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"Is Melanie Amaro about to have her Kelly Clarkson moment on Thursday&amp;apos;s finale of The X Factor?\r\nHer mentor Simon Cowell thinks and hopes so!\r\n&amp;quot;To be honest with you, anything could happen tomorrow and I&amp;apos;m kind of preparing myself for any decision,&amp;quot; judge Cowell told reporters after Wednesday&amp;apos;s performance episode, in which Amaro gave her all alongside fellow finalists Chris Rene and Josh Kracjik.\r\n\r\n&amp;quot;But you know, my gut, my heart tells me that Melanie should win after tonight,&amp;quot; Cowell confided.\r\nAnd the 19-year-old singer from Sunrise, Calif. stunned the crowd and the judges with her final song of the night, hitting Beyonce&amp;apos;s &amp;quot;Listen&amp;quot; out of the ballpark.\r\n&amp;quot;I was nervous until that very last song by Melanie,&amp;quot; Cowell admitted. &amp;quot;If that doesn&amp;apos;t win the competition, I might as well give up!&amp;quot;\r\n\r\nRene and Kracjik -- vying with Amaro for a $5 million recording contract and a starring role in a Pepsi commercial -- certainly impressed as well.  Single dad Krajcik, 30, of Wooster, Ohio, crooned &amp;quot;At Last&amp;quot; for his last song, while rapper Rene, 28, of Santa Cruz, Calif. sang his self-penned tune &amp;quot;Young Homie.\r\nAmaro&amp;apos;s biggest competition, according to Cowell? &amp;quot;I would have said Josh but then Chris Rene&amp;apos;s second performance, you could feel in the room that people liked him. I know Josh has got a lot of support.&amp;quot;\r\n\r\nThe trio also had their chance to duet with music superstars. Amaro sang with R. Kelly, Rene with Avril Lavigne, and Kracjik with Alanis Morissette.\r\nTell Us: Who do you think should win?"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.usmagazine.com/entertainment/news/x-factors-simon-cowell-melanie-amaro-should-win-20112212>