X-Factor Finale Part 1 - Final 3 Perform

Hello everyone!  I have mixed feelings about tonight's episode.  There is a clear winner out of these 3, but the judges still have me worried about the clearly less talented one winning.  Maybe they've seen the voting tallies and are trying to "act" like they're behind the guy so they don't look like fools when he wins.  But, I can't honestly sit here and say that he's impressed me every week and there is no way I'm picking him to be the winner of this show.  And I'll tell you one thing.  If he does win, I'm out!  No sense in writing about this show or possibly even watching it when it's skewed to let sub-par people go home with the gold.  ($5 Million gold at that)  If the right thing is done, then we'll see.  Anyway, let's get to the quick recap and picks!

• Josh Krajcik - It was very bizarre to match up the contestants with the stars of (mostly yesterday) today.  Alanis was definitely the best of the 3 but Josh was so-so in his performance of "Uninvited".   Not his fault, I'm sure.  The song did nothing to showcase his vocals.  He had to sing it in that low key for the most time and then let Alanis shine.   But when he brought out his audition song of "At Last" we were reminded of how truly talented this guy is.  Any time it's just him and his guitar or piano, I'm in awe.  Truly a gifted musician.  I don't see him winning the show, but if he does I'd be totally behind it!  
• Chris Rene - Chris and Avril Lavigne eh?  Yeah, I don't get the pairing.  Seriously, if this show wants to reward me with 5 million dollars for not being able to sing and jump around hop for hop with Avril and pound my chest during it?  Sign me up X-Factor!  I surely can do everything that Chris Rene can do except maybe amateur rapping.  8 Months Sober, great!  I'm proud of the guy.  Stop shoving it down our throats as if that's supposed to draw in a sympathy vote!  I understand that all 3 of these contestants did their audition song for song #2, but this is the 3rd time we've heard Chris perform "Young Homie" for us.  And it's a catchy song don't get me wrong.  I have no doubts it will be on his awful album.  But it is truly his ONLY claim to fame.  I've already expressed my thoughts on his last 2 weeks of showcasing a new "original" song and then "playing" piano.  I was thoroughly unimpressed.  And then to hear the judges plead with America to vote after this performance last night?  It just doesn't add up to me unless it's already a foregone conclusion that he's going to win.  We'll see what happens but I'm still not picking him! 
• Melanie Amaro - Again, we can't fault Melanie for being paired up with a has-been of the music industry (who apparently has written one of the most important songs of the last 50 years.  REALLY? L.A.????).   R. Kelly is a punchline that needs no set-up.  His trapped in the closet 20 part song is proof of that.  But nevertheless we were treated to a duet of "I Believe I Can Fly".  It wasn't awful and they both can sing.  And Melanie surely ran circles around her competition in round 1.  So, no harm done!   But, then she went back to sing Beyonce's "Listen".   This is the performance that made me fall in love with the X-Factor format.  She was so amazing in the audition and it was unbelievable that no one had discovered her yet.  Allowing her to showcase it again with her newfound confidence should be the clincher in winning what was truly hers to lose from the auditions (without Simon's contrived ousting).   She is an amazing singer and I agree with Simon.  She should be X-Factor's inaugural winner and represent the show.  No doubt in my mind that it's what SHOULD happen.  

So, with that said there's no sense in drawing this out much further!  Here's my pick! 

X-Factor 2011 Winner ->  Melanie Amaro

Like I said, if it's Josh, I have no complaints.  If it's Chris?  I'm out!  (and I will have that nagging feeling to the end that it might be Chris)

So that's it!  Hope everyone enjoyed my spontaneous decision to write about these live performances.  It was a nice appetizer to the Idol season.  I will try my best to keep up with Idol this year but I'm not making any promises.  I do have that baby on the way and he'll be here very shortly!  Things that once seemed like priorities (writing about TV shows, especially reality shows) may not seem very important at all anymore!  But, if I do end up writing about Idol, I'll probably post up ONE post for the Auditions/Hollywood rounds and then we can all just comment there.  And then, I'll resume for the LIVE shows.  But I'm guessing it would be more of this X-Factor format and I wouldn't post until the next day.   We'll see how things go!  

Anyway, thanks for anyone who read these, hope you enjoyed my ramblings and I'll most likely see you at some point during American Idol 2012!