The X Factor 2012 premiere week launches tonight with the first episode of The X Factor season 2. The newest members of the cast, Britney Spears and Demi Lovato, will join Simon Cowell and L. A. Reid on The X Factor USA judges panel tonight for the first time. We hear there will be plenty of drama both on and off the stage tonight and at least a few truly stellar performances.
WARNING: THE X FACTOR 2012 season 3 SPOILERS AHEAD!
This post contains spoilers from The X Factor premiere. Please stop reading if you do not want to know what happened!
****************************************************************
While The X Factor season 2 premiere features two new judges this time around, Britney Spears and Demi Lovato, there is no question that Spears is the real star of tonight’s show. At the live auditions, Demi Lovato reportedly received plenty of cheers, but fans apparently lost it whenever Britney Spears appeared, cheering and screaming fit to deafen everyone in a square mile radius. Britney Spears and X Factor USA fans have been waiting impatiently to watch the pop star in action as a new judge. There have been plenty of stories in the press about Britney Spears’ alleged panic attacks, walk-outs and diva behavior on the set of The X Factor 2012 season 2. The real question is, however, is she a good judge?
From The X Factor season 2 spoilers we’ve been reading, the answer is yes… once she gets over her nerves. Britney Spears is reportedly a tough judge, not afraid to be a bit harsh, and actually kind of funny at times. She also reportedly has good chemistry with both veteran judges L. A. Reid and Simon Cowell, and fellow newbie Demi Lovato. We hope those spoilers turn out to be true as we launch into our first The X Factor 2012 season 2 recap!
Opening the show tonight is British boy band stars One Direction.
The first audition tonight is 21-year-old Paige Tomas, who has an adorable 3-year-old daughter. Two bitchy girls backstage — Kaylee and Kaci — say nasty things about Paige.
Her best revenge is that she does really great in her performance of “I’m Going Down” by Mary J. Blige.
Judges: The judges are loving Paige Tomas. Britney Spears calls her flawless and Demi Lovato says she is blown away by Paige’s stage presence. She calls her a superstar, as does L. A. Reid. Simon Cowell says she is fabulous and commercial and it is one of his favorite auditions.
The next singer up is Shawn Armenta, 50, singing his own original ditty “Candy Girl”. Yes, it is one of THOSE auditions. He is obviously not good and just one of those sad jokes they put up to amuse people who enjoy watching reality TV show failures.
Judges: Simon Cowell calls Shawn a “mouse trying to be an elephant” and says the performance was just all kinds of wrong. Demi Lovato tells him that some dreams just can’t come true. The contestant gets pissy and responds by telling her that at least he “doesn’t use autotune” — snap! Britney Spears says he makes her feel uncomfortable and doesn’t like him up there looking at her. Finally, he stomps off stage.
We then have to endure a handful of other really bad acts to amuse the masses. Personally, I’d rather that less horrible people get airtime and more people with real talent actually get on TV.
Finally we have another ‘successful’ audition with 13-year-old Reed Deming singing “It Will Rain” by Bruno Mars. The performance is really only so-so, but he is very cute. The judges ask him to sing again without music. Finally they decide they have heard enough.
Judges: Simon Cowell says Reed has eyes of steel but the vocals need work. Demi loves his stage presence and says he is adorable. L. A. says he reminds him of another famous kid singer (hint hint) and he has a lot of talent. Britney says he is adorable. Reed is through, mostly because he is… again… adorable.
Kaci Newon, 22, is one of the mean girls from earlier who was making fun of the 21-year-old girl with the toddler. She gives a terrible rendition of Katy Perry‘s “Fireworks” and there is no way she’ll be making it through.
Judges: Simon Cowell tells Kaci it sounds like she was dying. “If you were dying and suffering that is what it would sound like.” There is no need more more, she is voted right off the stage.
The next singer, Quatrelle Dion, shows up on stage in a wedding dress and lest you be confused by the name, it is a guy in a wedding dress. He gives a not all that horrible performance of “Born This Way” by Lady Gaga and amazingly enough, the judges (minus one) actually think he is entertaining (although more for his performance than his singing). He won’t last past the next round I’m sure.
Judges: Britney Spears says there were some off key moments but the performance entertained her. Demi also says she was entertained. Simon calls him the bastard child of Madonna, Bobby Brown and Dracula, but says he loved him anyway. The votes are cast and everyone but L.A. votes to put him through.
Next up we have a former boy band member who fails to thrill, leaving the judges to send him packing. He is followed by three guys calling themselves Emblem3, the boy band that is not a boy band (according to them). They have the ‘cute’ factor in spades as they perform an original song called “Sunset Boulevard”. They are actually good but I am kind of biased against anything resembling a boy band whether they call themselves that or not.
Judges: L. A. doens’t like them… he loves them! Britney also loves their smooth voices. Demi was impressed, thought they were cute and fun. Simon Cowell slobbers over them and says they were awesome from beginning to end, he loved it all.
Don Phillips is a vocal coach who once did a duet with Britney Spears but was not ready back then to try a music career. He actually cries that Britney recognizes who he is. Sadly, his performance of “Hills” does not go over well with the judges.
Judges: Simon Cowell says he has to give the honest truth and it is that Don just does not have a good singing voice. Britney Spears says he has gone through so much, she knows, but his voice is just not X Factor quality. The judges go ahead with the vote and he is eliminated. He has a total meltdown backstage. This guy needs help.
Jennel Garcia, 18, is up next and she gives an awesome performance of “Paris Oh La La”. She has certainly secured a place on my favorites list this season already.
Judges: L. A. says he is feeling her and it was great! Britney says it was very unexpected and she was amazing. Demi says she is on fire and awesome. Simon Cowell compares her to a young Pat Benatar and she is exciting and different.
Last up tonight is Jillian Jensen, also 18. She is obviously emotional as she talks about being bullied and how much she admires Demi Lovato for taking a stand against bullying and how much she has done to bring awareness to anti-bullying campaigns. Thankfully Jillian is not just a sad story, she is also a great performer and does an amazing job. I was moved, so were the judges.
Judges: Demi goes up on the stage to hug Jillian and tell her how great she is. Jillian is just in tears. Demi tells her she is so strong. L. A. says she has got it, it was magic the way she poured her pain into the song. Britney says she sounds sexy and beautiful and should not cry. Simon says the pain in her sound was awesome and she should not cry but be strong; she was incredible. Demi says Jillian broke her heart when she sang. She is a unanimous vote to move on!
That’s all for our The X Factor premiere recap. Join us here again Thursday night for our recap of the second night of premiere week! Bookmark us or friend us on Facebook or Twitter for all our latest updates.
I can’t really judge as far as talented singers so far, but there is certainly plenty of drama. Every one expects Simon to be gruff. But if you have Brittany spears (the paparazzi queen), tell you that she feels uncomfortable with you looking at her, then you must be doing something really wrong. If I didn’t do so much business traveling I would have definitely showed up to try-outs. I don’t have the loveliest voice but seeing Brit would be wonderful.