If you’ve ever watched The X Factor, you know just how talented some of the contestants on that show can be.
While most of us probably know it from its American version, the truth is that the show started in Britain before being exported to all other parts of the world.
In America, the show was essentially cancelled and reinvented as America’s Got Talent, but in other countries, the series continues on to this day. As a result, there are plenty of countries with their own versions of the show and their own YouTube channels.
And many of them have some truly breathtaking performances.
The one we’re talking about today comes from Season 8 of The X Factor Romania.
Like any other version of the show, it has contestants come out to perform in front of the judges—whatever their talent may be. Still, the judges are allowed to hit their buzzers to stop a performance if it isn’t going well.
In this audition, the contestant was Bella Santiago, a Filipino-Romanian singer. Though it goes without saying, it’s important for contestants to pick songs that show off their confidence and their unique approach to performing.
Fortunately, Santiago did just that with her choice.
The song she decided to sing was “Rolling in the Deep” by Adele.
As anyone who listens to Adele knows, that song is not exactly the easiest of pop songs to perform. Adele’s voice is huge, soulful and so powerful, and all of her songs are beloved by millions of people worldwide.
Still, Santiago was determined to take it all on with her own twist—rather than having it be slow and soulful, she would bring it to life with latin-inspired rhythms and sassiness.
With that in mind, she set out to perform.
From the very beginning, it’s clear that this is a performance far from the spirit of the original song.
As soon as she walks out, her first vocal run sounds more like something Shakira would do. Because the song happened in the later rounds of the show, all the other contestants are watching her nervously because they know she’s doing so well!
As it turns out, the version of the song that she was most inspired by KZ Tandigan, a Filipina singer who was another X Factor performer as well. As it turns out, she also performed her own version of ‘Rolling in the Deep’ that nobody had ever heard before.
Regardless, it’s clear that Santiago brings her own energy and flavor to it—and the judges love it!
Still, the wildest part of the whole song happens when she starts rapping in the middle of it!
At the end of the song, she gets down on her knees and belts the lyrics out as well. When it’s all over, the crowd gives her a huge round of applause! So far, the video has been viewed some five million times on YouTube and elsewhere—and it’s easy to see why it’s getting so much traction.
Although it’s hard to take on an iconic song like this one, it’s always incredible to see someone reinvent something so famous. Needless to say, she pulled it off with ease!
Congratulations to Bella Santiago on a truly awesome performance! Be sure to check out the full thing in the clip below:
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