X Factor: Episode 4 was “Ausem”

Wow, that was quick! X Factor USA only started last week and the first auditions have already come to an end! It seems strange to be rushing through it so quickly, but makes sense when I think about it. Dragging that out over 4 or worse, 8 weeks (if they cut each episode to an hour) would have made the show become quite stale quite quickly.

I have to ask, just to get it out of the way…what is up with Steve Jones’s accent? The whole Welsh/American mix is oddly jarring at times. I find him an odd choice as host. He doesn’t have the charisma of either Dermot from the UK version, or Ryan from Idol.

Paula is starting to grow on me as a judge. I wasn’t so kind to her before, but it has to be said, her and Simon are quite amusing together, and i’ve changed my tune a little. Nicole is still coming across as bland however. Simon wasn’t the only one she pissed off when trying to decide on Ausem last night.

There was more of a focus on good auditions last night. STILL a lack of decent groups. The auditions are over and I haven’t seen a single one that has wowed me yet.

Brian Bradley from Brooklyn was great. I liked him, though he could have easily blown it with his lead in to his original rap. Getting all confrontational with Simon isn’t traditionally the best way of scoring a yes, but luckily he had the skills to back himself up. He kinda came off a little like Bieber crossed with Kanye West. I can just see the live shows now when the winner is announced, grabbing the mic and launching into a “Yo Simon, i’ma let you finish but…”

Andy Silikovitz could have been the best example of Boyleing I’ve ever seen had he been good. I wanted him to be good, I really did. He just came across as being so endearingly pathetic, and his mum looked so proud of him. I appreciate that the judges are being a little careful about which auditions they slate. Andy was awful, but they were still encouraging which was nice. Though Simon’s pimping out of Paula to him was a tad condescending.

I felt sorry for Clarissa “Cashmere” Cheatham. It’s one thing to be told you’re no good, but to have Simon start laughing before you’ve even started….ouch…that one was never gonna go well.

I agreed with Simon on Cari Fletcher. I liked her performance of Alone, even though it started off underwhelming, she won me over with the chorus. But Simon was right, she was a little bit forgettable and nothing particularly noteworthy. Though to her credit, Carrie Underwood’s first audition showed her to have little personality and look at her now. I hope Fletcher learns how to be a bit more distinctive though as I liked her voice.

Destined for Disney fame duo Ausem were on next (Austin and Emily = Ausem…needs work). LA and Nicole had the right idea (even though Nicole couldn’t seem to get out the simplest of sentences), Austin (who dear? Him dear? Gay dear? No dear!) had that potential star quality, whereas Emily was merely average. The “acting” that went on during their song though was a no no. The show is cheesy enough without that thank you very much. If Austin continues to impress I wouldn’t be surprised if the judges tried to push him through as a solo act at bootcamp.

Tora Woloshin I loved. She is a prime example of what they are talking about when they say “x factor”. She owned that stage, and while her vocals weren’t the best we’ve heard they were still pretty damn good. I loved the whole audition and i’m rooting for her to make it to the live shows. I think she’ll be entertaining to watch. Likewise Brennin Hunt was better than I was expecting from his build up. He had a great voice, and I loved his original song too. I’d buy that if it was on iTunes!

Devon Talley was my favourite bad audition of the night. I actually liked that song before he started singing…now…not so much. He seemed several sandwiches short of a picnic as he just didn’t know when his chance was over (about .3 seconds after he started singing).

With the auditions over, next week comes Boot Camp. I’ve already got some favourites in my mind who I wanna see get through so let’s see how they’ll handle the next step. And please oh please oh please can we not have anyone pulling a Louis Walsh and putting through some painfully awful act simply for novelty value (youtube Wagner singing She Bangs from UK X Factor and you’ll see what I mean).

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