Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Before dispatching The Stereo Hogzz so they could go home and dream of someday hogging up airtime on a radio station somewhere, Simon Cowell made this observation.

“I don’t think America has got to know either act properly yet,” he said, addressing Lakoda Rayne and the ousted Stereo Hogzz.

Dah.

And if anyone’s to blame, Simon, look in the mirror. It’s your show.

Here’s the problem. There’s so much focus on backstory and personality on The X Factor, that it’s much easier for the voting public to get attached to an individual than a group.

How is a quartet, a quintent or whatever you call a group of ten supposed to compete with barefooted Drew Ryniewicz or cute little Rachel Crow and her desire to have her own bathroom?

How can a group offer up a compelling backstory like Chris Rene’s struggle to stay sober, Josh Krajcik’s goal to be something bigger than a burrito maker or Melanie Amaro’s second chance as stardom after nearly being passed over by Simon?

The X Factor has been on for two months now, and what do we know about Lakoda Rayne other than the members were soloists before being thrown together by the show and converted into a country-pop quartet?

I can tell you that Hayley Orrantia is the non-blonde, and I had to look up her last name. I can tell you that Dani Knights loves the camera and that the camera loves Cari Fletcher. I can tell you that Paige Ogle is from Baltimore (it’s close, so I remembered) and has the best voice of the quartet.

That’s it.

Backstory? There is no backstory.

And so two weeks into The X Factor finals, only groups have found themselves in the bottom two.

This week, Paula’s in danger of losing her final act and being left with no one to mentor, just three weeks into the competition.

Unless Lakoda Rayne rallies.

I’ve told you before that a group has never won in the first seven seasons of the UK version of The X Factor. But they’ve come close, placing second twice and third on three occasions.

In three seasons, the first two acts to depart have been groups. So what has happened on the inaugural season of The X Factor USA isn’t all that unusual.

If Lakoda Rayne departs this week?

Never have all three groups gone home in the first three weeks on The X Factor UK.

Now, on to this week’s rankings.  Last week’s rankings are in parenthesis.

1. Drew Ryniewicz (1): I wasn’t quite as impressed by the barefooted one last week. But that might have been because I was distracted by the blue and pink stripes in her hair. Or by the dress. But she’s still got a voice and the X factor.

2. Melanie Amaro (3): With her American Idol — oops, make that X Factor — makeover, Melanie looks fabulous.  More importantly, she sounds fabulous every week, and “Man in the Mirror” was probably her best performance yet.

3. Josh Krajcik (2): His first two performances left me wanting more pizzazz. Between the growls and the demonic facial expressions, last week struck me as a little over-the-top. But, like Drew, he’s still among the favorites.

4. Marcus Canty (4): I’m keeping him this high in the rankings, but it’s time to deliver a million dollar performance to go with that million dollar smile.  Or I guess I should say a $5 million performance, right Simon?

5. Astro (8): I’m not a big Astro fan, but he was very impressive last week. And it’s getting tough to root against a youngster talented enough that he insists on writing some of his own lyrics every week. Watch out above if Astro keeps performing like that.

6. Rachel Crow (12): This week, do we get the shouty little girl singing kids’ songs? Or a mature-beyond-her-years performance like last week when Rachel sounded so much better than ever before that I thought she must be lip synching to someone else’s vocals?

7. Chris Rene (6): Here’s L.A.’s dilemma with Chris. He raps much better than he sings. But he’s only the second most impressive rapper on the show thanks to young Astro. So does he stand a chance if he takes the stage and raps every week?

8. LeRoy Bell (10): Yes, he absolutely nailed his version of “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For.” But I’m still not convinced he’s going to be able to attract enough votes to hang around long. The voice is there. But the X factor?

9. Stacy Francis (5): I’m just not sure what to make of Stacy. She has stopped crying, which is good. But she followed up a fine show-ending performance in week one with a show-opening performance in week two that wouldn’t be remembered if it weren’t for Simon making a big deal over that red dress.

10. Lakoda Rayne (8): The goal this week should be to finish above the bottom two. Because if I’m an X Factor judge and an act lands in the bottom two straight weeks, that’s who I’m voting to send home, regardless of what happens in the “save-me” performance. I’d be willing to bet that factored into last week’s decision.