He's Safe!

Months from now, will Santa Cruz declare a Chris Rene Day, as it did for James Durbin, the hometown boy who went on to be a 2011 American Idol finalist? 

After Thursday’s The X Factor results show, Rene was declared—safe!—which means he's still on his way to stardom. 

Fans got to see Rene sing Queen’s “We Will Rock You” with the entire group at the show’s beginning. The next they saw of him, he was dancing around in his sunglasses after hearing that he was the third performer to make it through another week on the Fox TV show. Voters kept him in the music competition for another week.

, which had a rock theme, Rene sang a version of Bob Marley’s “No Woman, No Cry.” That caused some discussion among the judges and in the twittersphere about whether the dreadlocked star was really a rocker.

Judge Simon Cowell said, “It would have been great if this week was reggae music,” which led judge L.A. Reid to point out that Marley was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Apparently, fans didn't care, because Rene got enough votes this week to stay in the show.

Contestants Astro, the kid rapper, and Stacy Francis, the 42-year-old single mom, ended up on the bottom. They each performed for the judges, and Thursday's show ended with Astro shedding a few tears before a frowning Francis got the boot.

Next week's shows will be at 8 p.m. on Tuesday and Wednesday nights—a day earlier than normal, because of Thanksgiving.