When it was announced ‘X Factor’ contestants were being encouraged to perform their own original songs at the auditions this year, some people were skeptical, fearing it would lead to an onslaught of Ed Sheeran wannabes peddling shoddy rip-offs.
However, the move has more than paid off, after the discovery of singer songwriter Grace Davies.
The 20-year-old served up one of the best auditions the show has seen in recent years, when she tried out for judges Simon Cowell, Nicole Scherzinger, Sharon Osbourne and Louis Walsh, as the ITV talent show returned on Saturday (2 September) night.
Performing her own song ‘Roots’, Grace had all of the panel with tears in her eyes by the time she’d finished singing, with the judges claiming she had penned a hit single.
Simon told her: “I have to tell you, I loved it. Genuinely. And I really liked you, Grace. This is a beautiful, beautiful song.
“I don’t believe there is any such thing as a perfect audition, but what you have just done is show us very, very clearly is who you are, and what you are about.”
Louis added: “It’s very rare when someone sings an original song that I say that I love it. That is a hit song.”
Explaining what inspired the song, Grace cited her years singing in pubs between the age of 16 and 18.
“Everybody was like, you’ll be doing that forever, singing Amy Winehouse in the corner of a pub,” she tearfully revealed. “It’s just the thought that this is what I want to do and it makes me so happy, and being able to say that I did do it.”
Nicole has already tipped her as one to watch in the competition, revealing at the show’s press launch earlier this week that Grace was the one contestant she wanted in her category, but lost out when she failed to secure the Girls.
‘The X Factor’ continues on Sunday at 8pm on ITV.