‘The X Factor’ USA preview: What Arin Ray, Beatrice Miller, Paige Thomas can do

Thus far on “The X Factor” USA, there has been a pretty clear divide into two groups: the serious contenders to take home the ridiculous $5 million recording contract, and those who are seeing their chances at making it happen diminish before their eyes.

Since we like to consider ourselves a rather helpful writer, here is our goal here: to provide some sort of suggestions to help some of the consistently weak-scoring performers find themselves in this competition. After all, time is running out; and while it may be too late to change their song choices for the performance show Wednesday night, it’s not too late to make sure they do a few things to ensure their performances are as strong as possible.

Arin Ray – If we were to compare Arin to a modern-day superstar, we would say he is Jason Derulo. He’s a strong performer on stage, but without the right song he’s not memorable enough to stand out. There is an identity crisis happening here, since he has everything needed to be a star except for the soul and the passion that is deep within his bones. He may have it, but he has to find a way to buck at Britney Spears and the producers to show America just who he really is.

Beatrice Miller – For Beatrice, her job is a little bit simpler: she just needs to remember that she is a teenager! All season long, she has come across as someone who is a little defiant, and at the same time struggling with the weight of her whole family on her shoulders. It’s not really fair for a kid who is too young to even be in high school. Let her go out on stage and have a good time, and the results will show in the voting.

Paige Thomas – Lose the outfits, the staging, the dancing, and the giant hats. Before you can do any of that, you have to prove that you can sing first. For whatever reason Paige decided to go from hopeful superstar to Super Bowl halftime show act in the span of a few weeks, and she skipped over a key phase that is all about proving herself. The sing-off last week featured her best vocal of the season, and it proved just what she is capable of when the focus is planted squarely on her voice. We’re not saying that she needs to do a ballad, but she does need to get rid of all the fluff.

Do you think these three can do anything to avoid their present situation on “The X Factor” USA?