‘The X Factor’ USA review: Did Willie Jones, Diamond White survive results?

If you love controversy, “The X Factor” USA had plenty for it courtesy of their results show on Thursday night. There were artists deserving of being in the bottom who weren’t, and even at least one artist who went home even though they did not even deserve to be in the bottom at all. We’ll try to go through most of this pretty quickly, mostly because unlike the show itself, we like to be a little more sympathetic as to your time. Two-hour results shows are officially the worst thing ever.

The Young Adults – Demi Lovato had probably one of the hardest jobs this week, mostly because there was only one singer that we were sure would be safe in Jennel Garcia. Then, Demi made a strange decision to put Paige Thomas straight through to next round, when she was really the person that we would have sent through.

The sing-off here was between CeCe Frey and Willie Jones, and based on this alone you had to save CeCe. She completely slayed this performance, and reminded everyone as to why she is in this competition. At the same time, this was a risky move for Demi to make: Willie would have been an easy vote for many fans out there, and CeCe is a little more polarizing and will be a harder sell.

The Over-25s – The baffling decisions continue by the judges. For most of this season, David Correy seemed like a serious contender to win this whole competition. He was not only a great singer, but he had a personality and a backstory that gave him some sort of commercial appeal. Compared to everyone else in his category, he was really the only one we saw getting votes.

Yet, for whatever reason, L.A. Reid got rid of him over a guy in Jason Brock who he forgot the name of a little bit earlier in the evening. That’s not good, L.A., not good at all. Jason may have had a slightly better performance tonight, but it doesn’t make up for the hot mess of a routine he gave to “Dance Again” during the performance show.

The Teens – From our standpoint, Carly Rose Sonenclair is still the star of this group, and Diamond White is in second place. Despite this viewpoint, Britney Spears sent Diamond to the bottom and saved Beatrice Miller, who is still one of the most forgettable people in the entire competition.

During the sing-off, neither Arin Ray nor Diamond gave fantastic performances, even though they were both solid. Did Britney make a mistake in getting rid of Diamond? Definitely, since she was one of the few people who looked to be genuinely having fun while out there on stage.

The Groups – Can 1432 actually sing harmonies at all? For most of their performance of Demi Lovato’s “Skyscraper” (pandering!), it really just felt like a round-robin of various singers, and really not a group that was cohesive or knew what to do together. It just didn’t work, and a great performance by Sister C solidified their position in the top 12 from this perspective.

Then again, we have not exactly been a champ this week at predicting what these judges will do. Simon sent home Sister C despite them being the superior of the two groups, though he did at least throw us a bone and is forcing 1432 to change their terrible name.

Do you think the top 12 consists of the right people, or that the judges made some really boneheaded decisions overall? They were at least as close as Simon giving us two hosts this season instead of one. Zing!