‘The X Factor’ USA finale review: Is Carly Rose Sonenclar, Tate Stevens the winner?

“The X Factor” USA is finally over after a long, winding, and at times very frustrating road. There were great performances, bad performances, and overall just moments that we would like to forget (such as why Mario Lopez constantly clings to Carly Rose Sonenclar just about every second she is on stage).

We also have a number of major quibbles when it comes to the way in which the show’s finale was structured: we’re cool with the finalists getting so much attention, but you’re really not going to give Emblem3, CeCe Frey, or anyone else any love? Lyric 145 was not a part of the tribute performance yesterday, so they have almost been forgotten about despite being the best part of the first half of the show.

Instead of this, here is some of what we ended up seeing…

Opening number – Let’s just try to forget that this ever happened. A show with the ho-hum ratings that this has should not have a red carpet, nor should it have the contestants “singing” their way inside while hugging various members of the family.

Christmas numbers – All three of the finalists had an opportunity to take on a holiday track, and all of them did a pretty good job once the pressure was off. Since we are firmly aboard the Fifth Harmony bandwagon at this point, we are going to lean slightly towards them for just finding their voice in this competition … which is also refreshing, since they often choose to shy away from ballads.

First elimination – We all knew that this was coming, and that Fifth Harmony would eventually be sent packing from this competition before the final two. It’s a shame in that these girls are probably the ones most destined to be stars after the show; heck, Simon Cowell has even set up an official website for them under the Syco label, which suggests to us that he is going to be keeping the around for a while. It’s easy to also make the following comparison: remember One Direction? They finished in fourth place on the British show a few seasons ago.

Musical performance – Pitbull is always a blast to watch live, mostly because he does consistently bring it on the show and give us a good reason to smile, even if he is not always the best singer / rapper on the planet. As for One Direction, they were there for Simon to remind us yet again that his franchise does produce stars arguably bigger even than “American Idol.”

The final performance – It’s “The Climb.” Yawn.

The final result – Tate Stevens. We are a little conflicted about Tate as a winner. As a guy, we love him and he certainly deserves to give his family a better life. He’s also a friend of the site for tweeting out some of our polls. At the same time, we don’t really know whether or not he is actually going to fare well in a crowded country music market, especially when there’s nothing really new he brings to the table.

Do you think the right person won “The X Factor” USA this season? We want to hear from your below! If you want to see if we got our prediction right for the victory, be sure to head on over to the link here.

Photo: Fox