Back in 2012, 16-year-old Ella Henderson stepped on the stage to audition for The X-Factor UK. She’s a shy and quiet girl who sang for fun, so the judges didn’t know what to expect from her. She dedicated her audition performance to hear grandfather who had just passed away. She did this by singing an original song and absolutely blew the judges away. In the present day, Elle Henderson has gone on to become an internationally known pop sensation with hit songs like “Ghost”, but she had quite a journey through The X-Factor UK to gain the popularity that she has today.
Once she moved forward in the competition after the auditions, the judges had very high expectations for her. One of their favorite things about Ella is that she is both a singer and a songwriter, so she’s often able to put a twist on songs that everyone is familiar with to make the song sound new again.
This can be a very risky move when the contestant pics a famous song that everyone knows and loves already. These types of risks can either elevate the song or completely flop, but Ella wowed the judges once more.
Ella decided to do “Believe” by Cher, which was a chart-topping hit in 1998. It is an upbeat song that people love to dance to, but Henderson decided to slow the song down quite a bit. She did a slower version of the song that focused on her vocal capabilities and ability to tell a story through her songs. Once Ella completed her performance, she received a standing ovation. The performance even brought one of the judges to tears because of its beauty.