‘The X Factor’ Recap, The Top 12 Go ‘Diva’!

The theme for the show is "Divas," with the Top 12 tackling songs from some of the most famous in music. So we got to watch people "try it" songs by Whitney, Celine and Mariah. Ugh. So, how did they all do?

Things kicked off with the "Young Adults," with Jennel Garcia performing first. "Proud Mary" was her song, but could she make us want to roll down the river with her? That was corny, sorry. The song started off too slowly, and I didn't like this arrangement at all. It would have worked better with a live band. Yes I know there was a drummer and keyboard player on stage but I highly doubt they were playing anything. Britney said that "Tina would be proud," but I'm sure Tina Turner is in a chateau somewhere not caring about this girl messing up her song. Although Simon commented that she was back in the competition, she seems to be getting further away from it. I don't know what type of artist she wants to be, but this isn't really working for her.

The first of the "Over 25s," and the only other of L.A.'s team left on the show is Tate Stevens who sang "From This Moment" by Shania Twain. Well Shania was on "Divas Live" once, so I guess this counts. It was simply another solid performance from Tate, Britney called it "heartfelt."  Simon said it was better than last week's performance because of his new found confidence. I think it's enough to keep him at the top of the rankings, at least for this week.

The First of Britney's "Teens" was Diamond White. Brit chose Beyonce's "Halo" for her and I was hoping that she could take on the challenge of such a big song. After this performance I realized my issue with Diamond's voice, it's not all that mature the way Carly Rose's is. I don't want to compare the two but I feel like Diamond still has a long way to go. She didn't hit her notes as well as she should have, and Simon gave her some good advice. Don't walk and sing at the same time! I just want Diamond to stay in the competition and get better.

Sticking with another of Britney's singers, Beatrice Miller sang "Time After Time" by Cyndi Lauper. Beatrice has unfortunately been going through some personal drama, but it helped her to channel the emotion of the song. If you haven't noticed, Beatrice is almost always sitting during her performances and she would be helped so much by just standing up or something. Overall, it was a little boring and I know she's better than this. L.A. thought it was a bad song choice for her, and I kind of agree. She needs to do something more upbeat because she isn't connecting with the same audience that votes for Tate, or her contemporary Carly Rose.

Lyric 145 put their spin on Queen's "We Will Rock You" mashed up with some Katy Perry song. Um, I missed most of this performance and I was okay with that. I just don't get this. Even Britney said that they are a hip hop group and they need to be doing hip hop songs, yo! No Simon, it didn't make sense for them to be doing a Queen song even though Freddie Mercury was very much a diva. Simon could very well be trolling her, and while I don't dislike Lyric 145 the way I do say, Cece, L.A. said that this might be the last time we see them in the competition. He could be right.

Arin Ray sang "Crazy For You" by Madonna. Um, okay. So Arin didn't mind what I thought wasn't a good choice for him because he decided to sing it to one of the Fifth Harmony girls. Well, at least they would make a cute couple. I thought this was the best performance Arin has given so far because it wasn't him surrounding by distracting dancers and it was the most clear he has been. Admitting to having a sort of girlfriend might cost him the panty vote though. L.A. and Demi weren't moved by it, Simon asked him if he hated it. I didn't get that vibe from him, but a slightly more uptempo song might have been better.

Paige Thomas went with Donna Summer's "Last Dance." The theatrics were mostly gone, and I loved that she worked the finger waves. Even though the theme was about Divas, Paige got lost in the staging again and didn't really deliver. Still,  the judges thought it was her best performance so far, but Simon pointed out that the staging was off.

Fifth Harmony tackled Mariah Carey's "Hero." You'd think this would sound good with five voices. I like that the girls genuinely like each other and enjoy performing but this was, sigh. Was it me or did they seem a little proud of themselves for that performance. Maybe they were excited but they need to pull their fives harmonies together and produce things better than this. On a positive note, they looked cute.

Carly Rose Sonenclar was given Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On." An obvious choice but I expected her to get through it with no problems, and she did. I hate the dress they put her in, but altogether is was another great performance from her. The judges heaped much deserved praises on her. I'll be surprised if she doesn't take the top spot in the rankings this week.

Vino Alan, described by L.A. as an "underdog," sang "Let's Stay Together." This was Tina Turner's version of the song which isn't all that different from Al Green's version, but it worked for him. The ending seemed abrupt, but his rasp came across so well here and he gave probably his best performance, or at least the only one that I really liked. Simon disagrees with me, although I think this will probably keep him in the Top 5.

Emblem3 was given Alicia Keys' "No One," plenty of shouting for them to do with this one. I hated the way they Jason Mraz-ed this up, and I actually like Jason but this only works for them. Whereas every other performer on this show obviously has a bit of styling, I think they just pulled some dirty t-shirts from their the bottom of their closets and walked out on stage. Thankfully they kept it short. None of the judges talked about the actual performance, Demi did say it was better than last week's performance, but mostly they just talked about their "star quality."

The final act of the night was Cece Frey. I'm just so over Cece's whole, well, everything. Watching her cry over her parents might help her get some sympathy votes, but her performance of "All By Myself" was so overwrought. Her singing is so flat, I'm still not sure why she's on the show. The missed notes, the awkward grabbing of her microphone, I hope she didn't think she actually did a good job and i'm glad L.A. and Britney didn't mince words. Simon pulled out the word "cabaret" again and said that Cece and Demi aren't working right together. If you vote for this thing, get rid of Cece already.

How do you think the Top 12 did singing songs by artists better than they will ever be? Was that sentence too mean? Yeah, probably. But tell us what you think!