Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Wednesday wound up being a so-so night for The X Factor.

There were a couple of standout performances and there were a couple of disappointments.

I doled out a grade for each performance, then reviewed the list.

And came to the conclusion that the contestants receiving the lowest grades probably won’t go home tonight.

Who’s in danger?

I’ll get to that in a few moments.  First …

Best of the Night: Drew Ryniewicz, without doubt, performing Nelly’s “Just a Dream.”   She might not have the best voice on the show.  But Simon’s searching for the X Factor, and that’s what she has.  This was my favorite Drew performance yet, which is saying something since the others have been pretty special, too.  Runners-up include Stacy Francis and her big voice on “Up to the Mountain,”  Josh Krajcik and his intense version of “Jar of Hearts,”  and Melanie Amaro, even though “Desperado” seemed an odd song choice.

Worst of the Night: I’ve said it before:  I understand Rachel Crow’s appeal.  She’s young.  She’s fun.  She’s full of spunk.  She’s very entertaining.  She might do great on a Disney show.  On this show, she’s totally out of her league vocally.  And sorry, Simon, but rewriting the lyrics to “Walking on Sunshine” was not smart.  I kept wondering if Rachel had forgotten the real lyrics.

Waiting for better: The show created very high hopes for Chris Rene.  He is not living up to them.  When he’s rapping, he sounds fine.  When he’s singing … well, my advice to L.A. Reid is just to let the guy rap.  And Marcus Canty’s imitation of Bobby Brown did little to take advantage of his better vocal skills.

Grading the judges: For the second straight week, the scathing critiques were saved for one another.  What is this?  Some ploy to make us think they are judging?  In truth, we got very little insight into which performers they thought excelled and which performances they did not like.  Which was pretty darn disappointing considering it was the first night of voting. When Simon starts off the night calling the Stereo Hogzz one of the best bands today after a mediocre performance … Let’s just say I’d like to see the return of mean Simon.

Best line of the night: That said, some of the sniping is entertaining.  Simon called Paula Abdul’s decision to dress the lovely ladies of Lakoda Rayne like the seasons “insane.”  (And it was pretty cheesy.)  Replied Paula:  “This from a man who comes from a place where there’s only one season — miserable.”

In danger of going home: I hope both stay around, but I fear LeRoy Bell and Lakoda Rayne are in danger of leaving the show tonight.  LeRoy’s a fine singer, perhaps one of the show’s best.  I just can’t envision fans tweeting themselves to the point of exhaustion to support a 60-year-old singer.  As for Lakoda Rayne, females always struggle to get enough support to hang around on shows like this.  And if you’re prone to vote for a female act, are you going to vote for Drew, Melanie, Stacy, adorable little Rachel or this quartet?  Probably not this quartet.

Check back in tonight.  I’ll be blogging live during the results show.  Meanwhile, here’s a link to last night’s grades.