When Chloe Paige stepped onto The X-Factor UK stage, no one could have predicted that she would become one of Britain’s biggest names.
The 21-year-old market trader from Brighton spent her days selling lipstick at an Essex marketplace with her father— but despite the regular grind, she had always dreamed of making it in the big leagues.
“I’m from a pretty musical family,” she said in a pre-recorded interview.
“My mum has a lot of brothers and sisters, and a lot of my mom’s sisters sing.”
Throughout Chloe’s life, her grandfather, a long-distance lorry driver, had always thought she was special.
“It was Chloe’s grandfather who inspired her,” her mum revealed. “He heard her singing when she was young and he actually said, ‘One day, we will go to X-Factor when you grow up.”
“He always said here’s something special about her and told everyone about her.”
During Chloe’s first audition, the judges were stunned by her powerful voice as she performed “Crying for No Reason” by Katy B.
“I don’t know how somebody your age feigns something so deep like that,” Rita Ora told her.
“You literally sang from your soul. You are amazing.”
Despite garnering praises for her vocal chops, Chloe also angered critics who were infuriated by the blonde’s appropriation of the Indian bindi. Afterward, Karen, Chloe’s mother defended her daughter’s use of the bindi, saying the look wasn’t meant to offend anyone.
After stunning the judges during the initial audition, Chloe advanced to the contestant bootcamp.
Here, the group of contestants is continuously refined as they battle it out for a spot in the finals— and, as per usual, Chloe did not disappoint. Participating in a group performance of “Fool in Love”, the young singer wowed the judges as she belted the lyrics alongside handsome contestant Anton Banaghan.
Despite nailing the bootcamp group performance, Chloe still had to prove herself with a solo song.
Wearing a bright yellow, one-piece halter jumpsuit, Chloe decided to take on Hozier’s “Take Me To Church.”
“My voice isn’t a hundred percent,” she tells the judges before the performance, “But I’m just gonna, you know, do what I can with it.” Unsurprisingly, Chloe’s warning was unwarranted. Despite feeling under the weather, the 21-year-old marveled everyone with her raw and impassioned sound.
Although Chloe had obliterated every obstacle put in front of her, she still had one challenge left before she could graduate from bootcamp— the infamous Six-Chair Challenge.
During the competition’s ‘Six Chair Challenge”, Chloe walked onto the stage and told the judges she would be singing “Amazing Grace” in a cappella. Simon was immediately skeptical, telling her that she was “brave”. By the end of the breathtaking rendition though, Chloe had officially proven she was a vocal force to be reckoned with.
“To be honest,” Nick Grimshaw told her, “I don’t remember Chloe Paige.”
“But, after that performance, I will never forget you again.”
Sadly, the “Judge’s Houses” portion of the competition would be as far as Chloe made it.
For this performance, Chloe chose to tackle “A Little Respect” by Erasure. However, her rendition, viewed more than 535,000 times, wasn’t enough to impress the judges.
In the end, Chloe did not make it through Rita Ora’s category; oddly, the same judge who had praised her so warmly in the beginning. Chloe was eliminated from the 12th season of The X-Factor UK in favor of Kiera Weathers, Lauren Murrya, and Louisa Johnson— the latter of whom ended up winning the entire season.
Although she didn’t win the competition, Chloe Paige is still well known in British culture, being mentioned in the tablets for her sexy outfits and stylish fashion sense. She occasionally releases videos on her YouTube channel. If interested, you can check them out here.
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