Inside the X Factor performance that shook the music industry to its core-Josie Copson-Entertainment – Metro

Fleur East was told ‘take five’, but what she actually heard was ‘change lives’ (Picture: ITV)

On a cold Saturday night in December 2014, one X Factor hopeful had the music industry scampering around to fix an unexpected issue. What had they done to cause the problems? Put on an epic performance that nobody was expecting.

At the time the ITV talent contest was way past its peak of 2010’s 19.4 million viewers, and was instead hemorrhaging viewers with each power ballad. With ten million fewer fans bothering to switch it on, the odds were against the wannabe stars to make any real impact.

Undeterred, Fleur East threw on a gold jacket and pair of micro shorts, then strided onto the stage with determination in every step. As she walked to the beat of ‘Doh-doh-doh, doh-doh-doh, doh-doh’ it wasn’t just the microphone that was sparkling.

‘This hit, that ice cold, Michelle Pfeiffer, that white gold,’ came the first notes, and from there, it felt like Fleur was performing to a sell-out arena on her own world tour.

Her rendition of the unreleased Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars single Uptown Funk instantly stood out against the other contestants, who were performing the same covers we’d heard for years in exchange for some mediocre praise from judge Simon Cowell, who even seemed tired by the format.

For two minutes and 53 seconds, it looked like The X Factor wasn’t totally defunct.

Just 24 hours earlier, Fleur hadn’t even listened to the song. To her, Uptown Funk could have been a nightclub, or a particularly fun takeaway spot, not the key to her future.

‘I was rehearsing Nicki Minaj’s Super Bass the whole week, trying to nail the rap. I had a whole other routine with complex choreography, and then the day before, I was told, “We think you should try and do this song”,’ Fleur, now 37, recalled to Metro. The decision came from Simon, 65, who after hearing the tune, decided that Fleur should do a version. The song was being released by Sony, and Simon’s label Syco was under their umbrella, so he had the power to make it happen.

At the time Simon said: ‘All I knew was that we loved the song and then we heard that Mark and Bruno were going to do it on the final, so we stopped doing it with Fleur and then I found out Thursday they weren’t coming so I thought fine, I’ll do it with her.’

‘I just said “okay”. I did not realise it was going to become,’ Fleur said.

The last minute cobbling together certainly paid off, and for Fleur she remembers the immediate aftermath more than being on stage.

‘It was surreal. Someone said to me: “You don’t know what you’ve just done there.” And I thought: “What do you mean?” They just kept saying: “You don’t understand.” I was like, “Oh my God, what? What is happening?”‘

‘That was a real turning point, not just in the X Factor, but also for my career. It was huge.’

The song shot to number one in the iTunes singles charts (at the time it was as relevant as Spotify is today), and so to not be outshone by the version’s popularity, Bruno and Mark were compelled to bring forward their release by five weeks.

At the time Fleur publicly apologised for the situation, and then said sorry once more when she came face to face with Mark, 49, at the Brits.

‘I said to him, “I feel like maybe you’re angry with me because I did your song before it was released.” He was like “No, no, no, I owe you a drink”,’ she told us, smiling at the fond memory.

She also recently interviewed Bruno, 39, as part of her job on Hits Radio: ‘He said, “Hey, you’re Uptown Funk”. He thought the whole thing was crazy.’

Mark and Bruno rushed to release the track (Picture: Mark Ronson/YouTube)

Although, they were able to make peace with the incident, at first Mark said he felt ‘blindsided’ after learning about Fleur’s performance on Twitter (now X).

‘You think we’d have seen some kind of sign-off on it. Then I kind of twigged — don’t they put out the songs on X Factor on iTunes that night? That’s when I just had this pit in my stomach… I was like, “Man — I hope the label over there knows what they are doing! Because this girl’s about to have a big hit with our song!”,’ he told The Standard.

After working on the single for seven months, he was fearful that he was going to be eclipsed at the last moment by Fleur.

However, after Uptown Funk reached number one, he was able to accept what happened.

Mark summarised: ‘Everyone kind of ended up with what they want. I got to have the record out, X Factor, the girl, she had her moment.’

Caption: Fleur East performs Uptown Funk, X Factor December 2014(Picture: Tom Dymond/Syco/Thames)

Simon declared it one of the top three X Factor performances of all time, and Fleur’s two performances of it (she sang it again for the final) currently have a combined 14 million views on YouTube.

Fleur is one of the people who has partaken in the rewatching: ‘Each Christmas, my family will be like “Let’s watch it”. I do like to look back at it, because that’s where everything started. So for me, it’s amazing.’

Fleur was able to forge a lasting career in showbusiness (Picture: Mike Marsland/WireImage)

As good as it was, Uptown Funk couldn’t perform miracles and X Factor met its end in 2018, with viewers growing out of bad auditions and the mediocre talent they were now attracting, but we’ll always have that moment. However, Fleur has been able to use that life-changing day to help her craft a long-lasting career in showbusiness. Although, she’s mainly left music behind (a comeback could happen on one condition), to pursue presenting on gigs including Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two, it’s undeniable that the song helped her stand out from the crowd. She may not have won, Ben Haenow did, but she’s definitely winning.

Also triumphing are the avid fans will seek out this moment and reminisce on the good times. The power of the X Factor nostalgia is strong, with girl band 4th Power’s audition currently at 194 million, and Ablisa’s on-stage fight at 145 million. What millennial hasn’t attended an after party that turned into just watching old clips from the show?

There is clearly comfort in returning to this time when X Factor and Strictly were battling it out for our loyalty. If you’re not convinced Fleur’s Uptown Funk is a huge part of that legacy. Don’t believe me, just watch.

Fleur East is presenting The National Lottery’s Big Bash alongside Vernon Kay. It will be available to watch on New Year’s Eve on ITV.

Got a story?

If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk, calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.

Entertainment – MetroRead More