Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Let me preface this blog by saying I’ve been impressed with L.A. Reid as a judge on The X Factor.

Put him on another singing competition — the one named American Idol — and I think he’d unquestionably be the best judge on the panel.

But Thursday night, he amazingly, fabulously fumbled the first big decision a judge was forced to make now that fan voting has started on Simon Cowell’s new show.

The Stereo Hogzz and InTENsity were facing elimination. Simon had voted to keep InTENsity. Paula and Nicole had voted to keep the Stereo Hogzz.

Which meant it all came down to L.A.

Vote Stereo Hogzz, and they’d survive.

Vote InTENsity, and the fans would have the final say.

And whichever group received the fewest votes after Wednesday’s show would go home.

Instead of doing the fair thing, instead of making the wise decision, L.A. voted Stereo Hogzz.

Why was it a bad decision?

Well, we’d just witnessed our first sing-off on X Factor.

The Stereo Hogzz sang “Emotion.” They performed competently. That’s about the best I can say about their performance.

I mean, really, is anyone out there just dying to watch that again?

Then InTENsity took the stage. And blistered it with a rousing performance of Kelly Clarkson’s “My Life Would Suck Without You.”

Anyone watching objectively knew they’d turned in the better of the two performances.

Yet they’re gone from The X Factor.

Why, a fan might ask, even have a sing-off if the group or individual with the clearly superior effort isn’t going to get to stick around?

Maybe even, why vote at all, if the judges are going to watch the sing-offs, then make a silly decision like the one we saw Thursday night?

Here’s what should have happened. With the judges’ vote 2-1 in favor of the Stereo Hogzz, L.A. Reid should have voted InTENsity, then explained that he was letting X Factor voters have the final say.

It would have been a wonderful gesture toward the fans who will make or break this show.

Better yet, no one could have complained about the outcome.