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Last night’s episode of The X Factor USA was a shocker! We did not expect to see Simon Cowell’s favorite, Drew Ryniewicz or L.A. Reid’s mainstay, Astro, to be eliminated from the show!

Astro was on the chopping block first, with the lowest votes from America. He showed gratitude in his departure as they played his exit reel. Totally unexpected. We would have expected that after he tried to decline performing when it came down to the final showdown between himself and Stacy Francis. Simon looked pretty upset with his fellow judges, who opted to keep Marcus, instead of his beloved favorite.

At the end, it came down to the final showdown between Drew and Marcus Canty, who was promised a Bentley by his mentor if he won the competition. Drew performed Listen To Your Heart by Roxette for her “save me” song. Marcus performed Neither One Of Us by Gladys Knight.

Now that our top five has been selected, the public gets the chance to vote for the songs that we want them to sing on next week’s show, as part of the Pepsi Challenge. The X Factor USA’s official website has a list of three songs for us to choose from, for each act:

Chris Rene:
My Love Is Your Love by Whitney Houston
Angel Of The Morning by Shaggy
Fly by Sugar Ray

Josh Krajcik:
Chasing Pavements by Adele
Everytime You Go Away by Hall & Oates
Come Together by The Beatles

Marcus Canty:
We Belong Together by Mariah Carey
Saving All My Love For You by Whitney Houston
I’ll Make Love To You by Boyz II Men

Melanie Amaro:
Hero by Mariah Carey
I Didn’t Know My Own Strength by Whitney Houston
The Voice Within by Christina Aguilera

Rachel Crow:
Forget You by Cee Lo Green
Ain’t No Mountain High Enough by Diana Ross
Valerie by Amy Winehouse

VOTE HERE!

Were you shocked by last night’s eliminations? Sound off in the comments and let us know your thoughts!

On last week’s double elimination episode of The X Factor USA, we saw the exit of LeRoy Bell, along with the last in the group category, Lakoda Rayne. In case you’ve missed the show, you can read our recap here.

This week, we face another double elimination, after the remaining top seven acts go head-to-head in an hour-and-a-half long episode this Wednesday. Afterward, on Thursday, another two acts will be eliminated from the singing competition.

Drew Ryniewicz has not revealed the name of the song that she’s performing, but has dropped a hint. She took to her official Twitter page to say, “So I love my song for this week. It’s not upbeat, but it’s also not slow. Has a bit of attitude :) #cantwait woohoooo”.

I have to say that when I’ve watched her performances, they have all really sounded the same. They are slow — with no build-up and they lack energy. What could she possibly be singing this week?

Let’s hope that it’s a good song choice that actually has some life to it. Her singing is good, but on the other hand, it does sort of put us to sleep.

What do you think she’s singing? Hit me up in the comments with your thoughts!

It’s Rock Night on The X Factor with the top ten finalists! In case you’ve missed last week’s show, we saw the exit of another of Paula Abdul’s groups, The Stereo Hogzz. Read our recap of the performance and elimination episodes at these links. We’re updating with the performance videos at this link…check ‘em out!

We’re down to these top ten competitors for the five million dollar recording contract:

Rachel Crow, Lakoda Rayne, Josh Krajcik, LeRoy Bell, Melanie Amaro, Stacy Francis, Astro, Marcus Canty, Chris Renee and Drew Ryniewicz.

For their precap, some of the contestants spoke about tonight’s theme, Rock! Astro said that he’s stepping out of his element and that he’s excited to show people that he can do more than just Hip Hop.

Melanie said she’s going to go in and have her rock face on. Yes! I’m hoping she rocks some Heart! Now that would be amazing.

LeRoy said that he’s hoping to push the envelope with the rock theme. Marcus said he’s on the fence with the rock theme, but if Tina Turner can do it — he can do it!

Rachel said that it’s almost like last week’s song, but it’s more upbeat with a retro vibe. She hopes we’ll enjoy her performance. Josh said that it has to be the right song and could prove to be a game-changer for him.

Chris said that this is a genre that he’s not used to, but he’s going to put his stamp on it and make it his. Drew said that to be rock n’ roll, you have to have that attitude in the way you express yourself.

Stacy said that she first heard the theme and thought she was going to get sent home, but also said that it’s exciting. Lakoda Rayne hopes to kick butt with a rock song and prove to America that they can only take their talent further.

WATCH: [After the jump due to auto-play] (continue reading…)

Performing third on tonight’s episode of The X Factor is 14-year-old Drew Ryniewicz, singing, Fix You by Coldplay from the soundtrack to You, Me And Dupree. I wasn’t a fan of her performance, really. It was really hard to understand the words that she was singing.

L.A. Reid said that was really good, but he doesn’t know the difference between her performances and that he needs some diversity from her.

Nicole Scherzinger called her brilliant beyond her years and she loves that she takes her time. She called her a little slice of Heaven.

Paula Abdul said that she gives an honest performance every night. She’s not giving props to Simon for choosing Drew’s outfit.

Simon Cowell said to clear things up, Drew designed the dress she’s wearing. Simon called her original and said his job is to develop her into a recording artist.

WATCH:

VOTE: 1-855-THE-XF-03

Was Drew’s performance your favorite of the night? Does she have what it takes to win it all? Sound off in the comments below and let us know what you think!

X FACTOR ELIMINATION RECAP HERE

The competition is getting stiff on the first season of The X Factor USA! On last week’s episode of the show, we saw the elimination of Paula Abdul’s group, inTENsity. With a five million dollar recording contract on the line, what will the contestants do to take it to the next level?

Brian Bradley AKA Astro, commented that he wanted to “just have fun” and that’s what people love him for. Chris Rene said that if he could perform his own song, he feels that he could guarantee that he would not be in the bottom two. (continue reading…)

Drew Ryniewicz AKA Drew, performed Nelly’s song, Just A Dream, on the performance episode of The X Factor and the judges and audience members ate it up.

This reminded us a lot of her slow, emotion-filled performance from last week and we were curious to see if she would speed it up some.

WATCH:

Was this your favorite performance of the night? Are you a Drew fan? Was she good enough to avoid elimination on Thursday night’s show? Sound off in the comments below!

On last week’s episode of The X Factor, we’ve told you how the judges have eliminated singers from their teams.

Now that Simon Cowell had to eliminate two girls from his team, he’s down to his top three contestants, Drew Ryniewicz, Melanie Amaro and Rachel Crow. Apparently their security has become an issue!

TMZ reports:

According to our sources, Simon has grown concerned about the safety of the three girls — Drew Ryniewicz, Melanie Amaro, and Rachel Crow — after a recent trip to the mall turned into a mob scene.

Our sources says the incident prompted Simon to instruct his personal bodyguards … they are not to let the girls leave the studio without some form of security. We’re told Simon wants the girls to be able to feel safe while doing the kinds of things normal girls do.

Simon sure is protective of the talent! Good for him! He is super confident that one of his girls has what it takes to go all the way in the competition. Who are you rooting for? Sound off in the comments below and let us know what you think.

Photo Credit: Fame Pictures

Fourteen-year-old singer Drew Ryniewicz performed Irene Cara’s song, Flashdance (What A Feeling) on last night’s live performance episode of The X Factor.

She really slowed the song down a lot. I was expecting the chorus to speed up and for it to be made into this huge crowd pleasing pop number. Perhaps she’s catering to the younger audience who doesn’t remember the original version of the song.

Check out Drew’s performance, below:

The original, so you can hear what I’m referring to:

What did you think of Drew’s performance last night? Is she in it to win it? Does she have the vocal power to walk away with the five million dollar recording contract? Sound off in the comments and let us know what you think!

Fourteen-year-old student Drew Ryniewicz performed It Must Have Been Love by Roxette for her performance on the judge’s house stage of The X Factor competition.

She sat down in a chair for the intimate performance and blew us away completely.

Check out the video:

She’s so young, but she’s got an amazing voice. She should definitely get put through to the next round, we loved it!

She really made the song her own without changing it up too much. Good for her!

Are you a fan of Drew’s singing? Was this your favorite performance of the night? Sound off in the comments below and let us know what you think!