Two contestants were sent home last night in another double elimination on X Factor. Again, America failed to give the boot to the appropriate contestants, but at least got it half right this time around.
Khaya Cohen was sent home right at the start. The teen kept her composure after hearing the news, which made me like her even more. It’s a shame she never broke out of her shell, because she had one of the best voices in the competition, and didn’t deserve her fate. But hey, One Direction didn’t win on X Factor either, and speaking of…
DISCLAIMER: Before you keep reading, and hate me for my 1D review, I love One Direction, I SWEAR.
If you’ve kept up with my drinking game for the show, you were probably still drunk last night from Wednesday’s One Direction pimping, and were probably obliterated by the first five minutes of last night’s show when the band was mentioned about 435 times. Host Mario Lopez introduced the guys, and mentioned a new member to replace Liam, “Lie-am.” (Come on Mario, don’t pull a Paulina.) The boys sang their latest single “Story of My Life,” and it was mostly rough. Harry sounded sick, the harmonies were off, Louis was pitchy, but “Lie-am”, Zayn, and especially Niall sounded excellent. I’ll cut them some slack and say it was probably due to jet lag and perhaps a lack of rehearsal? Regardless, the guys looked great (especially compared to their X Factor audition tapes that were shown in the package before the performance. Hello, puberty), and still showed the contestants what could be (but lets be real, nobody can touch the success of One Direction.)
After the guys performed, the bottom two contestants were announced: Tim Olstad and Carlito Olivera. Although the two of them should have been sent home, it’s good to see that America voted slightly better this week. Tim performed Josh Groban’s “You Raise Me Up” (another ballad, shocking), which was boring, but showcased nice vocals. Paulina called him a “multi-facetic” singer. Oh. Carlito sang Labrinth’s “Beneath Your Beautiful.” Carlito brought out the charm that has been missing the past two weeks, and showed more consistent vocals throughout the song. The performance won over all the judges, with Kelly, Demi, and Paulina voting Tim off, leaving Simon the freedom not to make a decision (although we’re sure he would have also ousted Tim.)