Fourteen-year-old Aaliyah Robinson and fifteen-year-old Acacia K. are two talented teen singers. Both girls auditioned for the British X Factor in September 2018, but unfortunately, neither of their initial auditions showed off their talent.
Aaliyah was up first, and she performed AWOLNATION’s song “Sail.”
Simon Cowell stopped Aaliyah halfway through, and he told her that the song wasn’t right for her. He said she should practice another song and come back later in the auditions.
“Go away come back blow us away and have your moment,” judge Robbie Williams told her.
Next, Acacia was up. She performed Nicki Minaj’s “Bed of Lies.”
Acacia had already found success earlier in 2018. She had won the TeenStar singing competition, a nationwide competition in the UK. The teen has a ton of talent!
Even though Acacia was a strong singer, Simon ended her audition early too. This decision confused The X Factor audience. But then, Simon left his seat and headed backstage. That’s when the audience and the other judges realized he had a plan.
Simon met up with Acacia and Aaliyah backstage. He told them he’d like them to pair up.
The girls paired up and performed “Bang Bang” by Jessie J. and Ariana Grande. The song was a huge hit! Aaliyah sang her heart out, and Acacia did an incredible job performing the rap portion of the song.
All of the judges loved the girls’ performance, they easily sailed on to the next round as an official duo.
Aaliyah and Acacia had a few more bumps in the road as they continued in the X Factor competition.
The girls decided to perform Montell’s “This Is How We Do It” for the six-chair challenge, but their mentor Robbie Williams stopped them in the middle of their performance.
“Girls, that was an eight. I believe you’ve got a ten in you,” Williams told them.
Williams’ advice and the girls’ hard work paid off. For their next performance, they did their audition song, “Bang Bang”, again. Williams hit the golden X button, sending them to the judges’ house. Simon told them he would sign them to his record label based on the strength of this song.
“This is the first group, genuinely, where if you walked into my record label, I would sign you on the spot,” he said.
In the end, Aaliyah and Acacia won fourth place in the competition. Since X Factor ended, the duo have been performing together through the UK and the US.
While the girls love performing, they also have to take some breaks for school. These two have a great balance in their lives!
When Simon Cowell paired up Aaliyah and Acacia, he showed why he has been in the industry for so long. Simon knows how to spot talent when he sees it and how to best showcase that talent! If you want to see Aaliyah and Acacia’s audition, check out the video below. If you’d like to learn more about the duo, head to their Instagram page.
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