Stacey: My Story So Far

by Stacey Solomon

  Every week, we did a piece to camera for the internet. It was something like, ‘Hi, thanks for voting. It’s week five now and we’re having such a good time. Today we’ve been here, and this week we did such-and-such, and I can’t wait for blah-blah.’ One week, me and Olly decided to do each other’s piece to camera. So he put on a wig and stuffed cushions down his top. ‘Hello, I’m Stacey,’ he said in a high voice. ‘I’m well good and I’m fit. I’m proper fit.’

  On Wednesdays we did a cooking challenge with Sainsbury’s, and me and Olly often ended up having a food fight. One time I smashed a pie in his face, and another time he caught me out while we were making Halloween biscuits. I was concentrating so hard on making my biscuits good that I was completely unaware of Olly behind me, picking up a big bag of black icing and creeping up on me like a panto baddie. The next thing I knew, bang! I had icing all over my face and in my hair. It was so funny. We had such a laugh. He had the same energy as me and we just bounced off each other.

  Olly used to get naked all the time. He loved running around in his pants. It made me cringe! I couldn’t stand it. He’d chase me around the house in his underwear and run upstairs, swinging his hips in my face. Oh, it was so gross! ‘Stace!’ he’d call.

  ‘Argh, get away from me!’ I’d shout.

  We went to so many cool things. It was just amazing to see the Back Street Boys at the O2 Arena. We had a box and everything. Can you imagine? We also went to the premiere of Jim Carrey’s A Christmas Carol and we all walked down the red carpet together. Everything we did was just the best. Me and Olly were experiencing these things for the first time, together, and we were so genuinely excited, whereas some of the others didn’t seem to share our delight. I don’t know why. I think that some of them had been in the game so long they just expected it all to happen, while others, like Lucie, had been classically trained by Charlotte Church’s voice coach and such like, so I suppose it didn’t blow her away like it did me and Olly. We’d come from nowhere and now we were on the red carpet at a film premiere! We were just so happy.

  When I think X Factor, I think Olly. He was the biggest chunk of my X Factor experience. Almost every memory I have of the show relates back to him in some way, because we lived in the same house for three months and did the most unbelievable things together, day in, day out. He was always in my room, since I had this massive space all to myself. We used to lie around making each other laugh. We never once got bored of each other’s company.

  Every single week, as soon as I knew I’d made it through, I’d be the happiest girl in the world as I ran off stage to find Olly. ‘We did it!’ I’d yell, throwing my arms around him. I was never in the bottom two, but I comforted him when he was in the bottom two. He cried his eyes out and poured his heart out to me.

  On the Sunday show, we all sang and danced together in a group number. The producers always sandwiched me and Olly together, because they knew we were close and liked to play on the fact that everybody suspected we were going out. So it was always me and him singing together, which was great, because we got to practise together.

  Nobody else got to see their families once a week, but I was given special permission, because of Zach. It wasn’t enough to have our one-sided chats on the phone, I needed to pick him up and blow raspberries into his neck as I said, ‘Miss you, miss you, really want to kiss you.’ Although I missed him, I knew I had to make the most of the amazing opportunity I’d been given, for his sake more than anyone’s. And I knew he was fine, because he had my mum, so I didn’t have any worries. I had it cushy – and so did he, because Mum absolutely dotes on him.

  Still, I loved going home and having a whole day of normality every week. It was usually a Wednesday or a Thursday. Everyone in the family would do their best to have some of the day off work or university and they’d all pile into Mum’s house, where they’d keep me up to date with what was happening in the family and I’d tell them everything that was happening behind the scenes at The X Factor. I enjoyed those days off so much. They kept me grounded and reminded me how lucky I was to have such a great family. As long as I had them, especially Zach, nothing else mattered. I spent most of the day cuddling Zach – I just couldn’t stop kissing him. Then, at the end of the day, I’d rush back to Olly, desperate to carry out my latest cunning plan to sneak up on him while he was cleaning his teeth and squirt mouthwash in his hair.

  We cooked for ourselves in the house. We didn’t have a rota; everyone just cooked what they wanted whenever they wanted, or went out and got Nando’s with our Nando’s free card. Sometimes I cooked for Jedward or Olly – once I made them a wicked mango mess with mango, meringue and cream – but most of the time we were too tired or lazy to cook, so it was sweetcorn in the microwave. We took it in turns to clear up the kitchen, usually leaving it until it got in such a state that we had to clean it or die of contamination!

  We didn’t have a lot of spare time to just hang around the house, but we still managed to play Guitar Hero quite a lot after I got it for my birthday. Dannii even played it with me. When we got back on a Saturday and Sunday, most people would watch the shows on TV in the lounge. I couldn’t watch, though, because it made me cringe to see myself. If I’d been on my own, I might have been able to watch it and criticize myself constructively, but I hated the thought of seeing my performance with everyone else watching, too. It gave me a really weird feeling. Oh no, I’d rather not, I thought. Instead, I’d go and eat something or paint my nails or straighten my hair in my room, or watch Shameless in my bathroom. I’m addicted to Shameless. I hate to miss it.

  My favourite songs in the competition were ‘The Scientist’ and the Keane song ‘Somewhere Only We Know’, which I sang in week four, Rock Week. Louis thought it was a boring choice of song, but Cheryl loved it. I was really happy with what I was wearing: a sleeveless leather top covered in tassles, black leggings and boots. There was room to inhale and exhale, at least!

  Bearing in mind Simon’s criticisms from the week before, I was determined to use more of the stage this time, so I started the performance sitting on a box and then walked across the stage and back again as I sang. Of course, Simon had to comment on it. ‘It was extraordinary. It was like an X Factor miracle tonight. You walked,’ he said. Funny man!

  I’d never said I didn’t want to move around the stage. It didn’t bother me either way, because it wasn’t a dancing competition. I wasn’t worried about my dancing, what mattered was my singing, so I was happy to move if that’s what they wanted me to do. I never understood why it was so important, though. The biggest star to have come out of The X Factor is Leona Lewis and I’ve never seen her dance in my life.

  I opened the next show with the Dusty Springfield song ‘Son Of A Preacher Man.’ It’s one of my favourite songs as it’s happy and dancey and everyone knows it. I wore leggings and a top, so I was really comfortable, and I got to dance around a little bit. I was told to make it sexy, but I said, ‘I don’t want to be sexy. I’m not that sort of girl.’ So I just enjoyed it instead of being sexy.

  I thought it went well and I did everything right. The audience cheered and cheered, but Simon said it was a bit ‘cabaret’. I wasn’t that bothered when he said that. ‘Well, I enjoyed it; it doesn’t matter.’ He also said he thought I was vulnerable for the first time. I think he meant that I might be voted out, but I wasn’t.

  By this point, I was the last girl in the competition. Would that count for me or against me? I didn’t have a clue. I sang ‘Who Wants To Live Forever’ by Queen and luckily it went really well. I felt a lot more confident this week, for some reason. I think the song just suited my voice really well.

  ‘You totally sang your socks off and that was beautiful,’ Cheryl said. She wasn’t usually very enthusiastic about my singing, so that meant a lot.

  Next was Simon. Oh God, what would he say? I wasn’t expecting praise. You never expect praise from Simon. ‘Well, Stacey, you know I will always, always be honest with you, because I think t
hat it’s important.’

  Oh no, I thought. Here it comes!

  ‘And that was, by a mile, the best performance of the night so far,’ he added. I was so surprised, and the audience went crazy. They roared and then they started clapping and chanting my name. Dannii stood up and high-fived me from a distance. It couldn’t have been better, it really couldn’t.

  The next week was George Michael week and Dannii chose ‘I Can’t Make You Love Me’ for me. I’d never heard it before, but I fell in love with it. I thought it was beautiful and so sad. I actually liked most of the songs I was given, but I wish I’d had the chance to make them my own. If I could go back and do the show again, I’d ask for different musical arrangements for the songs, to give me a definite style and theme. I’d sing in a more natural way and I wouldn’t walk around or pretend I could dance. Instead I’d sit at the microphone, wearing floaty, relaxed clothes, just singing.

  Cheryl enjoyed my performance of ‘I Can’t Make You Love Me’ and she was very encouraging. ‘You need to start believing you’re the winner,’ she said when it was time for the judges to comment. ‘Because you could do it.’

  As for the other judges’ comments, week after week Louis said I was progressing and maturing as a performer. I wasn’t sure, though. Until I could get over my nerves, dry mouth and shaking, I knew I wouldn’t feel at home on stage. If I’m honest, I think I became a better singer once the show had finished.

  In the semi-finals I sang the Take That song ‘Rule The Word’. I loved the song so much, but I was a bit worried about some of the low notes. Would I be able to get down that deep? The song was written for four men, after all. I’d been singing boys’ songs for the last six weeks and I really wanted a girl’s song now. I mean, I don’t mind singing boys’ songs if it’s moved up to a girls’ range, but we couldn’t transpose ‘Rule The Word’ to a higher key because we didn’t have any rights to the song.

  Fortunately, Louis was really enthusiastic about my version and Simon said he thought it was the perfect choice for me, so that was a relief. ‘You’re the only girl left in the competition,’ Cheryl said. ‘Represent!’ Then Dannii said she thought I’d really developed over the weeks and was emerging as a star. Wow! I went back to the house on cloud nine that night.

  There were only four of us left now: me, Danyl, Olly and Joe. One night, a couple of researchers took us bowling at Shoreditch House, a cool members’ club in the East End of London. I whooped the boys at bowling! I beat them all and they all remember it.

  After we finished bowling, I offered to get Olly a drink. ‘OK, then,’ he said. So I got him a Jack Daniels and Coke and a Coke for myself. As he drank his JD and coke, he started to get louder.

  ‘Why don’t we go upstairs?’ I suggested.

  ‘Yeah,’ he said.

  There were loads of famous people upstairs in the bar, like Matt Horne and James Cordon. Me and Olly had another drink and he became louder by the second, then he started spilling drinks everywhere. Whoops! The researchers were going mental.

  ‘Tell him to be quiet,’ they kept saying. Meanwhile, Olly was wetting himself with laughter and so was I. It was such a funny night.

  In the end we were taken home because we were being too loud. People kept asking, ‘What’s wrong with Olly?’

  Back at the house, me and Olly sat up all night talking. He’d clearly had a few. ‘Aren’t you drunk?’ he kept asking me.

  ‘No,’ I said. I didn’t tell him that I’d only drunk Coke all night.

  ‘I feel smashed. Why don’t you?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ I said, giggling.

  In the morning, Olly’s first words to me were, ‘I hate you!’ I think he was on to me – oh dear. We had a laugh about it when his head had stopped aching, though.

  I was more nervous than ever before the week nine show. I think we all were, because there was a massive difference between being in the last four acts and being in the last three. If you got to the final and you were ‘an X Factor finalist’, you’d made it to a credible point.

  I sang ‘Somewhere’, a song from the musical West Side Story. Louis loved it and called me ‘The Diva from Dagenham’, which made me laugh. Cheryl said I’d given her goose bumps, Simon said I was ‘back in the game’ and Dannii said it was a perfect performance. I was through to the final. I couldn’t believe it. My dream had come true!

  In the final, I was going to be singing three songs: ‘Feeling Good’, ‘Who Wants To Live Forever’ and ‘What A Wonderful World.’ So obviously I needed three outfits! The show stylist, Fay, was just the loveliest lady and she took me to Selfridges to choose my clothes. ‘You can wear whatever you want for the final,’ she told me. She was so cool. She let me pick out whatever I fancied. Oh my God! I felt like I was in heaven.

  I chose a sequined Dolce & Gabbana dress for ‘Feeling Good’, and some black snakeskin Christian Louboutin shoes for my ‘Who Wants To Live Forever’ performance. Yes, I’m talking about the red-soled shoes that everybody craves. I think I nearly died. Luckiest girl in the world! I had a dress made to go with the shoes, a black Swarovski corseted minidress with a great big skirt that you tied around the waist so that it flowed behind, all the way to the floor. That dress was so beautiful. And so was the blue Temperley off-the-shoulder dress I wore for ‘What A Wonderful World’, which Fay teamed with a gorgeous Gucci belt.

  Fay was so lovely to me. She used to give me all the cast-off show clothes that no one else wanted, and when companies sent clothes in, she’d give them to me. Since I was the last girl left in the competition, there were loads of dresses for me to dive into. I wore a pair of pink Lacoste wellies once on The Xtra Factor on ITV2, and afterwards Lacoste sent me some free pairs!

  I gave loads of the clothes away to the children’s charity my sister supports. Everything was brand new and some of it was really lovely, like Lipsy tracksuits and Dolce & Gabbana T-shirts. It was so cool to be able to give them away. I couldn’t have imagined someone giving me a Dolce & Gabbana T-shirt when I was little.

  So now I had my three outfits, along with a white Temperley dress and Gucci belt for the final. Then I heard that I was going to be singing a duet with Michael Bublé. I was in the studio and my tummy just dropped to the floor. Michael Bublé is going to sing with me! It was so special.

  One of the reasons you’re desperate to get into the final is that you know you’ll get the opportunity to sing with somebody unbelievable. You dream about it and I just couldn’t wait. Being paired with Michael Bublé was an absolute honour. His voice is flawless. But he’s not just a good singer, he’s a proper musician who really knows what he’s talking about and devotes his life to music. As I’ve said, I was already a massive fan, so I was thrilled to get the chance to sing with him.

  The last time I’d met him was when I sang ‘When You Wish Upon A Star’ in week three. He was so lovely to me then and he was even lovelier this time. He’s so small and cool and he really knows how to make you feel good. Joe and Olly didn’t have much rehearsal time with their singing partners, but Michael was happy to rehearse loads.

  He came in to hair and make-up while I was getting my hair done and tapped me on the shoulder. ‘Hey, kid, you want to rehearse?’ he asked.

  ‘OK.’

  It was so cool. He took me into his dressing room, where loads of his family and friends were sitting around, and we rehearsed in there. I couldn’t believe it. I was in Michael Bublé’s dressing room and he was giving me a singing lesson. ‘A little bit higher here; a little bit lower there,’ he said. ‘Are you comfortable? Are you happy? We’ve got to enjoy this.’ He’s a really nice man, and so talented. He can work out harmonies in seconds, so he would sing a line and say, ‘You sing this,’ and it would be a harmony. ‘Or maybe do this,’ he’d say, suggesting an ad-lib. It was so clever.

  For the final on 12 December, I felt I’d done well enough and come far enough to relax a bit. At last! This is the end anyway, and I’m here for it, I thought. So they were my best
performances, by far. I hadn’t been able to unwind before that. I just felt incredibly grateful to be there, just so happy and excited.

  As usual, my whole family was there to support me. It was good of everyone to come and cheer me on every week. It meant they couldn’t do anything else for ten weekends in a row, because not only were they there every Saturday to see me perform, they had to be at the Sunday results show as well. I’m so lucky to have such a loyal, dedicated family. Even better, Zach was allowed to come to the Sunday shows, which gave me an extra chance to see him.

  Aaron also came to every single show, even though I hardly ever had the chance to speak to him, let alone have a proper conversation with him. I was aware of him being there and being supportive, but so much was happening that I couldn’t really take it in at the time. I was distracted by everything and I was having the time of my life, so I kind of ignored him a little bit. Then, when I went home to see my family, it was so mad and busy that I was like, ‘Hello, goodbye!’ Poor Aaron. He never, ever, let me down; he stuck by me and took everything in his stride.

  I was in another world. Ever since I got through that first X Factor audition at the O2, my life had felt strangely dreamlike. Even now, when I’m singing at an awards ceremony or being photographed for a magazine, I have to consciously register that I’m actually there. It’s so strange. I have to remind myself that it’s real. So imagine being on stage with Michael Bublé and singing with him. It was just the coolest feeling I’ve ever had! That definitely felt like a dream.

  We all had to sing the first song we’d performed in front of the judges, which in my case was ‘What A Wonderful World’, and they then gave their comments. Cheryl said it was nice to see me so much more relaxed and Simon agreed.

  ‘You were turning into a nervous wreck over the last few weeks,’ he said.