‘The X Factor’ USA review: See Stone Martin, Ashly Williams, inTENsity’s Ellona Santiago (again)
The best news about “The X Factor” tonight? It was only an hour long. Yes, that is meant to be a little bit of a zing, but the truth is that these audition episodes are insufferable. The packages are predictable, they use the same stock footage every week of the group designations, and Simon Cowell at this point seems to be completely disinterested in coming up with any new forms of hyperbole to describe some of the contestants.
The best part of this show right now is Kelly Rowland, mostly because she seems like the interactive person on the panel who actually offers up something different each week. If the rest of the show could follow from her lead, and not use dull audition packages and drippy music whenever an artist gets a “yes,” we’d be on to something here.
The good
Andrew Scholz – This was the strangest surprise that we’ve seen out of the Charleston auditions, mostly because he looked immediately like Yet Another Country Boy, but there’s a little more too him than that. We found it hilarious that Simon Cowell practically pleaded some of the other judges to keep him around, allowing him to get through to the next round. He’s not really going anywhere, but good on him for turning it around somewhat. In the end, Simon ended up turning him into Yet Another Country Boy, and we liked the original version.
Ellona Santiago – You know Simon loved her choosing a Little Mix song, right? Ellona’s got some serious potential. She reminds us a ton of Jessica Sanchez from “American Idol,” though her voice is probably a little weaker. With this sort of energy and stage presence, though, she could go far.
Now, we turn to the part of this that annoys us: As funny as it was that Simon didn’t remember her, she was from that inTENsity group that was also contained Arin Ray from last season. Why are we dipping back into the same talent pond? Then again, at least producers didn’t try to mask this and make it look like she was some “new” talent like Lillie McCloud.
Stone Martin – It’s a tanned version of Greyson Chance! We thought this hairstyle went out a few years ago when Justin Bieber cut his hair, but we guess not. He is a very good singer, probably a little young to be a star, but someone that could be groomed here with the right training. Now, just cut that hair; seeing the constant flip is a little much.
Ashly Williams – The sad story of the episode, as her mother was murdered years ago, and she is trying to use that as motivation to get out there and make her proud. She is a very good singer; the style’s a little all over the place, and her challenge later will be showing diversity in a market where big-voiced diva singers are struggling save for maybe Beyonce.
The bad
Blake Shankle – What a terrible song choice for this guy. Someone who seems to be such a ladies’ magnet doesn’t need to go on stage and do some sort of nasally ballad about heartache. Had he came up and done something upbeat, he could have probably masked his flaws.
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Photo: Fox