Last night’s X Factor results show — the first!— had plenty of issues — it was bloated and that poor host Steve Jones is an alien sent here by Ryan Seacrest to make us appreciate him more. But the most insidious part of the frustrating episode was the segment in which members of Stereo Hogzz, one of the groups in the competition, looked like they were lip-synching. The ensemble was one of the bottom-two acts last night and had to perform for the judges again to be saved from elimination, and while the lead singer was clearly doing his own vocal work, the same can’t be said of his bandmate backup singers. Stereo Hogzz survived to croon another week, but once the judges discover the Hogzz can sing without opening their mouths and that TV audiences can hear them loud and clear even though their microphones are nowhere near their faces, perhaps everyone will be singing a different tune. Or singing a tune at all! Take a look. Update: An X Factor spokeswoman says that “all survival songs are performed live, with just a backing track.†So now we know what “backing track†means in X Factor parlance: voices included? Update 2: Leroy Bell wasn’t singing live either last night, though his Ashlee Simpson moment came during the group performance, where an X Factor spokesperson freely admitted that the vocals are “pre-recorded to allow acts to concentrate on preparing for the own live competition performances on Wednesdays.†(Idol does it, too.) Behold:
