'The X Factor' recap: The top 12, er ... 13, perform

By Amy Reiter

Nov. 8, 2012 12 AM PT

In a twist Wednesday night that would have seemed far more shocking if the show hadn’t pulled a similar stunt with Melanie Amaro last season, “The X Factor” brought back contestant Diamond White, who had been eliminated from Britney Spears’ Teens team last week.

“We watched the show back and the final 12 we are very happy with,” Simon Cowell announced at the top of the show, “but we believe we made a mistake with one act,” adding that White had been asked to rejoin the show and become lucky No. 13.

Welcome back, Diamond.

White joined the other contestants to tackle songs from movies.

The Teens

Arin Ray performed “American Boy,” by Estelle featuring Kanye West, amid sparkling lights and swaggering dancers but still managed to hold focus with his hip-shaking moves and solid vocals. “Arin, first of all, what happened to you from last year to this year?” L.A. Reid told the “X Factor” returnee, who competed as part of a group last year. “Because you’re a different person than you were the first time I met you.” Reid thought Ray had finally found his vocal identity. Demi Lovato thought he looked “smooth” and “like a star.” Cowell complimented Spears’ mentoring. And Spears thought Ray “owned it.”

Beatrice Miller (mostly) overcame vocal issues to sing “Iris” by the Goo Goo Dolls – sounding a little like a three-pack-a-day 13-year-old. The issues may have hindered her range, but Reid didn’t seem to notice, telling Miller the tone of her voice “sounds like a hit record … just sensational.” Lovato liked the way Miller poured her soul into the song, and Cowell declared Miller to be “unbelievable,” though he did note the vocal glitches. Spears, however, is Miller’s biggest fan, telling her she had the “best personality out of anybody in this whole competition.”

Carly Rose Sonenclar moved on from the cheesy girlish costuming and concept Spears had heaped on her last week to show her vocal maturity and power with Bruno Mars’ “It Will Rain.” “That was really heartfelt,” Reid told her. “It was honest -- I loved it, and I love you.” Lovato thought the performance was “night and day” compared with last week’s and said Sonenclar was really “in her element.” Cowell said it sounded like a hit song and Sonenclar had “real guts,” adding, “I’ve got a feeling with you, Carly, we’re watching a star in the making.” Spears again rolled out the big compliments, telling her mentee, “You should have closed the show, because nobody can follow that.”

Diamond White stepped out in a snappy white ladytux and sang Whitney Houston’s “I Have Nothing,” hoping to prove the judges’ were right to bring her back. It may not have been her best performance (she was a little stiff), but Reid, noting that the song choice was “ambitious,” thought White “brought it home.” Lovato felt the performance “tugged at her heart.” Cowell declared that “dreams can come true,” thought the whole thing was great, and said he was so glad White was back in the competition. Spears said White “definitely channeled Whitney and she would be very proud.”

Young Adults

CeCe Frey brought back her leopard spots (or whatever animal they’re supposed to evoke) for her amateurish, frequently off-key and breathless take on Survivor’s “Eye of the Tiger,” during which she very deliberately took a moment to show off the revealingly sheer bodysuit she wore under a red satiny jacket. (Was she supposed to look like a circus ringmaster or some kind of military dictator?) Reid reluctantly admitted he hadn’t been blown away by the performance. Spears thought she was a “little rebel” who “brought fire,” but Cowell said that anything he’d liked about Frey to start with (whatever that was) had been “thrown away” and that the song choice was “just horrible.” “Cece, you are being taken into a direction you shouldn’t be going into,” Cowell said, slamming mentor Lovato without mentioning her directly, and saying Frey should be making her own song choices. After Cowell’s critique, Frey looked furious. (Maybe don’t stand so close, Mario Lopez.) Eye of the tiger, indeed.

Jennel Garcia, who is pretty much unrecognizable compared with the soft-and-sweet-on-the-outside, sexy-on-the-inside small-town girl we met in auditions, sang a leathery “I Love Rock and Roll.” Reid more-or-less rightly called it a “Joan Jett parody” lacking in originality and inventiveness. Spears, on the other hand, thought it was “hot, hot, hot.” Cowell again piled on Garcia’s mentor, telling her he hated what Lovato had done to her look and that she wasn’t challenging her musically, either. “You are better than this,” he told Garcia. “You really are.” “That’s why I’m her mentor, and you’re not,” snapped Lovato, maintaining that the young women in the audience had loved Garcia’s performance.

Paige Thomas withstood a pretty serious costume malfunction – her flowy skirt blew waaay up to reveal her unexpectedly sturdy-looking underwear – and a guy manhandling her and dragging his lips across her neck to deliver solid vocals on Berlin’s “Take My Breath Away.” It was quite a production, and Reid thought it was “amazing” but for the song itself, which he called “good” but not “great.” Spears also complimented the production values, which she thought were “shockingly” good. And Cowell didn’t miss another opportunity to slam Lovato (who, I suddenly remembered, is an anti-bullying spokeswoman), saying he thought the production was overwrought and lacked imagination. Lovato has obviously learned to stick up for herself over the years and wasn’t taking Cowell’s mean-girl act sitting down. “Obviously, everybody in the audience disagrees with you,” she told him. Snap.

The Over 25s

Singing R. Kelly’s “I Believe I Can Fly,” Jason Brock did better than he has in recent weeks. For one thing, there were no distracting torso-revealing dancers. The judges weren’t terribly impressed, however. Spears said that even though it was “definitely an improvement she still felt Brock was doing a “Vegas lounge act.” Lovato called it “predictable” and “cabaret,” bemoaning the fact that Brock had a voice and likability that made him “so much better than that.” And Cowell was truly harsh, telling Brock he liked him, “but I don’t believe you could fly. Maybe jump a couple of inches off the ground, but definitely not fly.” Brock’s outfit, he said, made him look like he was “a singer in an Italian restaurant … who just decided to sing ‘I Believe I Can Fly.’ ” Whatever. If Brock goes home this week at least he can tell everyone Mario Lopez told him, “You spread those wings, Jason. You spread ‘em.” He can probably dine out on that for a while.

Tate Stevens turned in his trademark working-man hunk of Americana with Bon Jovi’s “Wanted Dead or Alive,” confidently interacting with the audience. “You definitely are a true cowboy,” Spears said, adding that he’d “nailed it.” Lovato thought he had “what it takes” to be a country music star. And Cowell said Stevens had returned to the competition and then patted himself on the back for giving a guy like Stevens a shot at the ripe old age of 37.

Vino Alan turned in what, to my ears, was the best performance of the night, singing a passionate, soulful, gritty, stirring version of Percy Sledge’s “When a Man Loves a Woman.” And how could you not love his shout out to the storm-battered East Coast, which seemed like heartfelt, real moment in the midst of all of this show’s often empty-seeming pageantry. Spears liked the vocals, calling the performance “stripped” and “strong.” Lovato said she’d been left speechless, impressed with Alan’s raw emotionality but still didn’t see how he’d ever be a No. 1 pop star. Cowell trotted out his old “you went from zero to hero” line for Alan, and then told Lovato she was stupid to not think the guy could be a top-selling artist, comparing him, oddly, to frumpy phenomenon Susan Boyle. “If you’ve got talent, you’ve got talent,” Cowell told Alan, “and you have got an incredible voice.” He went on to say that by singing for U.S. troops, Alan proved he was “a good man.”

Groups

All-girl Frankengroup 1432, formerly the LYLAS, has become Fifth Harmony, thanks, I gather, to some kind of online name-selection process. This Cowell-created ensemble sat on stools and sang Christina Perri’s “A Thousand Years,” and it was musically fine, if a bit lacking in zazz. Reid thought they’d “nailed it.” Spears thought they “shined the whole way” through. Lovato maintained that what separated them from other girl groups was that they were all “powerful vocalists.” (So sorry, other girl groups.) And Cowell told them they’d gone through an amazing transformation and he was “incredibly” excited about their potential. “I could not be more proud of you girls,” he added.

Emblem3 performed an interesting surfer-dude mashup of Katy Perry’s “California Gurls” and the Temptations’ “My Girl.” Reid reluctantly told the group they were “actually perfect.” Spears was impressed that they had managed to make the song their own. Lovato thought they were “really great” but got in a slam at Cowell for including part of a One Direction song in the mix. “If I had been your mentor, I would have made sure that I wouldn’t have plugged one of my other artists that you could easily be compared to.” Cowell waved off the critique and complimented the group on their energy and sense of fun, adding that they had only one day to learn the song. “Outstanding,” he said.

Lyric145 stepped out with a completely wacked out, over-the-top Mad Hatter take on “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” – yes, the song from “Mary Poppins” – that was somehow not quite atrocious. Reid confusingly said he “hated it … completely hated it” but that they shouldn’t be bothered by that because “I think I’m going crazy because it was really good” and “inventive,” not his “personal cup of tea” but “perfect.” Spears thought the hip-hop group’s theatrics and everything they “brought to the table” was “really intriguing” and “interesting to watch.” Lovato said she’d gotten “so hyped” by the performance. Turning to Cowell, she said, “Who knew that in that rusty old brain there were some fresh, cool, hip thoughts?” Cowell, however, admitted that Lyric had chosen the song, which Lyric pointed out were all Mary Poppins lyrics, and that all things considered they were “bloody fantastic.”