Idol Chatter & Voice Views

The Top 4 on The X Factor will each perform twice in the semifinal show Wednesday night.

Each will perform a song of their own choosing and one selected by the judges.

Last week, voters finally did what the judges couldn’t bring themselves to do — they sent Cece Frey and her off-tune singing off the show.

Then Diamond White lost a sing-off with Fifth Harmony — the first time the judges got a sing-off decision right in three weeks.

On to the rankings …

1. Carly Rose Sonenclar (1): So, you say she’s been here all year? Well, there’s a reason for that. She’s clearly the best singer in the competition. Even when Britney asks her to sing ill-fitting songs like Beyonce’s “If I Were a Boy.” Now how is a 13-year-old supposed to have enough relationship experience to be fully vested in those lyrics? Carly still did a fine job, and was even better singing “As Long As You Love Me” earlier in the show.

2. Fifth Harmony (3): Yep, I’m fully aware that Tate Stevens landed first in the voting last week. But Fifth Harmony is coming on strong and followed a fine performance of “Stronger” two weeks ago with two more excellent efforts on Top 6 night. In fact, I ranked both of their performances among the night’s top four. The other two were the songs performed by Carly Rose. And, yes, they can sing harmony. And they sound very good when they do so. Now, will they actually finish this high? I doubt it.

3. Tate Stevens (2): Maybe it was a case of Tate playing it safe. Maybe it was a matter of poor song choice. But I had no inclination to watch either of last week’s performances — “Living on a Prayer” and “Tomorrow Never Comes” — a second time. And the emotional connection to the song that’s often such an integral part of Tate’s performances seemed missing, too. Bottom line: Those two efforts weren’t worthy of the $5 million prize Tate is threatening to waltz away with.

4. Emblem 3 (6): Imagine a picture of the Grand Canyon between Tate and Emblem 3. Or the Atlantic Ocean. Because that’s how big the talent gap is between the top 3 and these three “cute” guys masquerading as what passes for “superstars” on The X Factor. Last week’s unplugged performance was supposed to show us their musicianship. It showed us that the blonde-haired guy who likes to take off his shirt should never, ever be allowed to sing on national TV again. He makes Cece Frey look like the second coming of Carly Rose Sonenclar. And one of the other two guys isn’t much better.