X Factor USA Show Highlights & Videos from 9/29

The windy city of Chicago was the next stop for the X Factor juggernaut today. The city has produced some megastars, from Kanye West to R Kelly. And about time, We got an explanation on what exactly would happen once the auditions are over and the next phase kicks in. Contestants will be divided into four categories: boys under 30, girls under 30, contestants over 30 and groups. Each category will be mentored by one of the four judges Paula Abdul, Simon Cowell, L.A. Reid or Nicole Scherzinger. In tonight’s episode, Cheryl Cole was still on the judging panel.

Let’s have a look at todays contestants:

Brock and McKenna, best friends from Springfield, Missouri, sang “Colder Weather” by Zac Brown Band. It was a great performance. Everyone loved it. The judges loved it too. Four votes.

Then there was J. Mark. Who describes himself as being from a “different world.” He sand Radioheads “Creep”, all with a very creepy stare himself. In what was quite difficult to believe, the judges let him through into the next round.

After what seemed like a long time. We finally got a good performance. Josh Krajcik, who looked a bit scruffy sang Etta James’ “At Last.” The audience and judges loved it, and so he goes to the next round.

We were eventually taken back to the location of last weeks auditions, Seattle. Like last week, Nicole Sherzinger was back replacing Cheryl Cole.

Mother and daughter duet, The Good Girls, sang Marvin Gaye’s “What Going On”. They left the stage to the background music of the American Idol Season 5 reject song “Bad Day” by Daniel Powter.

Next was Fourteen-year-old Drew Ryniewicz sang a stripped down version of Justin Beiber track “Baby.” She definitely made an impact, and sounded like Sara Bareilles or Colbie Caillat. It definitely a good decision to let singers younger than 16 on the show. Four votes and on to the next round for Drew.

In what was clearly the best group performance, four guys from Virginia Beach who call themselves 4Shore were the group to watch. They sang Boyz II Men’s “The End of the Road.” They sounded soulful and easily moved on to the next round.

In what was possibily the longest audition on X Factor (and even other reality singing competitions), Tiah Olivers’ rendition of Shontelles’ Impossible split the judges right in the middle. The male judges on side, the female judges on the other. After the commercial break, they made Tiah sing again. She advanced to the next round, but you could see Paula was not convinced.

The X Factor continues on Thursday at 8/7c on Fox.