Karen Harding 'learnt to deal' with X Factor knockback before huge chart success
Karen Harding today confirms her debut album but away from the music success, she's faced knockbacks which made her come back stronger.
Before going on to find chart success, Harding, 31, found herself auditioning for the decommissioned ITV show, The X Factor, in front of judges Nicole Scherzinger, Gary Barlow, Louis Walsh and Sharon Osbourne back in 2013. But her time on the programme was limited as she found herself being eliminated during the brutal six-chair challenge, which saw judges replace contestants with another singer.
Now 10 years on, Karen has found herself working with some of the biggest names in the music industry and is preparing for the release of her debut album, Take Me Somewhere. Recalling her experience, Karen told the Mirror: "I just kind of think of it as a moment in the career of one of those points where rejection was a thing you just kind of learnt to deal with. I'd gone through a lot of stuff already, I actually had Say Something on my hard drive when I did that audition.
Karen Harding has opened up about rejections and her major success (Wilful Publicity)
Karen shot the top of the charts with her debut single Say Something (Wilful Publicity)"They called us up the year after and were like 'Can you come in again and do the show?' I was like 'Oh no, sorry, I've got a record deal now and I've got my single coming out'. I remember feeling 'Well, the X Factor isn't everything I needed it to be', I worked harder on other things, it was a little moment which was a good experience." But while Karen didn't make it as far as she'd hoped, she praised the show for giving artists a platform.
Nine years after bursting onto the charts with her Top 10 hit, Say Something, the Consett-born star shared her excitement as well as her nerves about her album. "It's a dream and to finally have it coming, I can finally tick it off," she exclaimed. But while the journey may have been a long one, Karen said the release date had been pushed back "so many times" but she's filled with "happiness and contentness" to share the body of music with her fans.
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While the release may be imminent, Karen has been working on the record for some time and had "gathered" the songs. She said: "They were never quite right at the time. I just went back to them and I redid a lot of the songs because they weren't quite right. I knew the songs, I felt them and I'd sometimes sing them live at some sets and I knew that it would work.
"I just took a bit of confidence from myself to be like 'These are the songs I've always wanted to put out, so why not put them out?'" While some imagine the music industry to be full of parties and famous friends, Harding admits that it can be "stressful" to work in the studio with complete strangers, while dealing with outside pressures from record labels and management bosses.
Karen has today confirmed the release of her debut album, Take Me Somewhere (Wilful Publicity)Over the years, Karen has worked with the likes of The Kaiser Chiefs to Galantis but one song left her blown away. In 2019, Karen along with Chelcee Grimes and Cutfather wrote Claire Richards' single, Shame On You. Despite her levels of success, Karen said she was "amazed" that Claire enjoyed the track. Although Karen forgot the songstress had released the song as a single.
"She [Claire] loved it," the star said before adding: "It's funny because I'd totally forgotten she'd released that song until I was at the Celine Dion show in Hyde Park, Claire was supporting her and suddenly Shame On You started and I was going crazy, to hear someone singing a song you've written is incredible.
"Everyone was looking at us going 'What is this girl doing?' and I was like 'This is my song!', I was getting so hyped about it, I just found it amazing."
Take Me Somewhere which is released on September 29 is available to pre-save, now.
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