Last week on “The X Factor” the remaining six acts were fighting for their place in this week’s semi-finals. Each act sang two songs, their first of which were Diva songs and the second was Unplugged, with no distractions it was just them and the microphone.
Simon’s Groups were up first with Restless Road singing their Diva song, ‘Red’ by Taylor Swift. The boys were amazing, they have grown so much over the past three months, what an incredible act, we definitely want to see them in the final. Up next, having survived the sing off last week was the adorable Rion Paige with Carrie Underwoods ‘See You Again’, impressing the judges with her performance, they loved it except Simon who wasn’t a huge fan of her song choice. The last remaining contestant representing the Over 25’s was up next. Jeff Gutt took to the stage with Mariah Carey’s ‘Without You’, Jeff really proved his place in the competition showing how far he has come, we’re so happy for Jeff he deserves to do amazing in his career. Up next was Ellona Santiago with Lady Gaga’s ‘Applause. We were not feeling her version of the song but we cannot deny the girl has talent. The final Group Alex & Sierra were next to take the stage, taking on a Destiny Child’s song, their version of ‘Say My Name’ was incredible, managing to even blow Kelly away with her own song.Simon believes these two are winners. The final of the Diva performances came from Carlito Olivero with Jennifer Lopez’ ‘Let’s Get Loud’, the females of the judging panel were not impressed with his performance but Simon and his mentor Paulina still see the potential with Carlito.
The Unplugged songs were up next and they were tear jerkers, stripped down showing their amazing vocals, these performances definitely messed with our emotions. First up was Restless Road with their incredible version of Avicii’s ‘Wake Me Up’, their performance received a standing ovation from the judges who as well as the boys clearly moved by their performance. How amazing were they? Following last week’s show both of the boys songs reached record high’s for the competition on Itunes. Rion Paige was up next with her beautiful performance of Thompson Squares ‘Glass’ and it reduced us as well as the judges to tears, it was simply stunning. Following Rion was Jeff Gutt with Elton John’s ‘Daniel’, another performance that divided the judges. This was an emotional episode of “The X Factor” not only were the acts singing for their place in the Semi-Final but they were singing for their families, their friends and their hometowns . Ellona Santiago was next with Beyonce’s ‘If I Were A Boy’, great vocals from Ellona showing off her amazing talent. Alex & Sierra returned to the stage with their performance of ‘Say Somthing’ by A Great Big World . With Sierra on piano and Alex with his guitar this performance was unbelievably beautiful. Last to take to the stage was Carlito Olivero with the Prince Royce version of Ben E. Kings ‘Stand By Me’ showing his Latino roots doing what he does best, his performance was an amazing end to an amazing night on the show. We cannot tell you how much we loved this Live Show, all of the acts gave their everything, they all deserve to be in the competition.
Results night kicked off with the first of the double elimination which saw Ellona Santiago leave the competition to everyone’s shock. Emblem 3 then returned to “The X Factor” stage with their latest single ‘Just For One Day’. It was then time to announce the bottom two acts who will sing for the final spot in the semi-final, Rion Paige and Carlito Olivero will sing in the final showdown. As the acts prepared another X Factor success hit the stage, as winners of the British show Little Mix performed ‘Move’. Singing for their place in the semi-finals Rion Paige was first to perform with ‘The House That Built Me’ by Miranda Lambert followed by Carlito Olivero who performed Usher’s ‘You Make Me Wanna’. It was now up to the judges; Demi and Paulina chose to keep their own acts leaving the decision to Kelly and Simon, both sending home Rion, Carlito has advanced to the semi-finals.
“The X Factor” semi-finals air Wednesday and Thursday at 8/7c on FOX.