‘The X Factor’ USA review: Alex & Sierra, Khaya Cohen, and Ellona Santiago take on the 80’s

It’s 80’s week on “The X Factor,” which makes us wonder if it is at all possible to go back to 80’s and alter Simon Cowell’s mind so that the idea of awful theme weeks never came into the brain. Isn’t this show supposed to be current? With all of these old song choices, it’s no surprise that this show is getting pummeled by “The Voice,” and anything else.

With all of this being said, we at least feel like a few people are trying. Demi Lovato and her 80’s hair seems to care about her contestants, and even Mario Lopez apparently downloaded a few dance moves tonight to try to be a little more interesting for a change. It almost worked! Hey, an B for effort.

In case you missed the results from earlier, click here to find out who was the first person sent home. We’re keeping a tradition going from this past week, as we’re going to list the contestants here from worst to first rather than just give you a generic take on everything that happened.

12. Lillie McCloud, “Ain’t Nobody” – She changed the afro! At least the producers finally decided that it would be okay for them to acknowledge that she had some sort of recording career in the past. As for the actual take on this 1980s classic, it was just boring. We know that Lillie has a great voice, but going first, coupled with a song that didn’t show off any vocal range at all, is almost a guaranteed spot in the bottom.

11. Restless Road, “Footloose” – Ugh. This was memorable, but it felt almost like a low-grade stage version of the musical. There were no harmonies to speak of, it felt very karaoke, and it really felt like the boys were at one point wondering why they couldn’t just come on stage and do some Jason Aldean. Oh, these terrible themes…

10. Tim Olstad, “Against All Odds” – This is supposed to be some sort of perverse salf-parody here, right? Tim’s performance of the Phil Collins song was almost like a dog wanting to go faster on a leash, with you repeatedly pulling him back and saying that it’s simply not okay for him to. Plus, who knew that Tim was such a ladies’ man? He’s hanging out with Sarah Hyland, and he had that random woman writhing on stage during this.

9. Rachel Potter, “Alone” – Let’s talk insanity here. Back during “American Idol” season 4, Simon Cowell told Carrie Underwood after doing a dramatic rock performance of this song that she would sell more records than anyone on the show to date. In terms of arrangement, this was really the same thing, though Carrie did sing it a heck of a lot better. So why does Simon suddenly get on her for not knowing what sort of artist she is supposed to be?

8. Sweet Suspense, “Hey Mickey” – It’s really hard to give this girl group that much credit for singing a few lines and then being drowned out by the choir the rest of the time. Simon Cowell has found a great way with these ladies to make it seem like they are better than perhaps they are, and there was no degree of difficulty here at all.

7. Rion Paige, “We Belong” – We have to separate our love for this song with the actual performance from Rion … which was shaky. There were more than a few bum notes in here, even if she seemingly did get the emotional connection to the song. What will carry Rion through is that she is the sort of person that you can tell really likes performing, and that’s infectious.

6. Josh Levi, “Straight Up” – We get a little laugh out of the fired Paula Abdul’s ghost still haunting “The X Factor” in the form of this song. Josh, to be fair, really did as good of a job with it as he could, given that he was dancing way too much and had to catch his breath a good bit of time. But by far, his best uptempo performance of the night. The kid’s going places … or at least probably going to next week.

5. Jeff Gutt, “I Just Died in Your Arms Tonight” – Given that Jeff may as well be Mr. 1980s, it would have been pretty embarrassing for him had he not performed well during this. The issue with him comes in that he’s not really capable of doing anything else. This is one of our favorite tracks from the era, and we at least feel like he did it justice.

4. Carlito Olivero, “Rhythm Is Gonna Get You” – Carlito seems to be doing his combination of Ricky Martin and Usher here with this performance, complete with the sort of letterman jacket that we’d see someone like Usher rock. Pretty good vocals, but not amazing. This is the sort of upbeat song that was hampered by the dance moves. Hey, at least Carlito is making an effort to perform, rather than just standing there and thinking that this is impressive.

3. Ellona Santiago, “Dance with Somebody” – This was the first time all season that we didn’t just feel like Ellona was just Jessica Sanchez 2.0. She brought something different to the performance tonight with the choreography and the charisma. Her voice is in the top three or four in the competition, but to date, it hadn’t quite clicked. This is the first night that we really feel like it did.

2. Khaya Cohen, “Borderline” – Imagine if Khaya had been hyped on the show as much as some of the other artists; she’d be the #1 favorite to win this competition! She walked out to Simon and confidently sang IN HIS FACE. Boom. Not only that, but her vocal was great and not as nasally as some of what she’s done lately.

1. Alex & Sierra, “Addicted to Love” – For a group that could have been incredibly cheesy, this couple is coming across as the most honest and genuine performers on the show this season. While we don’t know after the show if they will be pop sensations, they see ready-made for the world of indie music. A great take on the song, and really the only ones who shed much artistry to go along with a great performance.

Who is your favorite tonight? Share in our poll below! Episode Grade: C.

Photo: Fox