Judges Homes - 10/13/11

Hi there. Guess you know by now if you tried to watch The X Factor last night it was a repeat from last week. I think it is because they have those baseball games on earlier and the programming is messed up. Anyhow, tonight we actually saw our first show from the judges homes. One thing I have to add at this point is like American Idol there are just too many repeat scenes and also too much yakking from the contestants about how much this competition would mean to them.

Our judges homes are:

Simon Cowell - France - he has the girls
Paula Abdul - Santa Barbara - she has the groups
Nicole Scherzinger - Malibu - she has the over 30's
L.A. Reid - The Hamptons - he has the guys

Each of the acts were so excited to meet their mentors and also visit their homes. We saw pep talks, tears, hugs and also 16 of the acts perform. I will group them with their mentors and people they chose to help them with their decisions. The judges picked the songs to be sung for each act. With all this being said let's get to the performances.

In France - Simon Cowell. Mariah Carey was going to be his helper however she was caught in Hurricane Irene and could not make it so Simon has a vocal coach and two other producers giving him advice.

22 year old Simone Battle is up first. She is singing "Help Me" originally by The Beatles. Simon liked her outfit which consisted of a black leotard and a see-thru skirt over it. I found her rendition to be totally boring and her voice cracked a few times. Simon's comments were favorable however as were the team he had with him.

Next up is 21 year old Tora Woloshin. Her song is "I Can't Get No Satisfaction" by The Rolling Stones. While I was not overly impressed I thought she did fairly well with the song. I don't think Simon was impressed.

Pretty blonde Caitlin Koch is 21 years old and sings "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" originally by The Shirelles. I think she has a good voice but no real star quality. She is a big maybe I feel.

Drew Ryniewicz (finally mastered that last name) is only 14 years old. She is singing "It Must Have Been Love" originally by Roxette. I found her boring to watch however I feel her voice is unusual and very pretty. I think Simon liked her too.


We are now at the home of Paula Abdul who lives in Santa Barbara. Her advice person is Pharrell who has worked with tons of different artists and has been a success in his own right. Paula is mentoring the groups.

From Salt Lake City, Utah our first group is called The Anser. Their song is "Perfect" from Pink. I thought their harmony was quite good and they did well with this song. However judging by Paula and Pharrell's reaction I do not think they were overly impressed.

Next up is a group of four solo girl artists who were actually formed by the judges during boot camp. Their new name is Lakoda Rayne. The song pick is "Born This Way" by Lady GaGa. This group has only been together a short time however I truly enjoyed hearing them. I thought they were pretty good and they reminded me so much of past girl groups The Spice Girls and The Pussycat Dolls. Not much reaction from Paula or Pharrell at this point.

The Brewer Boys are only 14 and 17 years old. They are given the song by Rhianna called "The Only Girl In The World". I thought they did okay but I was not blown away. I think both Paula and Pharrell felt the same way.

4Shore are our final group showing of the night. Frankly I was not sure of the song they sang but whatever it was they did it well. Pharrell seemed impressed with their sound but would like them to get dirtier in their performance. Paula agreed.


Nicole Sherzinger resides in Malibu and she has none other than Enrique Iglesias as her advisor. She is in charge of the over 30 acts.

Dexter Haygood is up first and is given a hard song to sing I think. It is "Crazy In Love" by Beyonce. He has good stage presence and even did fairly well with the singing we did hear. Not sure he has a chance but I think Enrique liked him. My heart goes out to this guy each time I see him (maybe it's because he cries alot).

Stacy Francis is also given I feel a difficult song to pull off. The song is "Purple Rain" by Prince. I was completely blown away by her performance. This woman can definitely sing. I think both Nicole and Enrique were also into her performance as both seemed almost tearful while she performed. That's why I was baffled by Enrique comments about her being a star and Nicole's comments as well. If this lady does not make it through you will see one mad Crystal.

Elaine Gibbs is next. Again I do not recognize the song. She can sing but overall I just was not blown away. Not sure about Nicole and Enrique as they really did not make any comments that told what they thought one way or another.

Last to be shown with Nicole is James Kenney. Sorry but again not sure of the song but what little we heard from him made me want to hear more. I think he has a voice for sure. I believe both Nicole and Enrique think so too.


Last of the judges homes belongs to L. A. Reid who lives in The Hamptons in New York. He has the boys and his advisor is Rhianna.

First up is 14 year old Brian "Astro" Bradley who did a rap song I do not know but it sounded like most rap songs with the same-o quality most rap groups have. This performance dragged on too long I think but Rhianna and L.A. seemed to like it. I personally would never vote for this kid as for me personally he is just okay.

Skyelor Anderson sang a song I think was called "Nobody Knows It But Me" (not sure). He actually wants to be a country artist and this song sort of sounded like that but to my ears he sounded off-key. However both Rhianna and L. A. seemed to like the sound of his voice.

22 year old Philip Lomax is a crooner. He is given the pick of Rhianna's song "Please Don't Stop The Music". Tough one but he makes it fit him. I think he is a good singer but a million seller I doubt it. Judging by the comments I think Rhianna and L. A. feel the same way.

Last is Nick Voss who I liked during his original audition but since then he has failed to impress me. His take on Tears For Fears song "Everybody Wants To Rule The World" I thought was the worst of the night. I do not think he has a chance to make the top 16 judging by my thoughts and also comments made by Rhianna and L. A.


So now we have heard 16 acts perform however we have 16 more to get through before the final 16 are chosen. Because of the weird programming they are having a special showing of the remaining 16 acts on Sunday, the 16th. Sort of glad they are doing this as I do not like any show that is shown on Sundays.

So far my faves are Stacy Francis, The Anser, 4Shore, Lakoda Rayne and would like to hear more from James Kenney. Sadly I like so many in the over 30's section that this is indeed going to be a toughie. Anyhow, will be back on Sunday with that re-cap.

Have a great weekend!

I'lll be honest here. I finally got to watch a full episode of X-Factor. As it turns out I wasn't all that impressed with anyone so far. Didn't see any star quality performances. I did like a couple of the groups. The three best friends from Salt Lake City (Anser). And then the four girls who started out solo and got thrown together as a group (Lakoda Rayne). There was one lady who I remember from the auditions that I liked. She was in the over 30's group. I guess they are going to finish this off on Sunday. We will see how it goes.