The X Factor Episode 5 Boot Camp 1 recap, October 5, 2011

The X Factor Auditions are over and tonight begins with the Boot Camp in Los Angeles. There 162 acts over the next two nights that will be judged to see who eventually moves on into the Final 32. The will be split up into Boys, Girls, Over 30’s and Groups, with each judge mentoring one of the groups. We’ll find out tomorrow tonight which judge will mentor which group.

We gets some clips of joy, of anger and of tears coming from the contestants and judges, ending with a shot of Paula openly in tears. Steve Jones tells us that everyone is packing up to come to Los Angeles for “one of the toughest weeks of their lives.” We gets some clips of some familiar faces from last two weeks, still at their homes preparing to depart. They all seem to arrive at once, pulling their wheeled suitcases, and it’s obvious that these shots have has been staged.

We’re told that they will eventually winnow the contestants (162 acts) down to the final 32 acts. Each group will be brought in and mentored by one of the judges within the judges’ homes. The judges are L. A. Reid, Paula Abdul, Nicole Scherzinger, and Simon Cowell.

The judges walk into the empty X Factor auditorium with all of the contestants on stage cheering their arrival. L.A. Reid welcomes them with a bit of a pep talk and then Simon says “it’s called Boot Camp for a reason.” We find out that the 162 acts will be reduced to just 100 by the day’s end. Joining the judges are vocal coaches Claude Kelly and Sevan Kotecha, stylist June Ambrose and choreographer Brian Friedman (see videos of “The X Team” on the X Factor site).

It’s becoming obvious now that not only do contestants have to be able to sing, but they must also be able to dance and dazzle on stage. Simon comments, “Nowadays, you’ve got to be everything… it’s not just about being a singer.” Forget Biggest Loser — choreographer Brian Friedman is working these contestants out to the point of exhaustion. Yo, yo, yo kid Brian Bradley is leaning on the backlit stage wall and Friedman asks him to dance. Brian says, “I don’t wanna dance.” Whoa there, kid, talking sass and slouching out now isn’t going to get you anywhere except back home in a hurry.

After the the dance workout, it’s time for performances. Before Boot Camp, each act was asked to prepare a song to perform. They’re grouped into lines of ten each and will be asked to step forward and give it what they’ve got in the little time they have.

We start with the easily recognizable Siameze Floyd, who sings Boston’s More Than a Feeling. Now there’s an old classic dating back to the mid ’70’s. He finishes with a super long sustain that Simon eventually cuts off. Next is The Anser, a trio of guys who were told that they were very forgettable. We also get glimpses of some others we saw during the auditions, including Leroy Bell, wedding DJ Tiger Budbill, Kaitlin Koch, Drew Ryniewicz, Gina Rene and 13-year old Rachel Crow, among others.

From the sound of some of the the judges’ comments, they shouldn’t have too much trouble reducing 162 to 100. Some contestants like Brendan O’Hara, a 30-year old music instructor from (where else?) Hollywood comes up and starts to sing, then stops, and then sighs as though he has not only forgotten the lines but also why he’s even there.

Melano Amaro, a 19-year old college student who looks beyond her years, wows the judges as they let her sing the whole way through her song. Stacey Francis tries to set a world record for the longest sustained note, raising some eyebrows and casting doubt in Simon’s expression, who tells her that “with you, a little less is more. That was way over the top.”

The judges have figured out who to keep with a “yes pile” of cards, while the remaining contestants will get word that they’re not in the deck. They’ve been split into three groups with each group finding out their fate. One group of 62 acts (it could be more people than that, doing duets or song groups) will go.

Group 1 comes up and we see some familiar faces, some of whom got some criticism, but also some of whom got praised. It looks like those who got the criticism were given constructive criticism as opposed to outright rejection. Sure enough, they pass.

Group 2 comes on and we can see immediately that these are the rejects, with several of them (including the guy who totally forgot his lines) looking like hopeless cases. One guy asks for another chance. Simon meets him in the aisle and tells him, “I promise you, you come back stronger the next time, ok?” It sounds like this guy will at least have a ticket to audition next season (presuming there is one). The most dramatic exit is left to the Radiohead Creep, J. Mark Inman, who screams and rants, “I don’t have a life! I don’t have a life!” Creepy.

Group 3, all those left, go through. They are rejoined by Group 1 cheering and running into the auditorium. Simon tells all of them, “Someone up there is going walk away with five millions dollars, so on behalf of the four of us, we’re throwing a party for you.” They all go out and wine and dine and wiggle their feet in a giant jacuzzi. Hmm, what did they do with the under drinking age kids?

Bootcame Day 2 begins with guys in CREW shirts pounding on the doors. Whoops! Anyone who partied too hard the previous night is going to regret it. They have five minutes to be in the lobby. Sound the reveille!

L. A. greets the gang and tells them that they will be grouped into ensembles. They will have to prepare a song “that you may or may not know”. They’ll also be working with the X Team vocal coaches, styler and choreographer (mentioned earlier here). They have five hours to learn the song and polish their ensemble performance with the vocal coaches and choreographer. The stakes are high as a “third of the acts will be sent home”.

In the first ensemble are Drew Ryniewicz, Kaitlin Koch, The Anser trio, Audrey Turner, Elaine Gibbs, Clayton Senne, and James Brown nut Dexter Haygood. Oddly enough, they get Radiohead’s Creep. We find out that that Audrey Turner was a backup singer and collaborator with Ike Turner for years before the pair wed in 2006. Ike passed away in December 2007 at the age of 76. Wow. Drew takes leadership in getting their stage positions together and they start working out the song pieces and moves. Then after only five hours, they’re on stage.

Drew leads the song solo for a bit and then is joined by Dexter, then the Anser trio, followed by Mrs. Turner and the others one by one. Rather than do anything too elaborate, they’ve given themselves the opportunity to showcase each other in running solos backed up by the others. There’s not really much in the way of choreography here, but we get a good sample of what everyone can do in what is a reasonably entertaining performance thrown together in just a few hours. The judges liked it a lot and L. A. comments that Audrey Turner came through, too.

The next group are Jazzlyn Little, Melanie Amaro, Heather Gayle, Aaron Surgeon, Arin Ray, group Special Guest, and Stacy Francis. They sing U2’s I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For, with Jazzlyn Little leading off. She sounds ok, although she missed some lyrics. But the song really begins to kick in when Stacey Francis does her piece with a lot more beat and confidence. She sounds really good. Melanie’s turn comes up and she keeps the diva thing going, then they all join in and sound great as a group in pretty good harmony. They fit. It’s hard to believe they sound this good after only a few hours of hashing it together.

Then it’s Dani Knights, Skyelor Anderson, Leroy Bell, Chelsea Musick (how’s that for a name?), Ben Rue, Paige Ogle and Cari Fletcher. The get the Eagles Desperado, a hit from back in ’73. It’s a song that came out before most of these contestants were born and some of them have never heard of it. Good thing Leroy is around to help sort out how they can sing this as a group.

Paige Ogle leads off the performance, followed by the mellow croon Leroy and country toned Dani Knights. Cari Fletcher comes in mid-song, then black country singer Skyelor. They didn’t really do much as a group and there’s no choreography to speak of as they sit on a small bleacher. The judges deliberate who they liked and didn’t like and sometimes there are disagreements, particularly about Paige, who says afterward “I am untouchable.” It looks like the judges are doing a tally and those with the lowest combined marks will eventually be sent off.

Next to sing Jay-Z’s Wishing On a Star is an ensemble that includes Tinuke Oyefule, Jennifay Joy, Lauren Ashley, Tatiana “Reina” Williams, and rap kid Brian Bradley. Tinuke sings the first couple of lines then Brian gets sent up front to really kick the song off with Tatiana joining him for a pretty cool duet between the two. Lauren joins in, and we’ve got a few different “voices” going on at the same time, even if the timing is a bit off a number of places. When they all hit the final note together, though, they’re so all over the place, it’s almost funny! The judges like it, although it’s easy to see the technical shortcomings in this performance. No surprise, really, given that rap is outside some of the contestants’ comfort zone (and mine!). With the judges, L. A. comments that “from a rap perspective” Bradley is “just too young”.

Then we see wardrobe challenged Josh Krajcik, wedding dude Tiger Budbill, Nick Dean, group Kompl3te (unlucky 13?), kid Andrew Muccitelli, James Kenney, and Thomas McAbee. They sing Superman (It’s Not Easy) by Five for Fighting. Nick kicks off the song. Rather, the song kicked him off instead. He’s yanking the mike up and down, killing the sound, and Simon does a face palm. It’s a hard act for the others to even want follow and it takes Josh to save the day like the real Superman.

Singing Feeling Good are the-hat-is-in Phillip Lomax, do-wopping Tiah Tolliver, Chesi Spriggs, another the-hat-is-in Robert Cruz, Kelly Warner, Austin Simmons, and foot shuffling Nick Voss. Phillip begins the song nicely enough, followed by Chesi who raises the volume and tempo. Oh, but then Tiah comes on really strong, marching to the beat of her song, showing the Paula and Nicole what she’s really made of! Hah, hah! The other solos follow and then, unlike some other groups, they actually do a rather daring full chorus sing-along. The judges like it and Paula and Nicole admit now they’re glad Simon saved Tiah.

The next ensemble to go are lil’ Rachel Crow, Joshua Maddox, 4Shore, Hayley Orrantia, Illusion Confusion, Caylie Gregorio, and De’Quan Allen and Ellona Santiago. They get I Have Nothing by Whitney Houston. During practice, Rachel is having trouble with the song key and the vocal coach tells her to “listen to that piano”. They’re the first group to actually choreograph their performance, starting out in synchrony on stage. De’Quan gets the lead, followed by Joshua and then Rachel. Rachel seems to sing it on key Ok, bravely belting out the notes. Ellona comes out pretty strong, too. As a group, they do pretty well.

And finally for tonight are Siameze Floyd, Jeremiah Pagan, group Song Preservation Society, Cesar De La Rosa, inseparable “just friends” Makenna & Brock, beat-boxing The Stereo Hogzz, and 12-year old (!) Emily Michalak. They’re a bit disorganized and the choreographer has to guide them to line up and go onto the stage in order of performance. Siameze begins the song, Run, and each go in their own turn, doing a fairly good job of it. They’re all sounding pretty good, with the backup vocals on key. Unlike most other groups, they can chorus. The judges clap, pleased with their performance.

And so ends tonight’s ensemble performances as the judges sift through their marks for each of the contestants. About half of them will be sent packing and then it’s another round of performances to arrive at the final 32, with eight in each of the four main groups. Some of it’s not pretty, as we see some heart-breaking and tear-jerking as the result of the necessary cuts leading to broken dreams.

Tomorrow night, we find out who the final 32 are and who their mentors will be.

Stay tuned!