The X Factor USA - Semi Final 2011

TEAM L.A. REID
1. Marcus Canty - I'll Make Love To You (Boyz II Men)
Beginning a little off-key, his voice sounded great for most of it, but then it went all wrong on the higher notes (although, bizarrely, not the falsetto). He's a decent performer with a definite career but his time may well be up.

2. Chris Rene - I Just Wanna Fly (Sugar Ray)
An excellent song choice- he's dropped the usual bassy hip-hop production in favour of a breezy song with a more acoustic feel. His voice was great, an had fewer mis-steps than Marcus Canty, although it did lack a wow moment.

TEAM SIMON COWELL
3. Melanie Amaro - Hero (Mariah Carey)
Apparently voted for by the "Pepsi viewers", whatever they are, it's one of the reality show cliché songs, but it had an odd arrangement that changed the chords. That said, it was a nicely stripped piano vocal and her vocals have never been better.

TEAM NICOLE SCHERZINGER
4. Josh Krajick - Come Together (The Beatles)
Another obvious choice, but his voice is perfect for this, and he took the opportunities to go for it in what is otherwise a pretty tuneless, uneventful song.

Round one over, it's round two. Cue the cheesy VTs and sob stories.

TEAM L.A.
5. Marcus Canty - Careless Whisper (George Michael)
Marcus does the ballad fake-out before bursting into a thumping HI-NRG version that I actually rather liked. His vocals were better than on his first song, and he threw a few moments in there.

6. Chris Rene - No One (Alicia Keys)
Oh dear. Singing one of the worst songs of all-time, I hated every second of it. Fortunately, his particular sob story was a strong one. And he played piano.

TEAM SIMON
7. Melanie Amaro - Feelin' Good (Nina Simone)
In the VT we're promised a performance that's unexpected, brave, possibly crazy. And what we get is a carbon copy of Michael Bublé's version of this song. Fortunately, her vocals were incredible.

TEAM NICOLE
8. Josh Krajick - Hallelujah (Leonard Cohen)
Surprisingly, this was rather dull. It's not often I agree with L.A. Reid. But it was far from bad.

RESULTS
The three finalist are revealed:
Chris Rene
Melanie Amaro
Josh Krajick

Which, obviously, means we say goodbye to Marcus. And yet I can't help but feel he'll have the biggest career.