For the first time, Harry Styles' biggest fans -- and, if it's possible, his biggest haters -- finally got to see his full X Factor UK audition, and it's a delight.
The video, which has already surpassed more than one million views on YouTube, shows a then-16-year-old Styles checking in to the 2010 audition with his family in tow. There's a pre-audition interview in which Styles talks about his hometown and, at that point, the extent of his career in music.
Before heading to the audition stage to face the three judges -- Simon Cowell, Nicole Scherzinger and Louis Walsh -- and the boisterous crowd, Styles' family bombards him with "good luck" kisses before sending him off. Cowell then proceeds to ask Styles a bit about himself, and the future One Direction singer reveals he works at a bakery. The singer wins over the crowd almost instantly with his sense of humor and charming demeanor.
Styles mentions what he wants to study in college (law, sociology, business) before explaining why he's at the audition.
"Well, I've always wanted to audition but I've always been too young," he explains. "So, I thought I'd give it a whirl this time."
Cowell then asks him why he's always wanted to audition.
"Because my mum's always told me I'm a good singer and so have my friends," says Styles, prompting Cowell to say mom's don't always know.
"Yeah, that's what I mean," Styles says. "So I wanted to come and ask from the people who know."
Styles then proceeds with his audition song, Train's "Hey, Soul Sister," but Cowell seems unconvinced. Cowell gives Styles a second chance, asking Styles to sing a capella. Styles belts out Stevie Wonder's "Isn't She Lovely."
When it's time for the judges to weigh in, Walsh gives Styles a hard pass. But the Pussycat Dolls singer compliments Styles' "beautiful voice" and gives him a go, before Cowell echoes the sentiment and advances him past the audition.
Styles would eventually be eliminated, but he'd return as a member of One Direction.
The rest, as they say, is history.
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1 August 2022, 13:33 | Updated: 1 August 2022, 14:26 The X Factor has released an extended cut of Harry Styles' audition from 2010, revealing that the judges gave him a second chance... Turns out,
Harry Styles' X Factor audition went down a little differently than we remember it! Twelve years later and we still can't stop thinking about the One Direction star's claim to fame, and The X Factor has released the official extended
cut from when Styles first took to the stage. Harry Styles Has Been Shortlisted For The Mercury Prize The nostalgic clip, which was posted on July 31, shows the 16-year-old being given a second chance during his audition after he failed to impress the judges with his first song. Releasing archive footage is somewhat of a trend from the official X Factor YouTube page at present, as they recently dropped a never-seen-before video that showed how One
Direction was formed – who knew we'd get all this info over a decade later!
In the extended audition clip, the pop sensation-to-be first delivered a rendition of Train's 'Hey Soul Sister', but the performance was left on the cutting room floor back in 2010
However, the clearly nervous young Harry didn't show the full range of his singing chops with the song, leading Simon Cowell to ask for him to go a cappella.
Harry Styles' X Factor audition has been unearthed 12 years later. Picture: Getty
The judge advised him to sing without a backing track, saying: "I don’t know whether it’s the track that’s throwing you, but can I hear something that’s just you without any music?"
Harry then opted to belt out the classic 'Isn't She Lovely' by Stevie Wonder, a performance we all know and love from the originally aired episode from way back when!
Of course, Harry flew into the next round and the rest is history!
Thank goodness the panel gave Harry a second chance to show he could be an international pop star!
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