Former X Factor star Melanie McCabe is moving to America for a bid to finally make it as a singer.
The Dubliner – who competed four times in the ITV competition – said she wants to “start afresh” from everyone just knowing her from the X Factor.
She said: “The fact that nobody knows me over there is a bonus. Over here, everyone knows who I am from X Factor and I want to pull away from that.
“I plan to start a whole new chapter in my life and not, ‘Oh, that’s the girl off X Factor’. I want to be known for something else.
“The fact that I didn’t get through so many times, everyone goes, ‘Oh you’re that girl that got kicked off X Factor’.
“If I had got to the live shows, it might have been different. It’s the fact that I didn’t, on so many occasions, I feel there’s that negativity attached to me in some way.”
The 21-year-old first appeared on the X Factor aged 14, before coming back in 2010 for the next three years – but she never got beyond judges houses.
Audition: Melanie on stage at last year’s X Factor
And Melanie admits it has been tough to put the X Factor behind her – but is glad she did.
“If there was any regret I had about not doing it this year, it would be that Simon is there, because I had always wanted to sing for Simon,” she told the Sunday Mirror.
“That was always the big thing to me and I was hoping last year when I entered that he was going to be judging it, but he didn’t.
“It was hard letting go of that whole part of my life because I was involved in the X Factor since I was 14… but it’s definitely the right decision for me because I had to let go.”
