X FACTOR RECAP: The Top Six Perform!

On tonight's episode of The X Factor, each contestant is going to sing twice - an acoustic song and a Pepsi Challenge song. I assume this means people voted, but they say "Pepsi" about ten thousand times and episode, so I tend to tune it out. Whether you missed the episode or just want a recap of the performances, read on! First, though, an update on the hosts: Mario got married over the weekend, and Khloe should find a new stylist.

Cece Frey is up first. Seriously, who would've predicted that Cece Frey would be in the top 6? Is it the Demi Lovato fans who are voting for her? I'm sure she's perfectly nice in her own life, but she's been fairly grating in the context of this show and this acoustic performance of Lady Gaga's "The Edge of Glory" isn't much better. There's just something in the tone of her voice that gets under my skin. "I think right at this point in the competition it should be great, and it was just good," Britney says.

Emblem3's Tank Top (who, as it turns out, is called Wes) promised that they would play instruments this week if they made it through, so one of them plays a guitar on Bruno Mars' "Just the Way You Are." As much as I don't particularly care for their style, they generally sound much better than this. Everybody's straining to hit notes and I don't even know which one is Tank Top because they're all wearing hoodies. "Maybe it's just me, but I feel like it's a downgraded version of the Jonas Brothers five years ago," Demi says. Buuuuurn.

Carly Rose Sonenclar sings "As Long as You Love Me" by Justin Bieber for her acoustic song. I don't know the song (I know, right? I just can't bring myself to seek out a Justin Bieber song on principle, no matter how good it might end up to be) but once again Carly's vocals are phenomenal and it's actually quite a nice song, though I'm sure the original doesn't sound quite the same. "This is why I love working in this country," Simon says, "Because we find people like you."

Fifth Harmony performs Adele's "Set Fire to the Rain." It's not Adele's powerful voice, that's for sure, but it's not bad by any means. All of the girls get their own little solo, which seems more evenly split than normal. But LA does have a point when he says "I see two background singers over there, I see five singers in front of me, but I still didn't hear any harmony." Britney asks what makes them different and LA butts in again, saying: "They don't sing harmony, that's different." Britney's face does not appreciate the feedback.

Diamond White tackles JAmes Brown's "It's a Man's Man's Man's World" acoustically. She's thirteen and performs it very well for any age, let alone someone who's probably not even in high school yet. She also has a little bit of a diva moment, tossing the mic stand to the side when she's finished - you can tell she's a little afraid to do that, which is endearing. "I feel like that little tiny thing where you threw the mic stand down at the end is what did it for me," Demi says, "It was very very good."

Tate Stevens sings "Livin' On a Prayer" by Bon Jovi. I like Tate. I'm not usually excited to see him sing - he's a little boring where a lot of the other contestants seem more magnetic - but once he hits the stage, his voice fills out the whole room and it doesn't matter whether or not he's the most innovative artist out there. "You doing that song tonight is like taking a goldfish for a walk," Simon tells him. "This is really important. You have to choose the material."

For round two, Cece receives Katy Perry's "Part of Me." It's...um...well, she's dressed like Ke$ha if Ke$ha decided to paint leopard print on her face (yes, that's back). Vocally, she lets the background vocals do most of the singing, so it's hard to say. I wouldn't be at all surprised to se Cece headed home this week, but then again: I wouldn't have been surprised to see Cece go home last week, or the week before that, either, so maybe she'll surprise me again. "NoT Loving it." LA says. "If there ever were a karaoke performance, that was it."

Emblem3's second song is "Forever Young" by Alphaville. It's not horrible, but it's not great, either. I just don't get this group. I get why people like One Direction, I got why people liked the Backstreet Boys, but I don't get this. "They don't work the stage," Demi says, and Simon replies that that's a silly criticism (while the crowd screams, annoyingly, so loudly that the judges have to yell to be heard).

Carly's second song is Beyonce's "If I Were a Boy." Naturally, she nails it. And she dresses age appropriately, which is something I like about The X Factor on the whole; they don't try to make the kids dress like Barbie dolls. "You have had a phenomenal night tonight, that was amazing." Simon tells her.

Demi Lovato's "Give Your Heart a Break" is Fifth Harmony's song. Huh. I know the song but I actually had no idea it was a Demi Lovato song. Funnily enough, they have a lot of harmony in this song, but LA's criticism was actually still totally spot-on for the other performance. "Unbelievable, I actually heard harmony, and it was really good." LA says.

I have to wonder how many people voted based on her name, because Diamond's sitting in a giant diamond-shaped enclosure with diamonds on the background singing Rihanna's "Diamonds in the Sky." It's not a bad performance, but I did like the first one much better. "Overall, I think you've had a good night," Simon says.

Tate will close out the show (phew, this one was like a marathon) with "If Tomorrow Never Comes" by Garth Brooks. I stand by what I said earlier with regard to Tate, so...not much to add. "Welcome back, Tate Stevens," Simon says. What did you think of tonight's performances? Is it a worthy top six?

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