X Factor’s Grace Davies has reportedly been signed to Simon Cowell’s record label.
The 20-year-old star may have come second on the singing show last year – after Rak-Su took the champion spot – but the music mogul has seen huge potential in her and has agreed to sign her to his company Syco to release an original album.
A source told The Sun newspaper: "Grace’s talent shone through on ‘X Factor’ – not only as a singer but as an excellent songwriter in her own right. Everyone is really excited about what she is going to be doing next. There is a genuine buzz around her and Syco weren’t going to let anyone else get the chance to sign her."
Grace built up a huge fan base when she took part in the singing competition last year and she even managed to win over the heart of Robbie Williams.
The ‘Candy’ hitmaker sent the wannabe pop star a beautiful bouquet of flowers as a good luck charm before she competed in the final in December.
Speaking at the time, Grace said: "I got some flowers from Robbie Williams last night. I did, yeah. I’m like his biggest fan. I cried. Absolutely cried."
Asked whether the flowers came with a note, Grace added: "Yeah, it just said: ‘Grace, babe you’re amazing, good luck in the final, Robbie.’ and I was like: ‘stop, stop.’ "
Meanwhile, Simon, 58, also has high hopes for Rak-Su and is convinced they may become the new One Direction – who finished third in the 2010 series of the show, have gone on to sell more than 70 million records and in 2016 Forbes magazine listed them as the second-highest earning celebrities in the world – in the future.
He said recently: "There’s an awful lot of artists in entertainment who appear nice in front of the cameras but behind them they’re monsters.
"Not these guys. These guys have that same thing as 1D, a certain class.
"The group are so important to the show for that reason. When you have people like these guys who have ambition it’s great and there’s this wonderful afterglow."