'X Factor' finds its top 12

After what seemed liked an eternity, "The X Factor" finally made it to the live shows with 17 acts that needed to be narrowed down to 12. Which meant each judge had to cut someone from their category, or in Simon's case two someones.

The Groups


As the groups' mentor Paula's particular brand of crazy didn't take long to show up. Her song choices were nothing short of ridiculous. Unfortunately, The Brewer Boys became a casualty of her insanity when she gave them a mash up of Hall & Oates "Rich Girl" and George Michaels' "Faith." They sounded great on the Hall & Oates song, which made me wonder why she didn't have them do a medley if she was so desperate for a mash up.

InTENsity seems destined for a Disney Channel series about a group of friends who start a band and eventually all date each other. The problem with those shows and the group is that the members are interchangeable. If no one knows your name, will they vote for you?

Stereo Hogzz and Lakoda Rayne were fine but neither one of them will win the competition so who cares.

The Girls

I've been wondering all along why Simon chose Simone Battle to make it this far, when she clearly has cruise ship/theme park performer written all over her. Last night she wasn't even good enough for a Disney parade with that trainwreck of a performance. Tiah Tolliver also had a bad night and became the other girl eliminated in the least surprising moment of the show.

Here's the thing, Rachel, Drew and Melanie have been Simon's favorites from day one so it's absolutely no surprise that they ended up as his final three.

The Over 30s

Again, why Nicole gave a final spot to the ridiculous Dexter Haygood over someone who could have actually given a real performance and not a overexcited karaoke rendition of "I Kissed a Girl" and "Womanizer" is beyond me. He was mercifully eliminated.

The interesting question came when Simon asked if Stacy Francis was a church singer or a pop star? I see her as a church singer who can sing pop, but I'm not sure she can sell records in today's pop climate. If she went the gospel route, she could become a bona fide star.

The Boys

I have been anti-Brian Bradley since day one so it pains me to write this next line; he was actually good last night. As a matter of fact the boys were the only group with 100 percent good performances. L.A. Reid chose to eliminate Phillip Lomax after giving him a very cruise ship version of "I'm a Believer" to sing.

If he made his decision with his ears and not his wallet, he would have picked Chris Rene to go home. While Chris' story is heartbreaking and great, his voice was not better than Phillip's last night.

So after last night's eliminations the categories remain like this:
Groups: Lakoda Rayne, InTENsity, Stereo Hogzz
Girls: Rachel Crow, Drew, Melanie Amaro
Over 30s: Stacy Francis, Leroy Bell, Josh Krajcik
Boys: Brian "Astro" Bradley, Marcus Canty, Chris Rene

Next week will start the public vote along with the inevitable theme weeks. While theme weeks are usually predictable, they do show the weaknesses of the contestants and help thin the herd.