released by FOX, The X Factor is the program with the best performance in social networks, quadrupling its activity with networks in the second season. An example? More than 522,000 comments on social networks per episode - the season of 2011, with Paula Abdul and Nicole Scherzinger, the program had an average of 132,000 per episode.

Other impressive numbers of X Factor: the episode of December 5, the program could topple 112 trending topics on Twitter, and comments on the networks generated an estimated 858 million impressions. What people were talking about this day? About candidate CeCe Frey, for example. Her Twitter profile was mentioned more than 89,000 times, and her name was mentioned more than 73,000 times. The next night, Her elimination has generated 9207 comments per minute. Likewise, her mentor Demi Lovato won the race in networks that day, receiving over 103,000 mentions on Twitter after the episode.

Ann-Marie Thomson, director of Syco Entertainment, attributes the success in the networks' to the constant dialogue with the fans. And yes, the X Factor considers the comments of the fans! "Feedback influences them in many aspects of the program," she says. "They tell us what they like and do not like to watch."

"We are at an interesting time, when the digital public is growing exponentially and we embrace the challenge of getting as much as possible this growth. With solid partners like Pepsi could dominate this ecosystem expansion, controlling over 25% of the conversation on the networks each time our program is in the air, and often when the episode is over. We extend to the subject of the X Factor in conversations in networks over the weeks and, more importantly, we are seeing the result of all this activity on our YouTube channel, which records the impressive number of 30 million views each week," says Jill Johnson of Syco Entertainment

So, who is leading the Twitter between candidates that are in late tonight? Tate Stevens, 38, a father of two, has more than 147,000 followers, ranking third; Fith Harmony, a group of five girls, is in second place with 221,000 followers, Carly Rose Sonenclar has twice that number - the girl of only 13 years already surpassed 500,000 followers!

[Laufey]

Yea but when you think about Carly clearly got the short end.i mean lets look at few things here.as far as the duets went.she got screwed.

Their vocals just didn't match well together and it turned out messy.

It was pretty stupid to have famous artists performing with them because people who don't care much for the show might vote based in the guest celebrities. I can totally picture myself voting for someone who performed with Britney or other artists I like if it was on a show I didn't care much for or just tuned in for the first time.

[FanofFiction]

Now that the season is all said and done, I'll discuss.

Carly and Tate going to the finale was obvious. I thought Carly was going to win. Really though, I didn't care for either of the top 2. Tate was boring to me (I don't really care for 99% of country music). Carly was a little too theatrical for me. I'd love to see a musical on broadway starring Carly- but I'd never sit and listen to a Carly album.

I loved Fifth Harmony. LOVED them. Love the girl that looks like a young Jennifer Connelly. She's great.

Emblem 3 was so over over over overrated. Great bodies, only one had a handsome face, and they couldn't really sing. Did not understand the hype at all. Not original, but they thought they were. They reminded me of an LFO reunion tour. Everytime they talked about originality, I'd cry from laughing so hard. That said, if they release a catchy single... I'd probably buy their album in spite of myself. They did have a couple decent covers... but nothing great. Not yet.

I liked Diamond White. Sweet kid. Decent voice.

Cece was a bitch. No talent to back it up. How she made it as far as she did, I don't have a clue. She was beautiful, maybe that got her some votes.

Lyric was good. Their problem I think, they had to keep doing songs when they should have been doing raps. Movie week should have been Gangsta's Paradise or something, not supercalifragili.... whatever... It sabotaged them.

[BreakTheIce]

So reports are in that LA will leave (doesn't want to return next season), and Britney will be asked to leave too, which was pretty obvious given her $15 mil price tag and how boring she is as a judge.

[BFizzle]

Britney will be asked to leave too

I'm not so sure about that. They already confirmed her for season three in November, and this season was one of the most talked about shows on social media networks. The show only just started to generate the kind of buzz and attention it needs since she joined. Not to mention she's arguably the strongest mentor. They'd be pretty stupid to ask her to leave just because she isn't beating her contestants with umbrellas when they get the boot.

[BreakTheIce]

^I read it here http://omg.yahoo.com/news/britney-sp...us-weekly.html

I also thought she would be returning for a third season. I think constantly changing judges hurts this show.

[FanofFiction]

Britney didn't add a thing to the show for me. Even my hubby (who loves her to no end) didn't think she brought anything to the show.

[BreakTheIce]

She doesn't really give critiques or criticism as a judge, she just gives really short comments which seem so misplaced and rushed. On the good note they can rest assured they would never run overtime with her on the panel. She made $15 mil I don't even know if she said 150 sentences on the panel.

[Laufey]

Being one of the biggest stars in the world always helps with ratings.

Although people expected the ratings to be better I still think she helped a lot to keep it from crashing in season 2. When she attends the VMA's it usually becomes the main event of the evening, even in 2009 when all she did was show up and accept couple of awards.

There probably wouldn't be a season 3 without her (even if she will not be joining it) to be honest.

Being a judge is the smallest part of the job... the main work is being a mentor.

[BreakTheIce]

That's the problem with these shows now. They make it about the judges and their celebrity star power and not about the talent. People tuning in "to see Britney" is not what should be happening. They should be tuning in to see the talent. This is why I feel the earlier seasons of American Idol worked and it became the biggest TV show. Nobody really knew Simon or Randy when it began and Paula was just some lady who the older folks might have recognized as a late 80s pop star. There wasn't much celebrity star power going on in the panel. As a result people focussed on what actually mattered, the talent.

I just feel like these shows now focus so much on the celebrity (Mariah, Nicki Minaj, Adam Levine, Christina, Blake, Britney, Demi, etc.) and less on the contestants. I guarantee you whoever is tuning into American Idol next season is dying to see Nicki and Mariah feud. And there were people who were tuning into X factor auditions just to see Britney.

These shows have lost a lot of credibility for me, and it reflects in the follow up for the winners. None of them last on the charts at all.

Also don't see the "5 million dollar recording contract" as legit. I haven't even seen 5 dollars spent on last season's winner. It's almost as if she fell off the planet.

[Laufey]

I didn't say it was a positive thing. I was just replying to "Britney not being worth it".

It's more about the celebrities now because this formula is old and less interesting. If you ask me they simply should have stopped producing them years ago. In general I wish "reality" TV would have decreased instead of increasing... it's so 00's.

[FanofFiction]

I dislike most reality tv. X Factor and American Idol are two of the few I still watch.

[BFizzle]

Britney Spears will NAWT be a judge on the next season of X-Factor.

TMZ has confirmed that Britney quit to get to work on dat hit 8th studio album, with plans for yet another sold out world tour. The album is being produced by will.i.am, who's song with Britney hit # won, and Hit-Boy, the man behind N****s in Paris.

Britney swooped in for dat $15,000,000 and swooped out just as quickly.


Now. How many weeks into season 3 will we learn that X-Factor has been cancelled?

[Laufey]

What people thought she was gonna retire to reality TV? Her music career is still alive and kicking

[BreakTheIce]

This song is nothing without Britney bitch. Truth

[Laufey]

Sure. I also like her verses more she sounds so cute in this song (the computer effects on her vocals are also less annoying than his)

His songs aren't as good as they used to be so I'm a little worried that he's gonna be the main producer of her next album.

[FanofFiction]

As a judge, I found she brought nothing to the show. She was overpaid.

[BFizzle]

Britney may have said "Amazing!" for every penny they paid her, but there's no debate that she was the best mentor.