The Heartbreak Factor - Part One

Chapter Ten.

Walking down the corridor of the finalists’ designated floor in the Corinthia Hotel, I smiled to myself even though I was racked up with nerves. Today was the Monday before the live shows and it was the day that everyone began the non-stop preparations before the first live show on Saturday night. I was excited and couldn’t wait to begin what every contestant that had signed up for the X Factor just a few months ago dreamt about, but at the same point, I was beyond nervous. If I messed up this week’s preparations and went onto the stage unprepared, it would be my first and final week on the competition. So far, I had loved the whole X Factor experience, and in reality, it hadn’t even properly began yet. This was the bit of the X Factor people think about - the live shows, the camera’s following you all the time, the paparazzi, the magazine interviews, the photo shoots, the promotional appearances on various television programmes, the A-List movie premieres. This was when the dream began, but I still couldn’t help but feeling nervous about the whole thing. I also couldn’t help but feeling slightly guilty over being here when loads of people had lost out on the opportunity to be in my position right now due to me taking the place. All those dreams had been shattered - I felt grateful for the opportunity but still guilty.

Knocking on the huge white door at the end of the corridor, I waited patiently for a signal to enter the room. 

“Come in,” I heard a voice faintly say on the other side of the door.

Turning the huge brass door handle, I let myself into the room. The red and gold themed room was massive with a grand piano in the far corner. Tulisa was sat on the sofa in the middle of the room, looking at me with a warm and friendly smile across her face. Patting the sofa beside her, she ushered me to sit down. “How are you settling into the X Factor hotel with everyone then?” Tulisa asked me as I sat down on the sofa beside her. 

My legs were shaking a little from nerves but I managed to find the courage to reply to her question. “It’s amazing,” I grinned. “Everyone’s grown to be this huge massive family and we all have our own roles to play in the family – I love it.”

“What role are you then?” she asked, seeming really interested in what I had to say.

“I’ve kinda become the little sister,” I smiled. “Everyone is always asking if I’m okay. It’s great.”

“You are the youngest contestant though so the baby sister role was always going to land with you,” she laughed. “Has it sunk in yet that you’re actually here?”

“It kind of hit me Saturday when we were watching the judges’ houses back, but it still doesn’t seem real,” I smiled. “It’s like a dream. I don’t think it’ll ever sink in properly. I’ll be eighty-two, rocking on my rocking chair in the nursing home and all of a sudden I’ll be like “I was on the X Factor!” It seriously is a dream.”

“Well, let’s hope it’s a dream that comes true,” she grinned. 

“I hope so.”

“I need to keep my crown of X Factor winner this year and I know it’s possible with you, Lucy and Jade,” Tulisa beamed to me.

“Girl power,” I joked.

“How is the hotel then?” she asked, looking around the room. “It looks amazing. I wish we got put up in places like this when we were travelling around the country doing the auditions.”

“It’s amazing. I seriously cannot get over how amazing it is. I feel like a Princess,” I giggled.

“Right, I’ve been thinking a lot about your song choice and I’m completely stuck,” she began to explain, getting down to the preparations which we were supposed to be starting. “As you know, its heroes week but I don’t want you to do a typical ‘hero’ song as that’d be too predictable and we wanna surprise everyone, don’t we?”

I nodded.

“So name me some musical influences you have,” she said. “No, actually. Name some music artists that you would like to cover and then we can work on it from there. Your musical heroes.”

“There’s so many,” I smiled. “Erm… Beyonce, Adele, Rihanna, Nicki Minaj, Katy Perry, Taylor Swift, Whitney Houston, Celine Dion, Michael Jackson, Paramore, Jessie J, Emeli Sande, Ed Sheeran, Demi Lovato, Chris Brown, Alicia Keys, Avril Lavigne.”

Tulisa began noting ideas down on paper. After a few minutes, she sat looking at the paper as if she had just had an idea. “How would you feel about ‘Airplanes’ by Hayley Williams and B.o.B but adapting the rap to a tempo and style that you feel comfortable with so it has your own twist on it?”

“Sounds good,” I grinned, without a sign of hesitation.

“You can always ring me during the week if you don’t feel as if the song is working for you,” she said, flicking through her note pad, making various notes on different pages  “Brian will work with you to get the choreography sorted and then when I see you during the week, we start discussing clothing with the styling department.”

“Love the sound of it,” I smiled.

“So I bet it seemed weird watching yourself on television the other night,” she laughed as she jotted down some notes.

“It was so weird. I hadn’t even watched the boot camp or even my first audition episode back yet so I’d never seen myself on television before,” I smiled, still in awe at the fact I was sat discussing my song choice for the first live shows with Tulisa.

“I would say you get used to it, but you really don’t,” she grinned. “It’s still weird for me and I’ve been doing it for a few years now.”