Former Wooster resident Josh Krajcik’s nationally televised musical ride ended just short of the championship on Thursday night, when he finished second on Fox’s The X Factor.
The win — including a $5 million recording contract and a Pepsi commercial — went to Melanie Amaro, a big-voiced singer from Florida who had been eliminated early in the competition only to be brought back by judge (and producer) Simon Cowell, who admitted his previous rejection of Amaro was a mistake. And not only was he in her corner, but also the show’s production values, which seemed to favor Amaro enormously on Wednesday’s show.
Chris Rene, a jazz-inflected rapper who won fans with stories of his overcoming addiction, placed third.
Krajcik — who for years had been scraping by in music, playing gigs around Ohio at places like Akron’s Musica — said he felt “amazing” after his second-place finish. He told the TV audience that he was happy that “I got be myself [and] sing what I wanted to sing.”
It seems unlikely that he will have to return to making burritos in Columbus’ Cinco restaurant, a job that earned him the nickname Burrito Josh (although he preferred The Beast). In an interview in November, he said the show is “a springboard. … I’m gonna have to bust my ass. But, you know, I think if I do, I’ll be able to work. And if I can work, I’ll be happy.”
The rock-and-bluesy Krajcik, now based in Columbus, kept hanging on in the competition long after thousands of auditioners had been sent home — and buzzed-about competitors like Rachel Crow, Astro and Drew were voted off.
Krajcik, 30, impressed the judges and viewers many times, making it through round after round on the way to the top 12 — and then the finals against Florida’s Amaro and California’s Rene. Standout performances included a cover of the Rolling Stones’ Wild Horses. After Krajcik’s rendition of Please Come Home for Christmas on Thursday night, Cowell told him, “You are going to sell a lot of records.”
But the Wednesday show was not his best night; he struggled in a duet with Alanis Morissette and his acoustic rendition of the Etta James classic At Last was interesting but not as obviously dramatic as big production numbers built around Amaro and Rene.
Krajcik was also the oldest of the three remaining contestants; Amaro is 19 and Rene is 28 but treated as one of the young people on the show. (Contestant groupings had included “boys,” “girls,” “groups” and “over 30,” the last being where Krajcik was put.)
And he has admitted that he was not as adept at social media as his counterparts.
“When I started playing in bands, there was hardly even an Internet, and these kids have grown up with Facebook their whole lives,” he said in November. “Their social-networking skills are obviously far surpassing mine.”
Although Krajcik stepped up his online efforts, General Sentiment, a marketing research company that tracks use of social media, predicted earlier Thursday that Krajcik would finish third, since he was significantly trailing Rene and Amaro in its analysis of use of social media; he had about half as many Twitter followers as either Rene or Amaro, and Twitter was one of the ways viewers could vote for their favorites. General Sentiment predicted Rene would win.
Instead, Rene placed third, suggesting that voters using more traditional forms, such as phone numbers, gravitated significantly toward the other contestants.
Krajcik’s progress also put a new spotlight on Wooster, the 26,000-population Wayne County community that repeatedly offered him support.
“Thanks to everyone back home who is lending a hand to help me out & all the others there to support,” he said on his Facebook page at one point. “That’s what community is about.”
Local fans gathered Wednesday night in Triway High School to offer good wishes on the air to Krajcik during that evening’s live performance show. Thursday’s telecast included videotaped messages for Krajcik from family members, Cinco co-workers, his teacher and his principal at Triway High School; Krajcik teared up as the messages rolled.
Rich Heldenfels writes about popular culture for the Beacon Journal and in the HeldenFiles Online blog at http://heldenfels.ohio.com and on Facebook and on Twitter. He also does a weekly video chat for Ohio.com. He can be reached at 330-996-3582 or rheldenfels@thebeaconjournal.com.
