X FACTOR’S Cher Lloyd could not wait to perform last night.

The 17-year-old from Malvern Link is having the time of her life taking part in the singing competition - which has a prize of a £1 million recording contract at the end of it.

And Cher is hoping her performance last night will be enough to keep her in.

“I don’t want to go,” she told your Worcester News before she sang an innovative version of Hard Knock Life by American rapper Jay Z. “Everything is running so smoothly.”

Cher is hot property right now as one of the most talked about contestants this year, barely a day goes by without her gracing the nationals or gossip websites.

It is a lot to get used to.

Cher was surprised when we told her that photos of her wearing less make-up than usual have already appeared on websites, for discussion by the legions of X Factor fans around the country.

“Recently I’ve decided not to wear so much make-up,” she explained. “I’ve just decided I’m young and I don’t need it. I want to send a positive message out to the young girls and this is part of that.”

Having your every move watched and commented on is a lot to get used to, especially when some questioned whether she was good enough to be going through to the live finals after she came down with tonsilitis during the judge’s houses.

“I actually thought I was not getting through,” she said. “I knew I was sick. It was such an emotional time. It was all a bit too much.”

It also meant extra pressure coming up to the first live show as she felt she had something to prove.

And prove herself she did, with all four judges - including mentor Cheryl Cole, Danni Minogue and Louis Walsh - singing her praises of her rendition of Beats International’s Dub Be Good to Me on last week's show.

Cher said: “I think I did my thing and I proved I do deserve to be here.”

But most exciting was hearing the comments of Simon Cowell - someone she has looked up to since she started watching the show with her parents.

“I was speechless,” Cher said. “But backstage I was jumping for joy. This whole thing - the X Factor - so much has gone on, but hearing that from him - I can now hold my head high.”

And now she’s raring to go after a week of practice in the X Factor studio in Wembley, London.

“I’m chuffed with my song this week,” she said. “It could not be better.”

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