Twenty-one-year-old Brenden Murray from Galway, Ireland took “The X Factor” stage. and at first, gave a very awkward rendition of “We Don’t Have to Take Our Clothes Off.”  Unfortunately, the judges weren’t very impressed with his song choice.

Surprisingly, Simon offered Brenden a second chance.  He suggested that he come back a little later and try singing “This Woman’s Work” by Kate Bush.   Brenden gratefully took the chance for another opportunity and left to try to learn the song in the few short hours he was given.

However, Brenden’s second audition almost flopped, too.  He nervously took the stage and announced, “Over the past few hours, I’ve just been trying to learn this song, so I hope you like it.”  The music began, and Brenden attempted to sing the song – one that started in an almost impossibly high falsetto.  His nerves are obvious and take a toll on his pitch as well.

Brenden was clearly struggling and decided to just stop the audition shortly after he started.  He cleared his throat and apologized to the judges.  Simon kindly offered some advice, “Think about the words. Make sure you hit the big note at the right time.”

Deciding to give it another try, Brenden restarts the music and begins singing again.  His voice is stronger this time, but he is still clearly having a difficult time.  At the same spot, he stops once again.  He just couldn’t seem to remember the lyrics at this spot.

For some reason, Simon still believed in Brenden.  He offered a rare lifeline to him: “Let him read the lyrics.”   It just so happened that Brenden had the lyrics on a piece of paper in his back pocket.  He eagerly pulled it out and cued the song up again for the third time.

This time, Brenden flew past the spot he had stopped at before, and his voice became stronger and stronger.  The crowd begins to cheer, and he becomes increasingly more confident.  As he neared the end of the song, Brenden really got into the song and gave an incredible last half of a performance.  At one point, he crumpled up the piece of paper with the lyrics on it and tossed it off to the side as he sang his heart out.

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