X Factor judges, stars and audience go gaga for Janet

LAST year it was all about Mary B but this year it’s the turn of Janet D.

X Factor has a new Irish star to go gaga over, only this time the contestant is tipped to go all the way to the final sing-off.

Janet Devlin, a 16-year-old schoolgirl from Gortin near Omagh, Co Tyrone, silenced the audience, stunned the judges and scored unanimous approval for passage through to the next round of the competition with her version of Elton John’s Your Song.

After nervously taking to the stage, hunching her shoulders and biting her lip, the youngster, who had only ever performed in front of schoolmates and at the occasional wedding, displayed the kind of star quality that judge Gary Barlow said could take her to the top.

Fellow judges Kelly Rowlands and Tulisa Contostavlos were equally impressed. Tulisa told Janet she was “mesmerised” by her and Rowlands kept repeatedly saying “wow”.

Louis Walsh, the only member of the original judging panel to survive to this year’s series, was just as excited, saying it was appealing that Janet seemed to have little idea of how good she was, which hinted at huge potential for development.

Her fanbase also includes some other big names — within minutes of her performance being aired, Lily Allen, Rio Ferdinand and Wayne Rooney were all tweeting about how amazing they thought she was.

Janet is now through to the final 32 contestants for the live knockout public voting stages that begin in early October, but in the meantime, she may find out that she has Irish rivals to beat.

Several other Irish hopefuls are known to have made it through to the bootcamp stage, where 190 singers picked from public auditions were whittled down to a final selection in recent weeks.

Although contractually obliged to keep the results secret, it is widely believed that 18-year-old Dubliner Melanie McCabe proved she had the talent to take her through to the finals.

Melanie got to the bootcamp four years ago too but the judges thought her too young to put into the final competition.

The entry age was increased to 16 the following year so Melanie has had to bide her time in waiting for another chance at stardom.

Her fate, and that of at least three other bootcampers from north and south of the border, will be revealed on the show over the next few Saturday nights.