The next round of X Factor USA is tomorrow. I should have
done this earlier but let me talk about one of my favourite performances last
week. By performance I don’t mean who sang the best but who’s act I liked the
most. Psh, this is the X Factor, so the wow-factor counts for something. The wow-performance that night for me was…
Carlito Olivero’s Maria Maria. It’s also biasedly because I
love that song so whoever would think to attempt that song better darn well
know how to sing it better than the original. Carlito didn’t really do that.
His vocals definitely suffered in expense of giving a stunning stage
performance. It got a little breathy and it was obvious by the end of the
performance he didn’t have enough air to hold that last note. I still enjoyed
his performance though.
First, I think there’s definitely something gratifying and
authentic about a Latino singing that song. Even though The Product G&B who
provided the vocals to the original song weren’t even Latinos themselves (I
could be wrong) having Carlito add his Latino vibe almost completed it for me –
had he done it better.
Second, I like how stuck he is to his roots. You bet there
is no one in the competition right now who can out-do him singing Latino songs
and I like that he’s taking advantage of that. He should continue to excel in
that area where others can’t compete and compare with him. That’s his market
and that’s why people will vote for him – if they do.
Third, it was a sexy performance. Carlito’s got his smooth
moves going on and his back-up dancers were smoking hot. I love that they were
so aggressively dominating but at the same time merely just background fillers. They made me want to salsa! Must be the sting of their latin spice. This salsafied version of the song was just
so entertaining to watch.
It was also a slap on the face. I always thought Carlito was
this humble guy, going on about taking care of his family, thanking God’s
goodness and God’s blessings then BAM sex in the form of X Factor and this
YouTube video I just recently discovered:
I see a lot of ass and an objectified woman. It’s a
professionally done video that’s for sure. The way he dances kind of reminds me
of a seaweed, stuck underwater and moving erratically with the current. I don’t
particularly like the song, it’s nothing original. It also sounds like Chris Brown’s
Wet the Bed in reference to raining and getting wet.
Ehh, if his music turns out like this though, I’m not going
to be a huge fan. I’d rather prefer the innocence of Restless Road even though
I don’t particularly like country… at the moment. RR’s performance this time
was ok, nothing to be crazy about. Still commercially cute though.
Peaces :)
