Lyric 145: We definitely would have advanced on 'The X Factor' if we got to sing for survival

Lyric 145, along with Jennel Garcia, were ousted from The X Factor during Thursday night's live results show after the show's co-hosts Khloe Kardashian and Mario Lopez announced they were at the bottom of the leaderboard based on home viewer votes cast immediately following Wednesday night's Top 12 performance show.


Lyric 145 -- which consists of former One4Five duo members Julien Joseph, a 19-year-old from Bay Shore, NY, and Jemelle Joseph, a 23-year-old from Bay Shore, NY, as well as rapper Lyric-Bianca Barnes, a 23-year-old from Atlanta, GA who had previously called herself Lyric Da Queen -- was automatically eliminated without any discussion or voting from The X Factor judges after the group was declared the twelfth-place act with the least amount of votes. Lyric 145 was in Simon's "Groups" category.

During a conference call with reporters on Friday, Lyric 145 talked about their The X Factor experience.

Could you talk a little bit about what you guys had planned on performing and how you think that could've changed things for your group?

Lyric 145: Basically, our plan was to take a legendary diva song, which we did, and actually write our own original lyrics. It was a very, very mix between a diva and a hip-hop track and arguably was going to be our best performance yet -- like this is coming from the producers of the show.


And the night before the live shows, we got a call saying they didn't want us to do the song we had been preparing. And then the night of the show, we got a new song. So we only had a couple hours to perform a brand new song. It was very spare of the moment, and I mean, I'm actually proud of us for executing a performance the way we did -- being able to do it within so little time.

And when we got eliminated, we were disappointed to hear the judges say what they had to say, because that was exactly our plan -- to do a hip-hop song with original lyrics. But you know, you have to take the good with the good and the bad with the bad and make the best out of the situation.

In terms of keeping your group together in the future, is that something you definitely plan to do?

Lyric 145: Yes, definitely -- without a doubt. We definitely want to stay together. We feel like this whole situation was divine and it was like meant to be. So to go against that right now would just be not the best idea, so we feel like we work together so well and we have the best chemistry between each other, that it's only right for us to stay together.

You did not get a chance to do a song for survival because of the way the double elimination was structured, but if you had had a chance to do one, what were you planning to perform to stay in the game?


Lyric 145: Oh we had -- I still don't feel like we should tell the world what we were going to do. If we would've had to "sing for survival," we would've definitely survived. We would've lost our total minds onstage. We had something planned [something too] outrageous for TV. No one would've expected it. It was unexpected. But yeah, we can't give you that secret. We're so sorry. (Laughs)

Are you planning on performing that song another time or something?

Lyric 145: Maybe, yeah. You never know!

You obviously were the only rappers in the competition and there are some viewers of the show who don't think that belongs on what they see as a singing competition. Do you think a rapper of MC can win a show like this?

Lyric 145: I think so because a lot of times, people don't really think about what the show is about, and it's about a lot more than just singing. The X Factor is supposed to be about the total package and it's supposed to be for someone who has like everything.


So I feel like there definitely could be a singer or a rapper -- it could be anything that deals with having that full package of just being like an entertainer, really. So, I think a hip-hop act could definitely win. I think we had a good shot, but unfortunately, we weren't given a good enough chance to kind of prove ourselves.

Could you expand a little bit on what the issue was in which you couldn't perform the first song you had hoped to? Was it a licensing issue or something? Why did the producers pull the plug at the last minute?

Lyric 145: There were a few different issues. It's hard to even pinpoint one. We did have all original lyrics and we did have a really amazing song that was arguably going to be our best performance, and we were just told we couldn't do the song. And then the next day, we had to learn a new song within a couple of hours. It came down to technical issues, legal issues -- and we actually got the problems fixed.

So we were fighting really, really hard to convince our mentor to let us do the song that we were comfortable with, but Simon told us that the other song was stronger. And unfortunately, it wasn't, and we just had to roll with the punches and go out there and execute it the best way that we could.

And we were really proud of ourselves for even overcoming that at all. [But] we still have a lot of love and respect for Simon. He's only human and he was just like, "No," and yeah, that's pretty much it.


Viewers didn't get to see too much of the time between Simon making you guys into a group and then you auditioning in the Judges' Homes round. Could you talk a little bit about the transition of what it was like to become a cohesive group? How difficult was it to mesh your sound and how long and hard did you have to work in order for it to appear natural?

Lyric 145: Surprisingly, it wasn't that difficult because of the simple fact that we had chemistry off the cameras, before we were put into the group. So the fact we were put into a group actually made everything better. We felt like it was divine, and I guess it was a transition for me and my brother to have another person in our group -- and also for Lyric to be in a group, because she's been a solo artist her whole life.

But everything worked well because we felt like we're brothers and sisters and family, and the chemistry was so good that everything was put together and everything worked and the performance was great. So, yeah, everything went well and we feel like we're going to keep moving forward with the group.

Were you surprised last week when you were close to the bottom of the leaderboard?

Lyric 145: No, not really, to be completely honest. We didn't even really think about it. We were kind of just happy to still be there. We were not even concerned about the rankings or anything, because our main objective for every performance was just to go out there and do our best.


So no matter what ranking we come in, no matter what anyone else says, we know that we went out there and we did our best. So, the ranking didn't really affect us in any way at all.

Simon didn't come up onstage following your elimination and give you any parting words, whereas you guys also didn't say anything to him. Did he say anything to you off-camera that you'd like to share? And also, could you address how you felt about Simon showing a lot of favoritism toward Emblem 3? How did that affect your relationship with him as a mentor?

Lyric 145: Simon actually did come up to us after we got eliminated. And he was just like -- he was very apologetic about the situation, because he did kind of [make the decision] about the song... and we went along with his idea and it kind of backfired on us. He was really apologetic about it.

He just gave us some advice that we'll probably take with us for the rest of our lives. He's not really worried about us though. He knows our potential and he knows our drive, and because of that alone, nothing's going to stop us from where we're trying to get.

As far as the situation with him showing favoritism to Emblem 3, I didn't really see him showing favoritism. I just think that he has a comforting ability with them, you know what I'm saying? They are more his lane and what he's used to and what he probably feels like he can do the most with, because that's where his experience is.

With us, it was kind of like he was still learning. He told us out of his own mouth that he wanted to learn something from us. Simon has never worked with a hip-hop group before, so I just respect him for taking on a challenge and still believing in us and seeing so much potential in us. I cannot be mad at him for probably not being able to do more with him at the moment because it was such a new, fresh experience for him.






About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski