Chris Rene showed off the many sides of his personality during Season 1 of The X Factor: Crowd-pleasing urban artist, sensitive acoustic troubador, and optimistic young dad struggling to overcome a drug addiction. TVLine caught up with the third-place finisher to talk about his memorable audition, his fight to perform a second original track during the season, and a live-performance snafu you may or may not have caught.
Your performance of “Young Homie” was probably the most memorable of all the auditions from Season 1 of The X Factor. After it aired, though, a lot of people wondered if competing on a huge,...
Your performance of “Young Homie” was probably the most memorable of all the auditions from Season 1 of The X Factor. After it aired, though, a lot of people wondered if competing on a huge,...
- 1/16/2012
- by Michael Slezak
- TVLine.com
X Factor USA contestant Chris Rene has said that he is open to the idea of releasing his audition song 'Young Homie' in the future. Rene wowed the judges with his original rap which detailed his recovery from addiction during the first-ever audition episode. He co-wrote the track with sister Gina Rene who also auditioned for the show but was cut at the Boot Camp stage. When asked by The Hollywood Reporter if he would ever release the track, he said: "The feedback I've gotten is that people are waiting for it to come out on iTunes but I have to re-record it no matter [what] happens in this competition." The singer added that he would like to produce the track himself, explaining: "If they wanted to get some big producer on it, I'd have to pay for it so I could just do it myself and make it exactly how I want it to sound.
- 11/23/2011
- by By Lara Martin
- Digital Spy
Did Your favorites make the cut? The X Factor succeeded once again at keeping me totally enthralled through another "audition" episode, the sixth, to be exact! On tonight's show we witnessed the tail end of boot camp in La, the picking of the semi-final 32 contestants for each of the four groups and the dividing of the groups between the judges. It's hard to believe the producers managed to squeeze so much into an hour and a half! The first group of the night sang Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On" and featured brother and sister solo acts, Chris and Gina Rene. Unfortunately, Gina, a 36-year-old stay at home mom, failed to deliver as well as her brother, the recovering addict. Over all, the group had some weak links, but still managed to have a lot of fun on stage. Group two was made up of of a bunch of white...
- 10/7/2011
- by Kirstin Benson
- HollywoodLife
This just in: At 23 years of age, Whitney Houston’s mawkish 1988 ballad “One Moment in Time” has apparently reclaimed its power as an un-ironic, soul-stirring anthem that can accompany small-screen images of joy, triumph, and the overcoming of obstacles. How else to explain the melismatic octave changes and lyrics about “racing with destiny” that accompanied The X Factor‘s announcement of the Top 8 contestants in the “geriatric” quarter of its search for America’s next great singing sensation?
All of this, of course, is just a long-winded way of saying that as the octet of octogenarians (okay, that burrito slinger...
All of this, of course, is just a long-winded way of saying that as the octet of octogenarians (okay, that burrito slinger...
- 10/7/2011
- by Michael Slezak
- TVLine.com
It's Boot Camp day 2 for "The X Factor" - the Top 32 are revealed, plus each category is assigned a judge. Exciting stuff.
More group time:
The Chris Rene-Brennin Hunt group gets "What's Going On" by the late, great Marvin Gaye. Awesome song for these voices, I predict - and then they do. It's very good. Matthew Johnson is a great one we haven't really seen before. Chris Rene doesn't sound as good as he did on his audition song.The Country group gets "I Won't Let Go" and it's a great piece for every single member. Hannah Bethel is a stand out, as are Thomas Wells and Tim Cifers. They all do very well.The Emma Henry group (we've seen her on "Idol," I think) gets "Chasing Cars" and the guy who leads it off is not good. Hannah Jackson has an interesting voice, very torn on her. Emma is another weird one.
More group time:
The Chris Rene-Brennin Hunt group gets "What's Going On" by the late, great Marvin Gaye. Awesome song for these voices, I predict - and then they do. It's very good. Matthew Johnson is a great one we haven't really seen before. Chris Rene doesn't sound as good as he did on his audition song.The Country group gets "I Won't Let Go" and it's a great piece for every single member. Hannah Bethel is a stand out, as are Thomas Wells and Tim Cifers. They all do very well.The Emma Henry group (we've seen her on "Idol," I think) gets "Chasing Cars" and the guy who leads it off is not good. Hannah Jackson has an interesting voice, very torn on her. Emma is another weird one.
- 10/7/2011
- by editorial@zap2it.com
- Zap2It - From Inside the Box
It's day two of Boot Camp and it's about to get serious. Today, we whittle the remaining 100 hopefuls down to just 32 and find out which category - Boys, Girls, Groups or Over 30s - each judge will be mentoring. As the competition heats up, panelists Simon Cowell, Nicole Scherzinger, Paula Abdul and La Reid certainly have their work cut out for them in deciding who goes on to Judges' Houses. However, before we can get that far, the remaining groups, consisting of six contestants thrown together for an ensemble performance, must take the stage in hopes of impressing the judges and standing out as a unique and phenomenal act. First up is a group consisting of Brennin Hunt, Equality, Marcus Canty, Matthew Johnson, Ma'at Bingham Shango, Chris Rene and his sister, Gina Rene. They'll be performing Marvin Gaye's 'What's Goin' (more)...
- 10/7/2011
- by By Jennifer Still
- Digital Spy
There are 162 acts that made it to "X Factor" Boot Camp. We hope this has as much drama as the "American Idol" Hollywood Week usually does. Meltdowns! Meltdowns! Meltdowns!
The contestants have a week to compete in various challenges and each day some will be cut, until we are left with eight boys (12-30), eight girls (same), over 30s, and groups. Each judge mentors one category. The eight are then invited to each judge's home and then the judges decide who moves on to the live shows. Huh.
Highlights of the first boot camp episode include:
An "A Chorus Line"-esque group choreography - "Step kick kick leap kick touch! Again! Step kick kick leap kick touch!"The first elimination is groups of 10. Only 100 of the 162 advance. During this first of many montages, we see many singers we've already seen, but also a couple newbies - like Chris Rene's sister Gina Rene.
The contestants have a week to compete in various challenges and each day some will be cut, until we are left with eight boys (12-30), eight girls (same), over 30s, and groups. Each judge mentors one category. The eight are then invited to each judge's home and then the judges decide who moves on to the live shows. Huh.
Highlights of the first boot camp episode include:
An "A Chorus Line"-esque group choreography - "Step kick kick leap kick touch! Again! Step kick kick leap kick touch!"The first elimination is groups of 10. Only 100 of the 162 advance. During this first of many montages, we see many singers we've already seen, but also a couple newbies - like Chris Rene's sister Gina Rene.
- 10/6/2011
- by editorial@zap2it.com
- Zap2It - From Inside the Box
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