‘The X Factor’ USA debate: Can Restless Road, Ellona Santiago, or anyone else become stars?

Typically at this point when it comes to reality singing shows, we don’t really worry about whether or not you need to have an artist who sells records after the fact. All we want is to be entertained. But since “The X Factor” has chosen to beat us over the head that this is somehow important to their show’s viability (when it really is ratings), we’ve at least decided to tackle the question on this extended Thanksgiving weekend. Is there any way at all that there are contestants this year with a chance of becoming stars? It’s going to be tough, since you have a smaller pool of viewers who already know about you. But there are still some with that aspiration, and they will surely try to make it happen.

So with all of the remaining six contestants, let’s try to figure out an answer to this very question.

Carlito Olivero – He has a chance, but not in the way that we traditionally think of reality TV artists. He needs to go back and use Paulina Rubio’s connections to get into the world Latin music; once he builds up a reputation there, he may be able to have some crossover hits.

Restless Road – Probably an okay chance, at least so long as they can get far, far away from Simon Cowell and the Syco machine. That is the last thing that they need to be associated with in the country world, based on the sort of songs that they have been forced into doing on the show so far.

Alex & Sierra – They’ll probably be best off with a second or third-place finish, since they wouldn’t be rushed into the studio and forced to do songs that don’t exactly fit their style. The best course of action here would be the indie route.

Ellona Santiago – There’s a small chance at stardom here, but it’s going to depend heavily on getting that right mix of producers and marketers to sell her as something big.

Rion Paige – Sadly, there’s probably not too much of a chance here. We’d compare here best to Drew from the show’s first season in that she has a good voice, but we just don’t see a place for her in the hyper-competitive music industry.

Jeff Gutt – There’s not really any shot at all for Jeff, unless he is content with maybe getting with a band and recording some rock covers or playing some tribute shows. That can be a nice career, but he’s not going to be in modern music.

We’ll have our full contestant rankings up for the rest of the gang very soon; meanwhile, just click here if you want to see some more scoop related to “The X Factor.”

Photo: Fox