Season 3 Starts! Week 1 Review Pt1

Simon Cowelland and Demi Lovato are joined by two new judges, Kelly Rowland and Paulina Rubio as we get Season 3 under way. Melanie Amaro and Tate Stevens may have had some impressive contracts as winners in Seasons 1 and 2 but we haven't seen much of either in the UK Will this be the year when USA picks someone who can break here like so many of ours have done there? Let's see.

Carlito Olivero is first on screen singing “Stay” byRihanna. The producers certainly found a confident and likeable person to start with - although how many had been on before him we'll never know.

Sally Hessnice follows. Oh dear. This is dreadful and you have to wonder what the point is in showing this. It's one of the things that does annoy me but I suppose there is a mass of viewers who even prefer the amusing bits. What worries me is the power of those viewers later when it comes to deciding who survives. But that's another matter.

As if that wasn't enough, we now get a pile of rubbish. And people wonder why the ratings weren't so good? Big mistake putting the rubbish on at such an early stage.

Lillie McCloud rescues the show with an excellent performance of“Alabaster Box” by CeCe Winans. Now that was mature and very professional. She'll be around for a while. At 54, but looking nothing like that old, and with a Diana Ross smile, hair and overall look, she could be very popular indeed. Like Simon, I had not heard that song before. Demi wants to bet all her money on that girl and wants the over 25s!

I can see her making the Live Shows all right but I'm not so sure how she'd handle the more modern stuff. Thereagain, neither Tate nor Melanie did so perhaps it doesn't matter!

Alex and Sierra do “Toxic” by Brittney Spears. They do look a bit like clean, God-fearing people who believe the Earth is flat or, at least, was actually made in seven days. Performing, though, they are really good - the girl's voice is fabulous and the guy matches her superbly. Their transformation of the song is quite remarkable and makes so much sense now. Great. It may be that that is all they can do like that but it'll be fun to find out.

Rion Paige sings the wonderful “Blown Away” by Carrie Underwood. Big build up for this quirky girl. Well deserved - she was genuinely excellent. Spot on performance and the judges were very impressed. This girl will surely be around for a long time this series.

Great first instalment. Hope they can keep that standard up.