Frank Micelotta / FOXHey, when you make it to the final four of The X Factor, it really doesn't matter what the judges think anymore!
For the first time since the launch of the competition, tonight's elimination will be completely up to America, which is probably a good thing for Marcus Canty, who got a pretty harsh critique from Simon Cowell on last night's episode. How harsh? And how is Marcus taking it?
Cowell said Canty's performance of "Careless Whisper" "horrible" and "grotesque." Ouch!
But that's not phasing the wannabe performer.
"It's like, each week SImon has something new for me," Canty said with a laugh when asked about Cowell's harsh critiques on his second song. "My performance sucks here, vocally it sucks here, too many dances, this, that, there...I mean it's Simon. He wants to win, so he's lashing at me. I'm cool with it 'cause I still love Simon!"
While Cowell enjoyed Canty's first performance, "I'll Make Love to You," he said Canty giving an audience member a flower "cheesy." "The flower was my idea because chivalry isn't dead," Canty told us. "People think chilvary is dead, especially the ladies. Ladies think that chilvary is dead and I'm here to tell you it's not."
Josh Krajcik was also brushing off a judge's critique: in his case it was L.A. Reid! After Krajcik's performance of "Hallelujah," Reid said it "lacked excitement" and advised the singer to "believe in himself."
"Look, I completely respect him. He knows music, he's been in the music industry for a long time. He's had a lot of success," Krajcik said of the longtime record exec. "He must see something in it that he wants, but I don't see it. I don't know what it is, but I couldn't have done anything more to it. I think that's the kind of song that you just have to feel. It's not about excitement; it's about introspective, despair and longing."
Going back to Canty, the singer is always so carefree and happy after performances that we had to ask him if he's nervous at all about being in the bottom two three weeks in a row. "I've come this far. I've been having fun and I'm going to continue to have fun," he explained. "I'm sad Rachel [Crow] left last week, but this week I had to have fun for her. She wouldn't want be to come in here sad and she'd want me to keep fighting. I've been a fighter."
Speaking of Crow, Canty said, "Honestly, I thought Rachel had more votes than me" and admits he was "shocked" when she was eliminated last week.
Someone else ready to have some fun? Melanie Amaro! Amaro reveals to us that she likes to relax by watching TV and says her guilty pleasure is Family Guy! " I know it's bad, but it makes you laugh," she said. "Did you know laughing helps you lose weight."
While Amaro says she doesn't think of herself as a star, she might start to if Family Guy spoofs her! "I think that would, like, make it for me!" she quipped.
For the first time, Chris Rene got emotional on stage after Cowell said his deceased father would have been proud of his performance of "No One." "It just hit me and I was thinking about my dad," Rene said. "It was super-emotional."
Last week, Rene surprised viewers when he played guitar for the first time and he shocked everyone again tonight when he played piano. Rene tells us he's been playing he was 16 or 17 and taught himself how to play. So what other tricks does he have up his sleeve? Oh, just the drums and the bass. And he's teaching himself how to play the violin. "I have a violin at my place, but I haven't learned to play it yet. I can't wait!" Talk about an overachiever!
What did you think of tonight's show, Factorheads? Do you think Cowell was too harsh on Canty or should Canty take the judges' comments more seriously? Were you surprised by Rene's emotional moment on stage? Sound off in the comments!