X Factor Loopiness: L.A. Reid Vs. Drew Ryniewicz

L.A. Reid joins Simon Cowell, Nicole Scherzinger, and Paula Abdul every week in laying down judgment for the musical reality show X Factor. On the past two episodes Mr. Reid has made a point of trying to bring contestant Drew Ryniewicz and her performances down a peg by saying they are repetitive. I think the judges have leaned towards saying that to contestant Melanie Amaro as well. However, the L.A. Reid judging Drew storyline is making L.A. Reid look bad in my opinion. Here is the reason why: Astro.

Astro is the young rapper on the show who takes other people's songs, but then has to write his own rap lyrics to them. The kid is putting in a lot of hard work and the only thing holding him back somewhat is his cocky attitude that many find annoying. Whether that is just an act for the sake of hip hop, whatever, I'm not seeing it as a good factor for drawing in an adult audience. Grown men who listen to rap probably don't want a little kid preaching about how great he is. A kid who happens to look like the African-American version of Ralphie from "A Christmas Story." (Yes, I think that jab is not only accurate (and not saying it's a bad look), but should be out there in this argument against the repetitiveness of Drew because her looks have also been criticized.) Any way, to the point: Astro is very talented, works hard at what he does every week, but just like Drew HE DOES THE SAME THING EVERY WEEK! Yes, he twists songs and makes them his own lyrically, but it's not like he is diverting from his own personal rap delivery mechanics in the same way Drew is sticking to her hauntingly weird (I mean in a pretty way; mostly,) sometimes too yodel-fused ballad mechanics.

If Astro, who is one of the contestants on L.A. Reid's team and the one L.A. seems to be banking on as the X Factor winner, is doing the exact same type of performance every week, why is L.A. Reid opening his mouth to attack Drew Ryniewicz each week after she performs? (Other than the obvious ego wanna win reasons.) His judging skills have already gotten repetitive each week. If Drew is stuck in a loop as L.A. Reid says, then so is Astro, just because one has more zingy zangy and dancers going on in the background than the other does not change the reality of the situation. Keep your head up Drew! I would like to see her take some more risks because I think there are several acts destined to get the axe before her and if she takes a slight gamble and falls short it won't matter. She has potential still to be realized with her uniqueness.