Cher Lloyd

Cher Lloyd came to notice as a contestant on series seven of Simon Cowell's U.K. talent program The X-Factor. The singer and rapper auditioned for the program twice, singing ballads prior to being accepted through a performance of “Turn My Swag On” — with Keri Hilson's version the template instead of Soulja Boy's original. After a significant amount of support from the program’s judges, Lloyd made it to the final but finished fourth. Throughout the series, Lloyd took on a diverse assortment of songs, including Coldplay’s “Viva la Vida,” the S.O.S. Band's “Just Be Good to Me,” Jay-Z's “Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem),” Avril Lavigne's “Girlfriend,” and a mix of the Black Eyed Peas' “Where Is the Love?” and “I Gotta Feeling” (performed with the group’s will.i.am). After the final, Lloyd signed with Cowell's Sony BMG-affiliated Syco label and debuted in June 2011 with the boisterous single “Swagger Jagger” as a teaser for her first album — promised to reflect the range of the X-Factor appearances, with Lloyd co-writing each song — due later in the year.