The X Factor USA – Trey & Nick’s Week in Review – Top 4 Semifinals
Credit: FOX
It's time for the penultimate installment of Week In Review: The X Factor USA Edition, in which myself and Trey M. examine all the big happenings of the week, and look ahead to the next show. Which acts were tops in the semifinal week? Did the right act go home? Are the right acts in the finale? Let's get to it!
Credit: FOX
Best performance of the Week?
Trey: Of course, Alex and Sierra dominated the night, and I think the best performance has to go to their battle round duet with Carlito. Both artists did the dang thing and I am still blown away by Sierra's run in that performance. She did that! Honorables go to A&S's "Gravity" and Jeff Gutt's "Hallelujah."
Nick: I thought Alex and Sierra had a really strong week, but I'm going to cheat a little and list one of the results performances. This might actually kill what little credibility I have left, but Carlito Olivero's version of "Suavemente" might have been the best thing I saw all week. Or, if not the best, it was at least my favorite performance of the week. It's a number that's grown on me, and really illustrated that Carlito earned his spot in the final. I was really impressed.
Credit: FOX
Worst Performance of the Week?
Trey: While it wasn't too offensive, if I had to choose the worst of the night I'd would have to go to Restless Road's "That's My Kind of Party," only because their second performance was much more tolerable.
Nick: The funny thing here is that while I loved Carlito's results show performance (and have grown to really enjoy his version of "Boyfriend"), I just wasn't feeling his version of "I Need to Know". At all. Whatsoever. I didn't even think it was bad, necessarily, but it was the weakest of the performances last Wednesday, in my opinion.
Credit: FOX
Most Surprising Performance of the Week?
Trey: I really enjoyed Restless Road's performance of "Wanted." Even though they are still not my cup of tea, and I think they should have been gone during the Top 16 week, I'll give them their credit where it's due for this performance.
Nick: Another question, and another Carlito Olivero pick. I swear, the dude offered such a wide variety of polarizing performances that I both loved, hated, and was surprised by. Here, Carlito pulled off a twofer with "Boyfriend" and his segment in the "Falling Slowly" duet, showing far more vocal range between those two vocals than he's shown at any point in the competition.
Credit: FOX
Most Disappointing Performance of the Week?
Trey: Like I said during the live blog, I feel like everyone gave 100% and they were fighting for it. No one disappointed this week.
Nick: Actually, I agree. There were performances I didn't exactly love, but I can't really say I was disappointed by anybody this week. And that's a first for the competition this year, as it's been a relatively uneven season. I honestly do think this was a stronger final four than many people were willing to give credit for, even if it wasn't as strong a group of semifinalists as it could have (or should have) been. I was pretty satisfied with how Wednesday night's show turned out, and I imagine Simon Cowell was as well, even if Thursday night's results show didn't exactly go his way. And on that note...
Credit: FOX
Restless Road seemed like frontrunners at first, but they quickly fell off the map. What happened?
Trey: No contestant in the history of The X Factor USA was ready for the massacre that Alex and Sierra brought upon iTunes. They just weren't ready, and this cost them their advantage of having the teen girl vote, which I think resulted in their downfall.
Nick: I agree in the sense that their lack of readiness as an act made it harder even to their younger, country-skewing fans to justify voting for them over the other acts. But I don't think they were nearly as rough an act as they were accused of being. In fact, they really started to come together nicely at the end, and I wonder if they wouldn't have done a far better job in a season more like The X Factor UK or The X Factor Australia, where one act is eliminated per week, and the semifinal acts are given nine weeks to grow. Restless Road had become fairly polished by Week 6, and I think they could have used the extra three weeks to really become the best version of this act.
But really, that's a copout. These guys don't have 10 weeks to become what they're going to be, and the fact that they just never came together the way they should have makes their ouster completely justified, even if I think they were somewhat unfairly maligned. There's no reason they still can't be successful in the music industry, but given how long it took for them to gel, I think they might have lasted longer than they should have.
Credit: FOX
How would the vote have gone if there had been a sing-off?
Nick: The answer to this question depends on who joins Restless Road in the bottom two. One would assume Carlito would have been the other act, but there's no real guaranteeing that. For all we know, the bottom two could have been Jeff Gutt and Restless Road. What do you think would have happened?
Trey: Oh, I definitely think Jeff Gutt would have advanced by his own merit. And Carlito? The judges really like him and his work ethic, and they seem to think he has a place in the market. He would have given his all in a sing-off and Restless Road still would have went home
Nick: I think so too. I'd argue Restless Road ends up going home no matter what. Either Jeff or Carlito get put through by judges' vote, or it goes to deadlock and Restless Road goes home anyway.
Credit: FOX
Who will win The X Factor USA 2013? Who will finish second? Third?
Trey: Alex and Sierra won The X Factor USA 2013 weeks ago. Showing by his performance on iTunes and thinking that he will perform well this week, Jeff Gutt will be second and Carltio will be the second runner-up.
Nick: That sounds about right. I want to believe that second place is a toss-up, but I just don't see how Carlito catches Jeff Gutt unless the rocker bombs and the Latin crooner knocks it out of the ballpark. I'm in the peculiar position of rooting for Carlito to do well, even though I think Jeff is the better singer. It's an interesting dilemma, as I don't think the winner is in any doubt, yet the fight for second and third could make it a fascinating finale. Of course, I'm sure Jeff and Carlito, in their minds, are fighting for the win, and not just second and third place, but seriously, I just don't see the scenario for how Alex and Sierra lose this thing.
Well, those are our opinions, but yours are more important!
So what do you think of The X Factor USA semifinals? The departure of Restless Road? The ascension of Carlito Olivero? The dominance of Alex and Sierra, and the dark horse candidacy of Jeff Gutt?
Who will win The X Factor USA 2013? Who will place second and third?