WHEN Grace Davies came second on The X Factor in 2017, she was immediately signed to Syco and thought it was the start of a glittering career.

But, in 2020, Simon Cowell suddenly quit his music label, and the 25-year-old was dropped without a second thought.

"It was hard," she tells The Sun. "It was a shock because it was also a hard time in the world. 

"I released my my first EP in the middle of the peak of the pandemic, and because there was so much other s**t going on in the world, no one cared, rightly so.

"It was like one bomb dropped on top of another."

Now back with a new song Wolves, and her first headliner gig next month, Grace continues: "I had a cry about it for a couple of weeks.

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"And then I thought 'Well, I've got two choices; dwell on it and wallow or I can just get my s**t together and prove people wrong and come back better than ever'."

Begged to come on by producers

Grace actually went to a Syco talent scout day when she was 17, three years before she went on The X Factor, where they were looking for people to go on Britain's Got Talent and The X Factor.

She auditioned for BGT – although didn't get through – but decided The X Factor wasn't something she wanted to do as she wouldn't be able to perform her own songs.

She tells us: "They kept coming back every year like, 'Are you sure? Are you sure?' I said no like four times, and then that year they suddenly said I could sing my own songs, so I accepted."

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Rak-Su – who also sang their own songs – were the eventual winners of Grace's series.

And while she's unsure why their year was chosen to be the one to promote original songs, she believes they should start showcasing them more often if The X Factor makes its rumoured return.

'I looked like anyone off the street'

The singer is now back in the charts with re-mastered versions of the hits that made her famous on The X Factor – Wolves and Roots.

But it's not just Grace's music that has evolved – so has her image.

The star is unrecognisable five years since she made it to the finals, and reveals she has put money aside to revamp her hair and make-up, having previously done her own.

"I know that my music is strong and I put my all into that, but I've always felt like I look like anyone just off the street," she explains.

"Especially with the photo shoot and the video I said to my team 'I've never looked at myself in the mirror and felt like an artist.' 

"I really wanted to go in with this EP and these tracks and be like, 'This is my identity. That's what I look like, and I fit in with all of these artists that are on major labels and have major budgets to do all of the styling and makeup and hair and all of that s**t."

No contact from Simon Cowell

When it comes to Simon, she hasn't had any contact from him since he left Syco.

But there aren't any hard feelings.

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She adds: "I haven't had any contact from Simon since, but I love him and  I so appreciate the words he said about my song Wolves and I would never be able to speak ill of that label or the show because they believed in me at a time that no one else did.

"But no, I've not actually had any contact with him. But if I did, I'd be like, 'Look what we've done!'"

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