'The X Factor' U.S. revamps contestant categories; mentors for 2012 assigned - Examiner.com

EXCLUSIVE REPORT

"The X Factor" U.S. has made major revisions to its format by changing all of its contestant categories except for the Groups category. In addition, the mentor categories for 2012 have now been assigned to the show's judges.

WARNING: This article contains spoiler information about the "The X Factor" U.S.'s second season, which premieres on Fox in two parts on September 12 and September 13, 2012, at 8 p.m. Eastern/Pacific Time. If you don't want to know what happens on the show that hasn't been announced or televised yet, then don't read any further.

This is copyrighted material that cannot be excerpted without a link and credit to the author/media outlet: Carla Hay at Examiner.com.

"The X Factor" U.S. has eliminated contestant categories based on the sex of the contestants and now has all of the contestant categories based on age. No other "X Factor" show in the world has made theses changes, since other "X Factor" shows around the world still have categories based on the sex of the contestants.

"The X Factor" U.S. no longer has these categories:

Boys (male solo singers ages 12 to 29)

Girls (female solo singers 12 to 29)

In addition, the minimum age for the Overs category has now been lowered from 30 to 25.

Sources tell me that the changes were made mainly to accommodate the young age of "X Factor" U.S. judge Demi Lovato, who is 20. Under the previous categories, she could have potentially been mentoring contestants who are older than she is.

Here are the new categories for "The X Factor" U.S., as well as the judges assigned to mentor the categories in 2012:

• Solo singers ages 12 to 16 - mentored by Demi Lovato
• Solo singers ages 17 to 24 - mentored by Britney Spears
• Solo singers ages 25 and over - mentored by L.A. Reid
• Groups - mentored by Simon Cowell

In addition, many of the groups that made it past the "boot camp" stage into the "judges' houses" stage of the competition are groups that consist of members who originally auditioned for "The X Factor" U.S. as solo singers.

In 2010, Cowell and other "X Factor" decision makers created boy band One Direction on "The X Factor" U.K. by using this method of putting solo contestants together in a group. One Direction has now become the biggest act to emerge from "The X Factor." Girl group Little Mix, which won "The X Factor" U.K. in 2011, was also created using this method. And just like One Direction, Little Mix has had No. 1 hits on the U.K. singles charts.

In 2011, "The X Factor" U.S. used this method to create two groups that made it to the Top 12: InTENsity (a pop group consisting of 10 underage boys and girls) and country/pop female quartet Lakoda Rayne. InTENsity came in 12th place and has since disbanded. Lakoda Rayne came in ninth place, and although the group is still together, it doesn't have a record deal.

Cowell has said in many interviews that he thinks "The X Factor" U.S. can discover a group that can be as big as One Direction, Backstreet Boys, Destiny's Child or the Spice Girls.

Although I know the names of the contestants who made it into the Top 32, I won't post those spoilers because that's giving away too much information. But what I can say is that the music genres that are represented are pretty much the same as what we saw in 2011: Most of the acts are pop and R&B. There are some hip-hop/rap acts and very few acts that perform rock or country.

The show's Top 32 acts of the year should be revealed in an episode that is expected to be televised in late September or early October 2012. The live episodes for the Season 2 of "The X Factor" U.S. will begin in Los Angeles in October 2012.

Meanwhile, "The X Factor" U.S. has premiered a new promo video for its second season. Several of the contestants in the promo were those who auditioned in Oakland, California, in 2012. I was at all of the auditions in Oakland and have full recaps for the auditions that took place on June 16, June 17 and June 18. I did not name the contestants or their hometowns in my recaps (except for Gene Simmons' daughter, Sophie Simmons, whose "X Factor" audition had already made the news by the time I wrote the recap), but I did describe the contestants based on their ages, their sexes, what songs they performed, and what some of them were wearing. See if you can guess which contestants are in the promo video.

For one of the contestants (the guy with the black baseball cap), the producers had him come out on stage the day after his audition, just to film him walking out on stage with the audience cheering. They had the contestant and the audience do several takes for this footage. It looks like this extra footage is in the promo video, and it's safe to say that this contestant is an early favorite. As I said in my recap, he will probably get compared to Chris Rene, the hip-hop artist who came in third place on "The X Factor" U.S. in 2011.

Although the artists who will do guest performances in Season 2 of "The X Factor" have not been announced yet, we can expect these "X Factor" alumni to make appearances, since they will all have new albums out in the U.S. in the last quarter of 2012:

• Melanie Amaro, winner of "The X Factor" U.S. in 2011
• Josh Krajcik, who came in second place on "The X Factor" U.S. in 2011
• Chris Rene, who came in third place on "The X Factor" U.S. in 2011
• Marcus Canty, who came in fourth place on "The X Factor" U.S. in 2011
• Astro, who came in seventh place on "The X Factor" U.S. in 2011
• One Direction, who came in third place on "The X Factor" U.K. in 2010
• Cher Lloyd, who came in fourth place on "The X Factor" U.K. in 2010
• Olly Murs, who came in second place on "The X Factor" U.K. in 2009

The winner of "The X Factor" U.S. gets a grand prize of $5 million and a record deal with Sony Music. Eligible contestants must be legal residents of the United States who are at least 12 years old, without a current record deal, and legally able to work in the United States.