'The X Factor' Season 1, Episode 11 Recap - 'Top 12 Perform'

The top 12 have been decided, and although Dexter claims his elimination was a pre-planned deal, the right choices have been made: the sub-par Brewer Boys and Simone Battle have been sent home, along with Tiah Tolliver and Phillip Lomax.

Steve Jones seems pretty fired up about tonight, and if you're a fan you should too: tonight is the night that the audience finally gets to vote. Yep, no more having to deal with the bonehead decisions of the judges (Simone, Simon). Now you just have to deal with the bonehead decisions of the American public.

"Coming up now, get ready, hold your seats!" says Paula as she introduces the first group to perform, the Stereo Hogzz. She really can't be any more awkward, can she? Anyway, the boys are finally introduced one at a time, with names and everything, since they're clearly going to be group to make it to the finals.

The boys do "Rhythm Nation" with some snazzy choreography, that they're more or less in sync with. Also, their dancers are wearing Master Chief helmets. Halo. Nice. The judges all love it, and rightfully so. Simon even says "I just wish I was mentoring you, this is so annoying." It's good they're getting praise, considering they're the only actual group here (not like those "fake" groups made up of soloists. You're fooling no one, Abdul. NO ONE).

Chris Rene is up first for the Boys, and he notes how he felt "a little wobbly" last week. The mentors note that he needs to connect with his lyrics. He does his own version of "Until You Come Back to Me" by Luther Vandross, and OH MY GOD THE STAGE IS ON FIRE.

He was once again a little "wobbly." He was stretching a bit for the higher notes. Still, Nicole says he sounded amazing, and the other judges agree. Simon wonders why L.A. "put him in hell" on stage. I think Chris really earned some extra points in his audition for singing his own song (which was pretty good) but having him do covers isn't working as well. Can't they let him do some more of his own stuff?

LeRoy Bell is up next, and we're reminded for the umpteenth time that this guy is OLD. Nicole notes in the clip package that he needs to connect emotionally to his songs more. That'll be especially important with the sickly sweet "Already There" by Lonestar.

LeRoy does a little bit of a better job with connecting, but could still use a little more storytelling. Regardless, his voice is great... though he has to compete with Josh and Stacey, so the odds are against him here a bit. Simon is met with a cascade of boos as he notes that LeRoy has a "confidence issue" and calls the staging and song choice "a bit dated."

Back from commercial, Simon talks about the show being picked up for season two, and Steve points to his silly Twitter screen again. More importantly, though, Rachel Crow is up for the Girls.

Simon mentions that she looks young and does a certain type of music well, so they're sticking to that... which means she's singing "Walking on Sunshine" this week. The song automatically makes me cringe because of its horrendous overuse, but I'm surprised by the lyrical change. Instead of "I'm walking on sunshine, and don't it feel good," she sings "You're my sunshine, but you gotta go."

That change was made by a UK "X Factor" competitor last year by the name of Gamu Njhengu, so when Simon says that Rachel is "being inventive," he means "I stole this idea from one of our previous contestants and gave it to Rachel."

You can't escape my superior detective skills, Simon. I have Google.

Anyway, everyone loves it, even though Nicole wasn't crazy about the lyrical change. I don't know if she'll be able to outdo the fantastic Melanie and the sublime Drew, but her bubbly personality might win her some votes.

Lakoda Rayne is up next for the Group, the four lovely ladies from the Girls category who got assembled into a kind of country-ish group. Paula wants them to each represent a season, which Simon and L.A. think is a "cheeseball" idea. It turns out they didn't go too far with it, though, as the girls are just in different-colored dresses. Those monstrous screens are a bit much, though.

Anyway, the girls sing "Landslide" with some harmonies that are on the right key but a bit boring. Despite that, as L.A. says, the blend was much better. He does note that they should either pick pop or country. Simon loved it vocally, but says that the seasons idea was "literally insane." He also says Paula dressed them like they're "going to the prom." I think it fit the song fine. Paula makes a joke about Simon being from England where "there's one season: miserable." Nice one.

In the clip package, a big deal is made about Josh singing a song by a female artist, as if that's something that hasn't happened thus far. This time, though, the song isn't a jazz classic... it's a fairly new song from Christina Perri called "Jar of Heart." It's a pretty song, but it doesn't show Josh off the way he can be shown off.

Simon and the rest of the judges loved it anyway, and Nicole starts tearing up a bit talking about how Josh makes the music "move through all of us." As melodramatic as that is, it's actually a pretty good way of putting it: when Josh sings, you feel it. That's why I think he'll be the finalist in the Over 30s.

Melanie Amaro is up next, and Simon is still trying to convince us that he "made a terrible mistake" back when he fake-eliminated her. Sorry dude, none of us bought for a second that that whole thing was for real.

Melanie makes a big deal about her "risky" song that takes her out of her "comfort zone." This big risk is "Desperado" by Eagles. I guess that's a bit of a stretch for her, but she delivers it so easily that it doesn't seem like one. Moral of the story, she's really good at this whole singing thing.

The judges go gaga over her, and so does the audience, who keeps screaming all throughout L.A.'s comments. Simon tells Melanie "I didn't realize how good you were," and says that she's "the one to beat." Yeah, duh. That's why your fake elimination was a load of crap.

Oh, hey, check this out! Not only is "X Factor" practically the same as "American Idol," but they're even using some of the awkward tech roundup stuff from "The Voice!" They have some host girl running us through the official X Factor app. Speaking of pre-produced moments, that spit take from Paula was even more transparent than Simon's fake Melanie elimination. Yeesh.

Astro's up next with a bit of "Hip Hop Hooray" from Naughty By Nature, but of course it's his own flow in the verses. Then he stops the track and says, I think, "enough of this vintage" or something. Whatever, I'm white. I don't understand any of this. Anyway, another impressive performance from Astro, though this one was a little awkward at the start. Lacked a little punch. The judges all love it.

Next up is InTENsity, who continues to baffle me. If they don't go home tomorrow, I will be very surprised. The lead female singer says that she was singing before she could read, and says something about when she was "in my mom's stomach." Oh, anatomy.

They're given another insipid number as they do "Kids in America" mashed up with "Party Rock Anthem." Ugh. I understand what Simon and the producers were going for here in putting these kids together... they want a group to approximate "Glee." I've talked before about why that won't work, but it's also just such a mess with these ten kids. They could have done with six, and I bet the sound would be a lot more "pop group" and less "Kidz Bop." Nothing is worse than ten pre-teens singing in unison.

You can't fault their enthusiasm. L.A. calls it "fun fun fun" and Nicole adds "funtastic." Simon says "I shouldn't like you, but I do."

Drew, who has become a favorite to be the finalist for the Girls, is the last to go up. That probably means she's going to be really good.

WHOA WHAT. The performance starts with a top-down shot of Drew lying on a bed of flower petals, which seems inappropriate for a girl of 14. Not to mention disorienting. Past that, it's a pretty great performance, as Drew does her own version of "Just a Dream" by Nelly. Yeah, I know, it sounds like it shouldn't work. But it does.

The one thing Drew could work on is her stage presence. As of now, her moves involve bending her knees a bit and swaying. Of course, the judges all love it, and Drew is, as ever, humble and charming. Vote Drew, bitchez.

Marcus is the last one up for the Boys, and with Astro's energy and Chris' backstory, he has his work cut out for him. It looks like the challenge here will be balancing the singing with the dancing. Marcus' song is "Every Little Step" by Bobby Brown, whom L.A. is clearly trying to model Marcus after. There's also a little B.O.B. in there.

Nicole puts it pretty well: "I felt like I was watching you in concert." It was a very clean, entertaining performance. The guy could be ready to tour very soon. The voting might be really close in the Boys category. Is Chris in trouble?

Rounding out the night is Stacey Francis, who wants to be a pop singer but Simon thinks is a church singer. Apparently Nicole has listened, as she's giving Stacey a "spiritual song" this week. The song is "Up to the Mountain," which should make everyone happy... it's a gospel-ish song, but has been covered by pop singers like Kelly Clarkson.

The judges give her tremendous praise, and Stacey stands there saying "thank you" like a robot. Simon takes full credit for the performance, to that extreme, Simon-ish extent.

So that covers it for the top 12. It's tough to say how things will go with the voting, but if I had my choice, we would see InTENsity and Chris Rene going home. I hate to see what's going to happen with the Over 30s since they're all great, but my guess is LeRoy Bell goes home for sure. The Girls category is even harder to call... it has to be between Melanie and Rachel, but which one? Will Rachel's charm make up for her lesser vocal skill? Melanie's great and all, but she's not all that exciting.

Tune in tomorrow to find out who goes home, and see how "The X Factor" handles an all-results show. Will the ratio of actual content to complete bullcrap be larger or smaller than that of "American Idol?"