When Cece Frey from Decatur, Illinois auditioned for the second season of The X Factor in 2012, she didn’t make a great impression on either her fellow contestants or the judges. In fact, she came across as a bit of a conceited brat.

We first met Frey when she was milling around backstage trying to intimidate and distract other contestants.

Clearly anxious to get on stage and show off her talent, her first moments in front of the judges betrayed quite an ego as she announced that she was confident that she was the best person at the audition that day.

Of course, if you’re going to say something like that, you need to back it up with some serious vocals (and even then, it still sounds pretty conceited) – and if you’re going to come out with leopard spots painted on your face, the judges better hear you roar.

But when she begins her audition piece, “Unchained Melody” by the legendary Righteous Brothers, it’s clear that this isn’t the right song choice for her. It’s a very difficult piece to sing and it simply didn’t match her brash attitude or her outgoing and alternative look.

The judges were anything but impressed – and to top it off, she hit a couple of sour notes as they all looked down in embarrassment.

Finally, Demi Lovato put us all out of our misery. She raised her hand to stop the audition and the judges agreed that this wasn’t the right song for her.

She looked stunned and insisted that if they gave her a chance to hit the high note, they’d see her talent.

Britney Spears wasn’t so sure (and she’s was certainly not impressed by all of the ego on display).

They ask her what else she has.

She’s immediately able to switch gears and gets ready to sing Christina Aguilera’s “Ain’t No Other Man.”

And, whoa, that’s the talent she was talking about. She nails it. Even her opening note seems to win over the audience at least temporarily.

While by this time her vocals can’t really redeem her attitude, they come pretty close.

Even Spears, who had previously looked like she’d written off Frey, is taken aback.

Frey was right when she said she wasn’t there to make friends that day – she sure didn’t among the contestants! – but she did have the talent to move on to the next round even though she was asked to tone down the ‘tude. The judges praised her ambition and her look as well as the vocals on her second song. She was obviously still rough around the edges, but most contestants evolve over the course of the show.

Never an audience favorite after her bratty audition, she went on to be mentored in the Young Adults category by Demi Lovato who was her champion throughout her time on the series.

Despite lots of flack when contestants with better vocals were eliminated first, Frey ended up coming in 6th place that season and was the last of the young adults to be eliminated.

She’s still singing these days and has even released a few singles.

Be sure to scroll down below to see the audition that started the whirlwind journey for the infamous X Factor contestant.

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Source: X Factor USA via YouTube