Seventeen-year-old Maria Laroco wowed all four judges of The X Factor UK with her rendition of Prince’s classic “Purple Rain” on the second week of the popular reality singing competition.
Maria flew to the UK all the way from the Philippines, sharing it was just her third time to get on a plane.
Before her performance, judge Simon Cowell asked Maria what gives her the strength to come all the way from where she lives to perform in front of them. The young lady immediately answered, “Since I was a little girl, I’ve always wanted to be an international superstar and I want to be big. That’s why I’m doing this because I love to do this, and this is my dream.”
Deep into Maria’s performance, as she hit on the high notes, the crowd started cheering loudly and were on their feet, the judges then followed one by one started by Robbie Williams, Ayda Williams and Louis Tomlinson. Simon was also on his feet at the end of her song.
Host Dermot O’leary expressed his awe by asking Maria’s companions, “Is there anyone in the Philippines who can’t sing?”
After her impressive audition, Simon asked, “Was there ever one moment where you doubted this?”
Teary-eyed Maria responded, “No, I never gave up on my dreams, a lot of times people tell me that I can’t do it, that I’m not good enough.”
“Look what you did to the audience, that hasn’t happened a lot,” commented Robbie. “You’re amazing. I’m going to kick this off, and I’m going to give you a massive yes.”
“So you are 17 years old, and you’ve flown all the way [from the Philippines], which is a long trip, you’ve taken on probably one of the biggest songs in the world, I’m gonna go beyond the billion yeses, I’m gonna give you infinity yeses,” Simon expressed.
Maria now moves on to the next round of The X Factor UK. The reality talent show airs first and exclusive, the same day as the UK on Blue Ant Entertainment every Sunday and Monday at 7:55 p.m..
