| Janet Devlin | |
|---|---|
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| Contestant Profile | |
| Birth Date | 12 November 1994 |
| Age | 31 |
| Hometown | Gortin, Northern Ireland |
| Occupation | Student |
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| Category | Girls |
| Mentor | Kelly Rowland |
| Placement | 5/16 |
| Gallery | |
Janet Maureen Aoife Devlin (born 12 November 1994) is an Northern Irish singer. She auditioned for Series 8 of The X Factor UK and made it all the way to the quarter final as part of the Girls category mentored by Kelly Rowland.
She was eliminated in the quarter final, finishing in 5th place after losing the sing-off to fellow category member Misha B.
The X Factor[]
In 2011, Devlin auditioned for the eighth series of The X Factor. Her audition was screened on 20 August 2011, where she performed Elton John's "Your Song" in front of judges Louis Walsh, Gary Barlow, Kelly Rowland and Tulisa. Her audition was successful as all four judges put her through to bootcamp. After passing the bootcamp stages, Devlin then progressed to the judges' houses round and was later put through to the live shows by Rowland in her Girls category (solo females aged 16–24) alongside Misha B, Amelia Lily and Sophie Habibis. She performed Coldplay's "Fix You" in week 1 of the live shows and was put through to the next round by Rowland, as there was no public vote in the first week. Devlin topped the public vote more times than any other act, receiving the most public votes for the first four weeks of voting (weeks 2, 3, 4 and 5) and reached the quarter-final (week 8) before ending up in the bottom two with Misha B. She was voted off by Walsh and Tulisa with Rowland refusing to vote between her own acts and Barlow not being given the chance to vote. However voting statistics revealed that Devlin received more votes than Misha B meaning if the result went to deadlock, Devlin would have advanced to the semi-final and Misha B would have been eliminated. Devlin's song in the sing off was "Chasing Cars". During the live shows, Courtney Love tweeted Simon Cowell to offer to give Devlin one of Nirvana's tracks for the show, which ultimately did not occur.
Performances[]
| Episode | Theme | Song | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Audition | Free choice | "Your Song" | Advanced |
| Bootcamp 1 | Group performance | "Breakeven" | Advanced |
| Bootcamp 2 | Solo performance | "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" | Advanced |
| Judges' houses | Free choice | "Beautiful" | Advanced |
| Week 1 | Britain vs. America | "Fix You" | Saved |
| Week 2 | Love and heartbreak | "Can't Help Falling in Love" | Safe (1st) |
| Week 3 | Rock | "Sweet Child o' Mine" | Safe (1st) |
| Week 4 | Halloween | "Every Breath You Take" | Safe (1st) |
| Week 5 | Club classics | "I Want You Back" | Safe (1st) |
| Week 6 | Lady Gaga vs. Queen | "Somebody to Love" | Safe (2nd) |
| Week 7 | Movie week | "Kiss Me" | Safe (3rd) |
| Quarter-Final | Guilty pleasures | "MMMBop" | Bottom Two (4th) |
| Musical heroes | "Under the Bridge" | ||
| Save Me songs | "Chasing Cars" | Eliminated (5th) |
Post The X Factor[]
Soon after being eliminated from The X Factor, Devlin performed some gigs at various venues throughout the UK. One of these was the renowned G-A-Y venue (where other eliminated contestants perform) on Saturday, 3 December 2011.[failed verification] Finishing fifth, she was one of nine acts to perform on the X Factor Live Tour 2012, which took place in cities throughout the UK and Ireland. She performed fan favourite cover songs, 'Fix You' and 'Sweet Child o' Mine'.
2012–2013: Hide & Seek[]
It was reported that Devlin had received at least three offers of a recording contract. Within hours of leaving the show Devlin had been offered a recording contract by RKA Records, a record company partly owned by Dragons' Den star and entrepreneur Duncan Bannatyne.
Following the X Factor Live Tour, Devlin began work on her debut album at Steelworks Recording Studios, Sheffield. She was first in the recording studio on 28 May 2012, where she wrote and recorded three songs ('Crown of Thorns', 'Thinking Back Yesterday' and 'Who Am I Today?') with Grammy Award and Ivor Novella Award-winning producer Eliot Kennedy and his team. The song "Crown of Thorns", which was one of the first she wrote, with Jim Jayawardena and Philippa Hanna (of Kennedy's Steelworks team), quickly became an addition to her live sets at gigs.
Devlin has written all of her songs, usually with one co-writer, for inclusion on her debut album. She has written with songwriters Joe Janiak, Helen Boulding and Ethan Ash. She has also written potential tracks for her debut release with songwriters including the Faulkner brothers, Toby and Newton Faulkner, Joshua Radin and Jack Savoretti. In 2013, Devlin stated in interviews that she had written around 25 songs and would continue to write more songs to have the best possible finished album. On 26 October 2012, she debuted two new, live edition, songs on her YouTube channel. They were "Wonderful" which was co-written with Newton Faulkner and the aforementioned "Crown of Thorns".
Devlin's debut album was launched on PledgeMusic, including a chance to record backing vocals with her, although this did not happen. In December 2012, it was stated that the album would be released in 2013, having reached 45% of the pledge target within the first two weeks. Having reached 100% on New Year's Eve 2012, Devlin began the recording of her album in early 2013. On 26 June 2013, she finished recording the limited release version of her debut album. Hide & Seek was released to pledgers on 1 July 2013. Janet released an exclusive bonus acoustic EP, Nothing Lost, to pledgers on 14 August 2013.
On 25 June 2013, Devlin worked with Newton Faulkner again, providing vocals for his new album project, #studiozoo. She provided backing vocals for 2 tracks as well as lending her voice for more of a featured backing vocal on a track called "Plastic Hearts".[citation needed] A live version of her song "Things We Lost in the Fire" was premiered on her YouTube channel on 6 December 2013.
2014: Running with Scissors and My Delirium Tour[]
In early January 2014, Devlin debuted a new live version of her song "Delicate", (written with Jack Savoretti and a new addition to the general release album) performing with Tom Dibb (guitar and vocals), in a BalconyTV session. She won the Balcony TV Global Music Rumble two weeks in a row on 2 and 9 March and again on 23 March.
Devlin announced in March 2014 that the general release of her debut album, with the new title Running with Scissors would be on 9 June. The album would feature new single "House of Cards" (to be released on 26 May) with 3 other new original songs ("Whisky Lullabies" co written with UK songwriter Tim Jennings, "Lifeboat" and "When You Were Mine"), a cover of The Cure's "Friday I'm in Love" and reworked versions of "Delicate" (from the EP Nothing Lost), "Wonderful", "Creatures of the Night", "Things We Lost in the Fire" and "Hide & Seek" from the limited release album Hide & Seek. The reworked version of the song "Hide & Seek" features Newton Faulkner who, along with his brother, co-wrote it with Devlin. On 12 October 2015, Devlin announced she would be using PledgeMusic again to launch her preorder of her Christmas EP December Daze. She was featured on SHY & DRS' "Beautiful to Me", which was released on 13 November as the official song for Anti Bullying Week 2015. She as featured on Gareth Emery's album 100 Reasons to Live, released 31 March 2016. The song "Lost" is a remix of her song "Things We Lost in the Fire".
2015–2018: EPs and singles[]
Since the release of Running with Scissors, Janet released a number of EPs and singles. The single "I Lied to You" was released in December 2018, which was called a "personal, soul-searching baring of emotion".
2019–present: Confessional and Emotional Rodeo[]
Devlin's second studio album, titled Confessional, was released in June 2020 and was mastered at Abbey Road, London. Prior to the album, Devlin issued the title track "Confessional",[citation needed] "Saint of the Sinners", and "Honest Men" in early January 2020. This was swiftly followed up by "Away with the Fairies", "Holy Water" and finally "Big Wide World" to coincide with the album. She also released a book to accompany the album, entitled My Confessional which unlocks the meaning behind all the tracks on Confessional.
On 19 November 2021, Devlin released her version of Elton John’s song “Your Song”. "Your Song" formed part of Devlin's EP "It's Not that Deep," released on 14 December 2021. "It's Not That Deep" included two original songs - "Place Called Home" (in a regular and "Alt country mix") and "Otherside" - along with three covers: "Your Song" by Elton John, "Bad Habits" by Ed Sheeran, and "Kiss" by Prince.
On 26 April 2024, Devlin released "Emotional Rodeo". The single peaked at number 22 on the UK Singles Downloads Chart. It served as the first single from Devlin's latest studio album, also titled Emotional Rodeo, released in November 2024.
Trivia[]
- In the quarter-final, Devlin received more public votes than Misha B. This meant that if the result went to deadlock, Devlin would have advanced to the semi-final and Misha B would have been eliminated.
| UK Series 8 Finalists | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Amelia Lily • Craig Colton • Frankie Cocozza • James Michael • Janet Devlin • Johnny Robinson • Jonjo Kerr • Kitty Brucknell • Little Mix • Marcus Collins • Misha B • Nu Vibe • Sami Brookes • Sophie Habibis • The Risk • 2 Shoes | |||