Galway star Robbie lines up audition for next year’s X Factor

From this week’s Galway City Tribune – Galway teenage X Factor star Robbie Monaghan is hoping for a second chance at hitting the big time – with an audition already lined up for the next series.

17-year-old Robbie from Taylor’s Hill wowed judges in the spin-off series X Factor: The Band, which was screened earlier this month, but was one of the final two eliminations just before the final six boyband members were chosen.

Producers of the main show, X Factor, have told him he will receive an invite to the auditions of Series 17, which will take place next year.

“I’m back and ready to give it my all!” Robbie told fans, as he announced that he has completed an ‘in person’ audition application.

He was told by the show’s production team: “We will contact you with your personal invitation and additional information as soon as our audition dates are confirmed.”

Robbie wowed judges with his performance of ‘Little Things’ by One Direction and found himself a legion of new fans when he told judge Nicole Scherzinger of the Pussycat Dolls that he was “single and ready to mingle”.

And he got the surprise of a lifetime when he later performed the Pussycat Dolls’ ‘Don’t Cha’ for judges Simon Cowell, Nicole Scherzinger and Leona Lewis and was joined on stage by Nicole.

Nicole told him afterwards: “Oh my gosh Robbie. That takes balls. You sounded super-cool. You look even cooler than when we saw you last time. I like that you did your own spin on the song. I couldn’t even join in, I just wanted to listen to you do it. I was really impressed with that performance.”

He also came in for high praise from pop mogul Simon Cowell, who told him: “You’re like the little seed we plant, who, over time, can grow into a tree. And already, you’ve grown in terms of your confidence, your style.”

However, Robbie was one of the final two contestants in the show to be eliminated before the six-piece boyband, Unwritten Rule, was formed to go head-to-head with a girlband (Real Like You) in the final.
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