Thirteen-year-old Carly Rose Sonenclar completely blew us away with her rendition of "Feelin' Good" on the first week of 'The X Factor' auditions. (She ended up receiving four big yes' from the judges to move on to the boot camp round). We recently caught up with her and she gave us the scoop on her audition and her ultimate goals.
J14: What made you choose to audition for 'The X Factor?'
Carly Rose: I was the right age [to audition]. I think that's what's cool about the show is they allow kids my age to do it. I think there's a lot of talent out there in my age group that a lot of these other shows don't really allow.
J14: Were you fans of any of the judges before you auditioned?
Carly Rose: Oh yeah, I was fans of all of them before. I used to sing to 'American Idol' and my brother used to pretend he was Simon, with the British accent and everything. So I was a fan of him since I was two. As soon as Demi was on the Disney channel I was a fan of her. Britney, I've known forever, I mean she is a legend. And L.A. has discovered some of the biggest people. So you kind of get something different from each judge. I think that's different from any show.
J14: Were you discouraged at all by their skeptical reactions to what song you were going to sing?
Carly Rose: I think I was a little nervous, you could probably see it on my face. I was like "Oh, God, why did they do that?" But I guess in the end it paid off.
J14: What's your ultimate goal?
Carly Rose: To be a household name, like Demi and Britney. But to bring the soulful element to the pop industry, because Top 40 music is taking over. And that's what this show is looking for, the next pop star. But I think bringing the soulful aspect to that pop aspect and putting them together could make something really different and cool. So that's what I want to do. And also writing my own music, because I write a lot of my own music.
Are you excited to watch Carly Rose Sonenclar in 'The X Factor' boot camp round?