It’s been a roller coaster couple of weeks for Gilroy’s Austin Corini, the 16-year-old Christopher High School student currently appearing on a TV music show watched by millions each week.
Most recently, the teen singer known for his signature bleached-blond faux hawk was eliminated as an individual performer in episode 9 on FOX’s “The X Factor.” He was summoned back onstage and given a second chance, however, alongside four other male singers in the 15- to 17-year-old age range who didn’t make the cut as solo artists.
“The fact that they put us through and said, ‘these guys have potential, they must really believe in us…there’s no more letting them down,” Austin told the camera, after narrowly escaping a one-way ticket home.
The five teens, who along with Austin include contestants Josh Metzler, 15; Johnny Maxwell, 16; Owen Stuart, 17; and Brandon Hasson, 16; were formed into a group called Playback.
The act immediately drew comparisons to that of One Direction, the British-Irish boy band famously created by celebrity judge Simon Cowell during the seventh season of the UK version of “The X Factor.”
“We put groups together very successfully in the past, and sometimes it’s strength in numbers,” Cowell explained to Austin and his new bandmates. “It’s not that you’re weak – you just needed that confidence and having someone to help you. But it all has to work. One bad vocal can kill it.”
Wednesday will signal the end of the pre-taped portion of the show, which will then premiere live through the Dec. 2 finale. The current 24 acts will be narrowed down to 16, with viewers ultimately determining the winner by voting for their favorites.
There is an unexpected twist, however.
A leading online TV resource known as Futon Critic recently broke the news that “The X Factor” will air a live wildcard episode Sunday, Nov. 4
The wildcard episode’s length is contingent on how the network’s World Series coverage plays out, according to Futon Critic. There will either be two hours of “The X Factor” on Thursday, Nov. 1 and Sunday, Nov. 4 – if there is no Game 7 of the World Series. If there is a Game 7, a single, 150-minute wildcard episode will air Nov. 4.
Austin’s mom and vocal coach Jeanine Corini is hopeful. Even if Playback doesn’t make the final 16, perhaps “The X Factor” will engineer a comeback, she muses.
Either way, the group has no intention of dissolving or going off the grid.
Quite the contrary, the members of Playback have every intention of sticking together post “The X Factor,” no matter how things play out on the show.
Metzler, Stuart, Hasson and Maxwell recently traveled from Arizona, North Carolina, Texas and Castro Valley to Gilroy, where the group spent several days recording covers and filming music videos for songs including “I Won’t Give Up” by Jason Mraz, “As Long as You Love Me” by Justin Bieber and “Everybody Talks” by the Neon Trees. Jeanine posted the videos on Facebook several days ago but was asked by “The X Factor” producers to take the links down, at least for the time being.
Playback is also taking the Internet by storm. On Oct. 10, “The X Factor’s” social media worker bees created an official Facebook page for the boy band, in addition to a Twitter account. Playback’s feed was so heavily blasted with tweets after going live – the group has more than 15,000 followers and counting – the entire Twitter network alerted users it was temporarily “over capacity.”
The groups’ Twitter hashtag, #followplayback was even trending worldwide.
“The response from their fan base shut down Twitter for a good half hour,” said Jeanine. “It was crazy.”
Austin himself has been the object of female fan adoration throughout this crazy ride, eliciting compliments from celebrity judges Britney Spears and Demi Lovato. The veteran pop princess and singer-songwriter cooed over Austin’s “great voice,” adorableness, coiffed hair and the “sparkle” in his eyes. The Gilroy teen was also declared one of the top three “too cute” contestants by Clever News.
Recent “The X Factor” episodes saw the talent pool whittled down to 24 contestants consisting of solo artists or group acts. The remaining 24 were divvied into one of four categories, including “over 25,” “young adults,” “teens” and “groups.” They were then flown to nondescript mansions (supposedly the judge’s posh pads) to continue filming the show, but whether several of those million-dollar homes were actually the judge’s real dwellings has been debunked by TV bloggers.
Playback and the other five group acts were ferried off in true Miami style to Yankees player Alex Rodriguez’s Florida bachelor crib, which one performer characterized as “James Bonds dad’s house.” Latino superstar Marc Anthony also joined in alongside Cowell as a guest mentor for this particular segment.
“There’s something kind of naive and fun and likeable about them,” said Cowell, smiling on as Playback jumped around energetically, crooning their pop rendition of “Rich Girl” by Hall & Oates.
“I just can’t agree with you,” said Anthony, gazing stoically behind aviator shades. “I found myself just looking for planes, or something.”
“It’s funny, I disagree,” said Cowell, who has expressed an interest in Austin’s potential from the get-go.
Watch Austin Wednesday at 8 p.m. on FOX and keep tabs on his progress here under “Austin Watch.”
