'X Factor' Recap: LeAnn Rimes Sings Shaky Duet With Carly Rose Sonenclar

Courtesy of FOX

The second-to-last episode of the ‘X Factor’ season wasn’t all that exciting — until one duet totally fell apart!

The Dec. 19 episode of The X Factor opened with a beautiful tribute to the victims of the Newtown, Conn., school shooting, as all the past contestants came back to sing Michael Jackson‘s “You Are Not Alone.” I won’t even bother critiquing the performance because it was more about the message, which was beyond poignant. I teared up. (Obvs.)

Each act took on three songs during the final performance episode: one they already sang before, a duet with a special guest, and a $5 million song to blow away the competition. And while it wasn’t nearly as bad as The Voice‘s THREE-HOUR finale last night, I did get a little sleepy in the middle.

Still, Khloé Kardashian‘s ridiculously short skirt and Pebbles Flintstone updo amused me, as did a seemingly drunken duet… but more on that later. We got a look at the contestants’ hometowns and some of the very strange people who live there. Like, why were people randomly holding food? Last time I checked, San Antonio wasn’t known for its rather mediocre-looking pizza. But OK.

Carly Rose Sonenclar:

The 13-year-old girl with the golden voice killed Nina Simone‘s “Feeling Good” once again, but it was her duet with LeAnn Rimes that had everybody talking. In what can only be described as one big, hot mess, LeAnn and Carly Rose Sonenclar struggled to get through “How Do I Live” together. Not only was the timing way off, but it also seemed Leann lost her way — with her own song, mind you — and tried to upstage the poor girl. Overall, it was an I-Can’t-Look-Away-But-OMG-I-Need-To kind of situation, folks. Thankfully, Carly came back strong with her angelic, albeit predictable performance of “Hallelujah.”

Tate Stevens:

Nice-guy Tate Stevens sang his audition song as well, which was all fine and good. His performance with country group Little Big Town and his final performance of Chris Young‘s “Tomorrow” were both good too. I just don’t have much more to say that that. I admit, it’s always been his personality that stuck with me more than his voice. Am I completely captured by his singing? Not really. But there’s no denying this guy is worthy of $5 million dollars. He’s a sweet and humble dude who just needs a break.

Fifth Harmony:

The ladies brought back their gigantic bows for a repeat performance of Ellie Goulding‘s ”Anything Can Happen.” Then they hit the stage with judge Demi Lovato — no one else was available? — to sing her shamelessly addicting song “Give Your Heart a Break.” It was definitely fun, but as Simon Cowell pointed out, Demi was “sensational.” I think she outshone the girls by a mile and surprised a lot of people who didn’t know she could sing. Is it wrong that I still prefer the Glee version though? (Yikes.) For their last song, Fifth Harmony took on “Let It Be,” and L.A. Reid praised them for doing the Beatles‘ classic justice.

I’m pulling for Carly, but really, I wouldn’t hate the world if any of them won.

See you tomorrow night for the finale — and One Direction! Apparently, Pitbull will be there too.

What did you think, HollywoodLifers? Which act is worthy of a win? Drop a comment and let me know who you think deserves to take it all home!

WATCH: The X Factor Season 2 Finale Performances!

— Sharon Tharp

Follow @SharonTharp

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She was indeed drunk and nothing will convince me otherwise. She looked like a train wreck as well. Did anyone miss her burp on the way out? And singing completely out of sync with the music? Nearly falling over on several occasions? The person responsible for choosing her to perform with Carly, such a bright star, should be shot. There were far better choices, and it’s no secret how screwed up of an LeAnn is.

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I heard something today on a morning show. I think it was Good Day L.A. where they said Leann’s publicist said she was not drunk and had not been drinking at all. Yeah right she wasn’t!!
During the song when Leann was singing did you happen to notice the look on Carly’s face? Carly had a look of like… damn Leann are you drunk or what!!! Its what I thought was wrong with Leann. But Carly kept going like a true professional would do. I hate to think this but I do believe that Leann’s duet with Carly might have a little to do with Carly not winning. Leann ruined Carly’s performance. I don’t know why they paired Carly with Leann Rimes who is a country singer when Carly is clearly not a country singer. But then again Carly did sing better then Leann did.
I would have loved to see Carly perform with Celine Dion or with someone else of that type of singer.
As for saying that the person responsible for choosing Leann should be shot was not a good choice of words to use because of the Newtown,Ct.shootings just last week.

WHY oh WHY did Simon allow Chloe to TRY to be “announcer”….”MC” doesn’t come close to describing what she does!!! Does anyone else feel this way?

Chloe is ridiculous. She makes the entire show hard to watch.

Why is LeAnn still allowed on the stage? What a joke.

Hot mess.

The producers should have never allowed LeAnn to perform when they saw that she was (allegedly) wasted.
Better for Carly to do the song solo than to have to deal with this hot mess.

Hope America can look past this performance.

I like Carly sings! she sings very well, but the song she sang with LeAnne’s not one of the best, she deserves to win!

The only thing that saved LeAnne’s performance with Carly, was CARLY! If she does not win this competition with all of the hard work she has poured into these last few months and those amazing vocals, America is Tone Deaf!

Grabbed remote when trash blew on stage with Carly. Carly got the shaft! How much did Rimes pay for primetime that she ruined? (That seems to be a trend with her…ruining others lives…this time Carly) Do the world a favor and go hide under a rock LeAnn…you’re old, tired and so yesterday.

I like LeAnn Rimes but Carly Rose should never have been paired with her to sing a duet. I still think Carly should win. She was by far the best overall performer this season. Winning should be based on the overall performances throughout the competition and not by just tonights finals.
So then Carly should win because she never had a bad performance. But do not count the one with LeAnn Rimes since poor Carly most likely didn’t have a say so in who she should perform with or knew how bad LeAnn might be. The competition should be based only on there solo performances.

Ive always loved leanne have her cds big fan. But was she drunk of on s or both she made carly rose look bad. Embarrasement. She should have made carly look god instead steals the spot light to fail. Leanne you need to apolagize to Carly Rose on nashional tv at the final show tonight

Poor Carly Rose she had a horrible experience with someone who was suppose to be a professional but instead looked all strung out her make up looked horrible her singing was horrible and the thought of not letting Carly Rose not have her moment is a total shame and disrespect as an artist.. Say No to Drugs

Leann R looks like she could be damn drunk while singing a duet with Carly

I dont understand why all these kids and their mentors feel theyre worthy of singing the friggin Beatles. When carly rose sang imagine I wanted to pull my hair out. They make them sound like shxtty christina aguilera songs and try to put a million riffs in the shxt and just ruin the songs. It angers me.

OMG! They did no harmonies at all. What’s up with that??? Awkward!! Poor Carly.

I enjoyed seeing Leann Rimes and Carly Rose Sonenclar perform on the X Factor, even though it was slightly rocky. I think Fifth Haromy should win this season. I like them the best and they really proved themselves with the Beatle’s Let It Be. I definitely can’t wait until tomorrow when we see who wins and when One Direction performs with Pitbull. This season has given me and my DISH coworker a lot to talk about so I’m glad I watched. I recorded this whole season on my DISH Hopper with the PrimeTime Anytime feature. I like to set this up to record all primetime programming that comes on the four major networks. This saves me time because I don’t have to set up any individual timers.

OMG! Was LeAnn Rimes drunk? She seemed to be stumbling on stage. Twice I saw poor Carly looking at LeAnn all confused then sparked a smile for the camera. LeAnn seemed to be trying to out sing Carly. It was pathetic. Carly deserved to shine at that moment and I think it was selfish of LeAnn to sabotage her the way she did. I was thankful for the Hallelujah performance to maybe regain her dignity, she is an amazing young star. I voted for Carly!!!

Denise~ Shaw (Alabama)