Bristol's Girlband: 'X Factor will open doors for us'
Despite being voted out of the TV talent contest in the second week of live shows, the four bubbly girls hope they can still take their dream of pop stardom forward.
Girlband will be back on our screens in next weekend's show, singing Mariah Carey's Hero live with the other contestants. The acts have recorded the song as a charity single to raise money for the Help for Heroes campaign, which supports injured veterans from current conflicts.
Marisa Billitteri, 20, from Kingswood, Tita and Phoebe Lau, 20 and 18, from Whitehall, and Layla Manoochehri, 22, were one of 12 acts picked out of 184,000 who auditioned to make it to the live shows.
Marisa, a recruitment consultant at the Bristol Evening Post, is looking forward to getting home after spending four months away from friends and family.
"It was such a rollercoaster," she said.
"We had the highs of getting through all the stages to make it to the live show but now we are out and it is heartbreaking. It was horrible."
"But we entered the competition as four friends not knowing how we were going to do and we made it down to the last 12.
"We feel really happy with everything we have done and out of it all the live shows were the best experience of all.
"Even down to the styling, the make-up, the outfits – it really feels like you are living the dream.
"I have been performing in talent shows and other things for years but on a scale of one to 10 those things are a one and the X Factor was 10 plus.
"Just going out there and singing and knowing that millions of people are watching you at home is amazing.
"We had a good talk with Louis. We really did get on with him well and he was very hands-on with us. He's definitely got ideas on developing us, maybe with a fifth member.
"Whatever happens we want to carry on with this."
The girls found themselves singing to stay in the contest again with Ruth Lorenzo in the bottom two.
They sang Aerosmith's I Don't Want To Miss a Thing but, when the judges decision was tied, the girls fate was sealed by the public vote.
"We rehearsed everything as much as we could and as long as we can look back and say that we did our best we can be proud," said Marisa.
"It was a strict regime of getting up at 6am and going for singing lessons and then dance lessons then coming back for interviews. It was really hard work but we coped really well.
"I think The X Factor can really open doors for people and that's what we hope will happen for us."
For now Marisa will come home to Bristol, but she and the rest of Girlband will soon pick themselves up and aim for stardom again.
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