Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Didn’t the performances seem better in week two of the live shows on The X Factor?

We can thank Lyric 145 for part of that. Their performance of “Supercali-fragilistic expialidocious” from Mary Poppins was both brazen and brilliant.

But you can also thank our judges/mentors, who decided to ditch the elaborate stage productions that sabotaged some of their not quite ready to dance and sing performers a week ago.

Tonight, between Simon’s continued efforts to hype a boy band — no, not Emblem 3, One Direction this time — we’ll find out who gets eliminated from the show’s Top 13.

From my viewpoint, three contestants should be most worried: Cece Frey of the young adults, Jason Brock of the over 25s and Diamond White of the teens.

Now, those who have advanced to the Top 12 are

• Arin Ray of the teens
• Paige Thomas of the young adults
• Diamond White of the teens (surprise!)
• Vino Alan of the over 25s
• Jenell Garcia of the young adults
• Emblem 3 of the groups
• Carly Rose Sonenclar of the teens
• Tate Stevens of the over 25s
• Beatrice Miller of the teens
• Lyric 145 (about time)
• Fifth Harmony of the groups

That leaves Cece Frey and Jason Brock to sing for the save.

Cece Frey:  The gal gone blonde will kick this off, singing Cher’s “You Haven’t Seen the Last of Me.” Certainly an appropriate song for this occasion. Unfortunately, the vocal isn’t much better than what Cece provided last night, which is to say pretty shaky. But she delivered one really nice glory note in the middle and she certainly performed with tons of passion. Nor does she seem intent on turning the competition into a giant joke. Which brings us to performer number two. Meanwhile, for Cece … Grade: C

Jason Brock: Last week, Jason turned a horrid performance in the first live show with a decent vocal in the save-me round. Tonight, he’s going to try to sing “Total Eclipse of the Heart.” Wow, great song. And they’re going to condense it to 90 seconds. This should be interesting. Jason isn’t terrible on this, but he can’t come close to touching the Bonnie Tyler version. Still decent. A better vocal than Cece. Grade: B-

But, folks, I can’t see keeping Jason Brock over Cece Frey.

Demi chooses to send home Jason. L.A. chooses to send home Cece. No surprise, since the coaches supported their own.

Britney votes to send home Cece. Simon votes to send home Jason.

That means it lands in the hands of the voters.

And the singer heading home after receiving the lowest number of votes is Jason Brock.

Cece survives to sing again in the Top 12.

Hmm, this is interesting, The X Factor is going to tell us who got the most and the least votes.

• 11th: Arin Ray
• 10th: Beatrice Miller
• 9th: Lyric 145
• 8th: Paige Thomas
• 7th: Jenell Garcia
• 6th: Emblem 3
• 5th: Fifth Harmony
• 4th: Diamond White
• 3rd: Vino Alan
• 2nd: Carly Rose Sonenclar
• 1st: Tate Stevens