X Factor's Cher Lloyd talks about fame - and Liam Payne (From Worcester News)

X Factor's Cher Lloyd talks about fame - and Liam Payne

9:00am Thursday 9th September 2010 in

• Skip social links
• Print
• Email
• Comments(0)

THE Malvern girl who impressed people around the world with her surprising voice has told your Worcester News that her overnight X Factor fame is “surreal”.

Cher Lloyd wowed X Factor judges when she belted out Soulja Boy’s Turn My Swag On at the show’s Birmingham auditions – and since then has become a household name, with many tipping her as the favourite to win the singing competition.

Now the girl from Malvern Link is getting used to life in the limelight – although it has all come as a bit of a surprise.

“It’s all a bit surreal at the moment,” she said. “I didn’t think I would ever come this far. A lot of people have said to me, ‘you are a good at singing’ but until you hear it off the biggest people in music, you don’t believe it.

“What’s happened to me shows that you may be from a small place, but there is a chance you can do big things.”

The Dyson Perrins High School student has had to adapt quickly, with everyone wanting to know as much about her as possible – including details of her love life.

A national newspaper claimed yesterday she and fellow contestant Liam Payne got close while at Boot Camp – the next stage in the competition.

But 17-year-old Cher said: “Things like that are quite hard when you know it’s not true. You have got to shrug it off if you want to be able to follow your dream.

“I know the people who care about me all know what I’m like, and that’s what matters. I just want people to know me for me, not for what they read.”

Cher – who studied performing arts and art and design at Dyson Perrins last year – lives in Malvern with her family, including brother Josh, aged 15, and sisters Sophie, 14, and Rosie, 12.

Her three siblings returned to Dyson Perrins this week to a barrage of questions about their older sister and the X Factor. “They are mostly asked questions like ‘how far has she got’, but they’re sworn to secrecy,” said Cher.

“They are majorly proud, but sometimes they wish everyone would stop going on about it. They still look at me as their older sister and that’s the way I would like it to stay.”