Monica Michael is 25, comes from North London and works as a youth worker. A year earlier she made it all the way to the Six Chair Challenge on The X Factor, but she did not get a chair 💔.
She was devastated. She said she felt numb, could not even remember walking off the stage, and her confidence took a real knock. It took time to pick herself up.
Her job helped. She drives around council estates in a van where kids from all kinds of backgrounds come to rap, sing and talk to her. She always tells them that if you do not succeed the first time, you keep going back. So she followed her own advice.
Back in front of the judges, she joked with Simon that the show had given her the kick she needed, and he asked if that meant he had made her life better. Then she sang, straight from the heart and looking the judges right in the eye 🎤.
The response was huge. One judge said Monica made her feel like she was singing only to her. Another compared her real British cool to Adele and Amy Winehouse and admitted they made a big mistake with her last year. Another said Monica does something to her when she performs and had come back stronger.
Rita said yes, the next judge said it was absolutely a yes, the third yes followed, and then Simon told her she was the biggest regret of his category last year. It was four yeses for the girl who refused to give up 🔥.
