‘The X Factor’ USA rankings: David Correy, Tate Stevens top L.A. Reid’s category

Now that we have provided our official rankings leading up to the “X Factor” live shows for both Britney Spears’ teens and Demi Lovato’s young adults, we are moving on now to the group that L.A. Reid did not initially want: the Overs.

This is going to be a rather interesting group to follow, and for us there is one major reason for it: seeing just how long some of them can survive. With so many voters being young people, these guys are all going to have to find a way to connect with these people, and it may not be easy for all of them given their style and the already established notion that this was a category that Reid hung up the phone about. (Way to hurt your own team, L.A.!)

As always, we are basing our rankings on a few factors here, including performance level. edit, and whether or not Reid (who will be making the sole decision for his team this time around) sees enough potential in these singers to take them into the audience voting round.

4. Vino Alan – Is there only room for one singer with an insane amount of tattoos? Vino’s crazy head ink is cool, but his voice is what really makes him stand out from the mold. What we are concerned about here is that his personality may not be the easiest for voters to connect with, and his boot camp performance showed that he really still lacks some sort of confidence in his abilities. We’re just not sure L.A. will take a chance on a guy who is a little bit of a diamond in the rough in a category containing some experienced singers.

3. Jason Brock – We consider the top two artists here to be locks to advance, and the jury is still out on the other two. Like with Vino, there’s no question that Jason can sing. We just wonder whether he can do anything that we haven’t seen already, and he may have trouble finding a voting audience on a show when his style of music is not something that everyone connects to.

2. Tate Stevens – There is no purer country singer in this competition, and even though Tate at times comes across as a tad too much like the guy you’d see in the dictionary under the definition of “country music,” there is still something pure about him, like this is something he has to do rather than just something he wants. Country fans are devoted, so this is a guy we see lasting for several weeks.

1. David Correy – Out of this group, David is the only one that we really see as a possible finalist, largely due to the fact that his music will have the largest crossover appeal. He can do R&B, rock, or more urban music given the situation, and he’s had a ton of screen time. We know there are some folks who are tired of the “birth mother” storyline, but now that she’s been found possibly, the focus will likely remain instead on the music, which is something that David probably wants himself.