Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Recap:

So, for the first hour and 15 minutes of tonight’s hour-and-a-half X Factor, the only thing that made me smile was a Walgreens commercial where a busy mom holiday shopping with her kids creates her own parking space.

Then Melanie Amaro showed up on stage for her final performance, slew “Listen,” hit notes the other finalists can only dream about and proved beyond a doubt that she should be the first winner of X Factor USA.

Will she win?

It would be almost guaranteed if the judges hadn’t spent the last three weeks trying to convince us that Chris Rene — with his road to sobriety back-story — is a legitimate challenger for the X Factor crown.

Or if they had just been honest about his vocal limitations. Especially after his first-round duet with Avril Lavigne.

Instead, L.A. Reid suggested the Melanie was outshined by R. Kelly during her duet.  I can only assume he had earplugs in during Chris’ first-round performance. Which he praised, of course.

Truth be told, none of these contestants should be judged on anything that happened during those round-one duets.

Talk about silly ideas. It’s The X Factor finale. Our last chance to judge the three finalists.  Their last chance to show us what they can do.

And you put them on stage with a guest star and make them sing one of the guest star’s songs?

American Idol offers up star-studded duets during its finals, too. But wisely holds off until the non-voting results show.

Just another of Simon’s silly ideas.

Regardless, Melanie was the only finalist to hold her own during the round-one duets.  She was clearly the winner of the solo round.

And, tomorrow night, she should be $5 million richer.

Oh, and let’s not forget, she’ll get to star in a Pepsi commercial, too.

Live blog:

Apparently Simon Cowell wants our suggestions on how to improve The X Factor for Season 2.

So said a tweet sent out by the good folks at X Factor this afternoon.  Great timing.  Because I’d posted my list of five things the show could and should do earlier this week.

It’d be nice if Season 2 were bearable.  Anyway, to offer up your ideas, you can apparently head over to the X Factor USA site.  I’d provide the direct link, but that site crashes all three computers I routinely work on every time I go there.  Hmm.

As for Season 1, we close out the performance episodes tonight, leading up to tomorrow night’s two-hour finale.

I’m pretty sure nothing will happen to convince me that anyone other than Melanie Amaro should walk away with the $5 million prize.

I’m certain nothing will happen to convince me that Chris Rene should be the winner, even if L.A. Reid thinks he’ll sell more albums than any of the three finalists.

But we’ll see.

Apparently, we’re in for some duets tonight.  According to reports from all over, Avril Lavigne will duet with Chris, Alanis Morissette will sing with Josh and R. Kelly will perform with Melanie.

Well, the show has barely started and we’re already knee deep in crap.  Chris talks about that Pepsi commercial gig as though it’s just as big a prize as the $5 million the winner gets.

And Simon boasts that this is the closest competition he’s ever been involved with.  Guess he’s getting old and doesn’t remember Season Two or Season Seven of Idol.

ROUND ONE

Josh Krajcik: And we kick things off with his duet with Alanis Morissette.  Alanis sounds great. Josh does not.  They’re singing “Uninvited.”  Not sure that’s the song I’d pick with $5 million on the line.  I do not like this idea of duets in the finals. We’re supposed to be getting a last look at the finalists.  They are supposed to be making one last pitch for the X Factor title. Why make them share the spotlight?  Alanis stole the show on that number.  Of course, how is Josh supposed to outsing Alanis on one of her own songs. Just a silly, silly concept.  Anyway, Simon’s right about this — Josh’s opening was rough.  Grade: C.

Chris Rene: Time for some off-key singing from Chris Rene, who will be joined in just a minute by Avril Lavigne.  They’re singing “Complicated.”  Well, Simon, if the goal was to show that the guest stars sing better than your contestants, you’re well on the way to proving it.  If the judges think that was a good performance from Chris, they’re crazy.  Of course, the judges focus on the “glow” around Chris rather than the vocals. L.A. says that could be a number one hit.  Wow.  Grade: D.

Melanie Amaro: Well, another predictable song choice — “I Believe I Can Fly.” Melanie is doing her duet with R. Kelly.  Check out the images of birds flying in the background.  Unbelievable.  Not surprising.  Just unbelievable.  I’m subtracting a grade for the birds, but Melanie is the only contestant who held her own with her duet partner.  L.A. thinks Melanie got overshadowed?  He must have had his hands over his ears for the first two performances. Grade: B-

ROUND TWO

Josh Krajcik: He returns all alone to sing “At Last.” Not sure what he’s doing on top of that big stairway. He plays acoustic guitar, the demonic expressions are back, but at least it was Josh and just Josh.  Not dancers. No special effects. Decent performance. Certainly good enough for second place on this show. Grade: C+

Chris Rene: When there’s one song you perform well, I guess you perform it as often as X Factor will allow. And they’re allowing Chris to sing “Young Homie” yet again. Let’s see what L.A. says about predictability now.  That’s the third time he’s performed the song on the show.  Grade: F. Revised (see below): C. The guy still can’t sing.

Melanie Amaro: OK, apparently Melanie is going to sing her audition song again as well. That being the case, I need to re-evaluate Chris Rene’s score. Only fair, right.  Besides, Melanie’s vocals are going to blow everyone else away anyway.  She’s singing “Listen,” and her voice is amazing.  Wonderful vocal. One of the best of the season. Grade: A.