<<Print>>LOUISA Johnson has won the X Factor 2015. The 17-year-old singer from Essex was crowned the winner in tonight’s glitzy final at the SSE Arena in Wembley, where she beat off competition from fun-loving duo Reggie ‘N’ Bollie. She will now release her own rendition of Bob Dylan’s Forever Young as her winner’s single.
But her success is no surprise to the millions of viewers who’ve been tuning in for the past three and a half months.
After being announced as the winner, she said: "I’ve imagined this day for so many years and you really have no idea how much this means to me. Thank you so much.
"I really can’t put it into words. It doesn’t even feel real. It’s just amazing. It’s just crazy and I just appreciate everyone so much for keeping me here, I really do."I’ve got the most loyal supporters ever. If I make a decision they’ll stick with it and I just can’t thank them enough. They’ve obviously done an amazing job and I’m just so happy."
And her mentor Rita Ora had nothing but praise for her as the teenager broke down in tears of joy.She gushed: "Oh my god can I just say thank you to everybody who voted and thank you to Louisa for being the cutest, most generous, most hardworking, gorgeous, gorgeous winner of X Factor 2015!"
The singing star wowed judges when she sang the Motown classic Who’s Lovin’ You at her first audition and has been the firm favourite to win for several weeks.
However, her rocketing fame levels haven’t been without controversy after it was revealed she’d had plenty of success prior to the competition, prompting some to suggest the show is a fix.Fans questioned her audition at Judges’ Houses after she was pictured wearing two different pairs of shoes and it was later revealed she had previously appeared on Britain’s Got Talent and had played big performances at Thorpe Park alongside names such as The Vamps and Professor Green.
But the judges were huge fans of the youngster and after she performed the winner's song Simon Cowell described her progress in the competition as the "birth of a star".
He gushed: "You owned tonight. For someone so young, you brought just so much passion and so much talent and you turned a good song into a great one. I'm incredibly proud of you. And I really do believe we are witnessing, and I said it earlier, the birth of a star."
Earlier in the show she performed a rendition of It's A Man's Man's Man's World and had even more praise for the teenager.
Simon said: "That, is what is called the X Factor. I mean, seriously.
"I can honestly say that in all the years I've done this show, I have never ever heard anything as good as what you just did. It was the best. You're not human."
By winning the show, she has secured a record deal with Simon's label Syco.