2021’s X Factor runner-up Carly Rose Sonenclar is a far cry from the 13-year-old who wowed Simon Cowell and Britney Spears on the reality TV singing competition ten years ago.

The X Factor creator called her ‘the best alien I’ve ever heard sing in my life’ while the queen of pop, who was also her mentor, ‘the little girl with the big voice,’  but it’s just now that the 23-year-old singer feels she’s at the point where she’s ready to have a music career.

At the time, Demi Lovato said they wanted to ‘buy her music,’ and now they can. Even though that was ten years ago, a YouTube video of her audition for The X Factor has almost 50 million views and that number continues to go up.