‘The X Factor’ USA review: Roxxy Montana, Sweet Suspense, Alex & Sierra end 4-chair challenge

Tonight, “The X Factor” USA ended what is a very important part of the competition: The four-chair challenge. We admit that this has been occasionally more entertaining than we originally expected to be, but at the same time Mario Lopez is still wooden, and the inspirational stories are still weighted heavily.

Before we do anything else, let’s recap the situation for Simon Cowell’s groups leading up to tonight’s episode: Girls United, Wild Thingz, Glamour, and Restless Road were all given chairs, and they are the only groups to have performed so far. We have a rant that we’re going to get to many times tonight: If you were put together  as a group on the show, you may have a little bit of an advantage.

Sweet Suspense, “Wishing on a Star” – This is a manufactured girl group, and almost any time this happens, Simon is inclined to favor them, since he put them together! The talent level here is probably questionable at best, though. There are no amazing singers in the group, and what Simon has to be hoping with here is that they have a great sense of style and call pull off a couple of good performances. We would have went with something upbeat here, but they got a chair, and thankfully kicked the pretty-awful Wild Thingz to the curb.

Yellow House Canyon, “Hell on Heels” – A great band name thanks to the sole fact that we remember it, and they are great vocally. Unfortunately, they have two problems: Simon did not create them, and they are not the sort of duo that is going to be easily sell records. Therefore, he cut them even though they were for sure better than Girls United over in the chairs.

Forever in Your Mind, “Lovebug” – Ugh. Terrible name, and a bunch of guys designed just to be the sort of One Direction in America that Simon didn’t find last year. It just doesn’t work. We’re not feeling the vocals, and we’re not feeling the chemistry. With that being said, Simon still put them in chairs over Glamour … which we are sure is just because he helped to create them. Ugh again.

Good News, “Landslide” – Also a terrible name for a group, since if you’re bad news to somebody, then it is almost as though your name doesn’t quite work. Once again, the group bias is starting to show here. Vocally, this performance of the iconic song was better than the aforementioned group, but they didn’t have that “commercial” feeling that Simon is going for. No dice on getting through.

Alex & Sierra, “You’re the One I Want” – We should start this off by just being honest here and saying that we absolutely loathe this song. The good news is that they actually made it into something tolerable for us. The vocals here were almost on-point perfectly, and they are right now in our mind the ones to beat from the group when it comes to musical integrity.

Roxxy Montana, “Man in the Mirror” – This was not a perfect performance by the trio by any means, but to us they clearly showed enough growth to be put through. There was a great sense of style for sure, but the vocals literally had the crowd going in a way that we haven’t seen most of the rest of the episode. Well done, ladies! You get a seat!

So in the end, Roxxy Montana, Restless Road, Sweet Suspense, and Alex & Sierra are the four groups going on to the next round. Excited? Bored? We’re mixed on it.

Who was your favorite on “The X Factor” tonight, and overall, do you think that this top 16 is more or less promising then what we had on the show last year? Share below!

Photo: CBS