Idol Chatter & Voice Views

The X Factor went live with 16 acts in a show every bit as big and bold as you’d expect from Simon and Co. Wednesday night.

Tonight, the field will be cut to 12 as each coach eliminates one act.

Check back at 8 p.m. for a live blog.

Meanwhile, here are the song by song grades from last night.

The Teens

Carly Rose Sonenclar: Yeh, this is great mentoring. Take the best singer in the competition, a 13-year-old who shows absolutely no interest in acting like a ho,  dress her up in a little school girl outfit and have her sing Flo Rida’s “Good Feeling.” Pay attention to the brilliant a cappella  opening and forget the rest of that performance. But, on this occasion, listen to Simon: It would “be criminal” if Carly Rose left the competition so early. Grade: B-.  (Grade for Britney: D. Hey, at least she didn’t make her sing “Baby, Hit Me One More Time.”)

Beatrice Miller: It’s not a good sign when a singer says the song selected for her first live performance “isn’t really who I am.” Britney is having the youngster sing a love ballad, Jason Mraz’s “I Won’t Give Up.” I really like the tone in this gal’s voice, and it comes through occasionally. But that was far from Beatrice’s best vocal. She did perform with tons of passion. And I loved the spunk she showed when Simon suggested the vocal problems might be the result of her first live performance. Said a smiling Beatrice: “I hope it isn’t my last.” Grade: C+

Arin Ray: I’ve heard several versions of this great song (“You Keep Me Hanging On”), and that was one of my least favorite. The steam shooting from the floor was pointless, another case of The X Factor trying to make a performance seem bigger than it needs to be. That was steam, wasn’t it? Oh, who cares? The bottom line is, the performance didn’t work and the vocal wasn’t anything special. And it should put Arin on the bubble, facing possible elimination. Grade: C-

Diamond White: From a performance standpoint, Diamond looks more comfortable on “Hey, Soul Sister” than Carly Rose did on her number. But you have to wonder if all that dancing detracted from the vocal, because this teen sounded so much better at the judge’s mansion. She’s looks great, she’s loaded with charisma and she’s well suited to that style of music But I don’t see the same vocal star power that I hear from Beatrice and Carly Rose.  Grade: C

Summing it up:  Beatrice and Carly Rose should advance; Arin and Diamond should sing for the save.

Young Adults

Paige Thomas:  Hold it, let me check the channel.  Did I wind up on NBC by accident?  Am I watching a Cee Lo Green contestant?  Nope, we have Demi Lovato to blame for getting Paige to shave her head and then planting that spikey silver thing on her head. Actually, the outfit is wonderfully outrageous, as Simon points out. But it can’t hide the fact that that was a second-rate vocal on “What Is Love?”  Hey, Demi, if The X Factor had trouble finding young adults who qualify as “best vocalists,” give Cee Lo a call. The Voice somehow found a surplus.  Grade: C-

Cece Frey: Gone are the paw prints. Gone is the dark hair, replaced by blond locks. Gone is the diva-tude? Time will tell. Meanwhile, Cece looks great and performs great. And she has sounded great in the past. She did not sound great singing “Because the Night.” In some spots, she simply sounded out of breath.  Perhaps because The X Factor isn’t content to let a singer stand there and deliver a great vocal. There has to be a huge show involved. But wait, this in from Simon: “It wasn’t the best vocal I’ve heard, but that doesn’t really matter to me.” Wow, maybe I should redo all the grades I’ve been doling out based on vocals. Nope. Don’t think so.  Vocals matter.  Grade: C.

Willie Jones: Chalk Willie up as another singer sabotaged by a crappy song choice (he writes, resisting the temptation to alliterate).  Likely another case where putting on a big show overruled the common sense approach, which would have been to give Willie a song where he could show off his deep country voice. Simon called it “cheap and silly.” I just think, Willie, we all could have had more fun — and left more impressed — if Demi hadn’t selected “Here for the Party.” It didn’t feel like one.  Grade: B-

Jennel Garcia: Jennel says she’s ready to go along with anything in terms of appearance that Demi wants because she doesn’t want “any of this to go away.” So she shows up on stage with straightened hair, looking like a rock star and ready to rock out to Motley Crue’s “Home Sweet Home.” And, you know what, she just delivered one of the best vocals we’ve heard — the best from the young adults. But she also wasn’t asked to strut around the stage and interact with a legion of dancers either.  Grade: B

Summing it up: Regardless, I think there’s less about Jennel that makes her special than Willie or Cece. I think she and Paige should have to sing off for a save.

Over 25s

David Correy: The guy who is singing to reunite with his birth mother performs Whitney Houston’s “Your Love is My Love.”  I had pretty much written off all the Over 25s as having no chance of winning. But for the first time, I’m more pleased with a performance than I thought I would be when it started. The vocal wasn’t flawless, but David’s voice soared after the hand-clap, audience-join-in interruption. Simon called the performance “manic, verging at times on what I would call desperate.” But he might just have been trying to pick a fight with David’s mentor, L.A. Reid. Grade: B.

Tate Stevens:  The road worker who used to sing on the job now has a much bigger audience.  And he got Simon to call him “a keeper” after performing “Tough” in his live debut. That’s no small feat considering Simon’s disdain for country music. But the best thing about that debut was the final note. Very nice touch from Tate. Until then, I wasn’t thrilled with the vocal or the song choice. Grade: C+

Vino Alan: Wow.  Vino says he just needs to believe in himself. I believe in him after that exuberant performance. He took Nickelback’s “Gotta Be Somebody,” changed it up and made it work. Britney called it boring. She must have nodded off before he started singing. Demi says she can’t see Vino as a pop star. Somehow, I doubt Vino has pop star aspirations. I’m pretty sure he doesn’t want to be the next Britney or Demi.  I don’t know that he can win, but that performance is worth a pass to the next round.  Grade: B+

Jason Brock: Flamboyant Jason Brock singing Jennifer Lopez’s “Dance Again?”  Complete with a glitter explosion?  This has train wreck written all over it.  OMG  It’s every bit as bad as I feared.  It’s not so much the spectacle, though I’ve gotta admit, the outfits on those male dancers make me a little uncomfortable. It’s the vocal. Jason Brock is not a bad singer.  He’s pretty good in fact.  But that was horrid.  Absolutely one of the worst performances I’ve heard on a show of this sort.  Grade: F.

Summing it up: Skip the spectacle and the drama of creating a final two. Just send Jason home.

The Groups

Sister C:  Hey, there was nothing wrong with that rendition of “Hell on Heels.” Except that it followed a clip of these three sisters going horseback riding at their rather palatial home and talking about how they don’t have a hard-luck story or a bad background to talk about; that they’ve in fact been “blessed.”  So while I have no trouble believing Cirby, Carli and Celbi are pretty and smart, I have a hard time believing they’re hell on heels.  They don’t seem to have a rough edge between them.  And if one showed during that performance, they were quick to brush it back in place, like a stray strand of hair.  Grade: C.

Lyric 145: They do a mash-up of “Boom Shake the Room” and “Gangnam Style.”  Look, I’m miles from an expert on hip-hop and I’m certainly no LA. Reid, but I enjoyed that performance and think Lyric Da Queen is an up-and-coming star.  She was spitting out rapid fire lyrics and ended the performance by dashing over and greeting members of the audience.  Demi says she’s worried about this group because they’re so good. She might have reason to be.  Grade: B-

1432 (formerly Lylas):  Ah, so Jason Mraz’s sisters did win that battle over the name Lylas.  For those wondering, 1432 apparently means “I Love You Too.” With that out of the way, the five gals who were formerly solo artists can launch into Taylor Swift’s latest, “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together.”  Ugh.  That was almost painful.  These gals sounded so, so good at the judges’ mansion.  That performance was a major letdown. They didn’t look like a group.  Worst, they didn’t sound like a group.  They sounded more like five friends who decided it would be fun to sing together for the first time at someone’s teenage birthday party.  Grade: D

Emblem3:   That Simon sure is something, isn’t he?  The guy who loves boy bands saves the pimp spot on his show for the boy band he coaches. So Emblem3 takes the stage and performs a very good version of “One Day.” Then Simon says people watching should remember the night because they’re witnessing the birth of “future superstars.” Whoa, Nelly. Guess what?  Emblem3 doesn’t make me swoon.  And I can remember back two weeks when their judges’ mansion performance should have landed them in the show’s trash heap. Were they better Wednesday night? Absolutely. Future superstars. Well, we might want to make them string two good performances together before we make such grand pronouncements. Don’t ya think?  Grade: B+

Summing it up:  Emblem3 is guaranteed a next week and Lyric 145 should be too, leaving Sister C and 1432 to vie for the save.