Tulisa - The Biography

by Newkey-Burden, Chas

  With talk of a ‘feud’ between her and Misha seemingly laid to rest, Tulisa could look forward to putting the much-hyped story behind her. Except that the following morning’s Daily Star had the headline X FACTOR SLURS RUINED LIFE, above a story about Misha B. An unnamed ‘source’ claimed that Misha had snubbed Tulisa, Walsh and Barlow after the results show on Sunday, claiming: ‘She is convinced they wrecked her hopes in this show, and future deals, in a very calculated way.’ The veracity of the source was questionable, not least in the light of the pains Misha to which had gone the previous day in order to diffuse the issue. Indeed, the only significant direct quote on the matter the Daily Star story included about Misha was: ‘What they said had an effect. I think it did have an effect.’

  On the same day, a more authentic story appeared on the Heatworld website, in which Misha B said – in a video interview – that she was ‘grateful’ for the experience she had with Tulisa. She said it had helped her to mature ‘as a person’. In case of any remaining doubt over how she felt, she said she found Tulisa ‘inspirational – I’ve nothing bad to say about her.’ It does not get much clearer than that. It is easy to dismiss the entire saga as just another of those X Factor spats that get hyped to the hilt to keep the show in the headlines and therefore in the public eye. While it had a flavour of that to it, for Tulisa it was far more significant. With The X Factor under intense scrutiny due to the absence of Simon Cowell and the introduction of the new judging panel, it would be easy for any of the new judges – or the very show itself – to fall irrevocably from public view. Scepticism over the concept of a televised talent contest had started to grow. The slightest hint of exploitation by judges of what are always perceived to be entirely vulnerable contestants could be deadly for the personality involved. Tulisa had been hired for her feisty nature, so she was particularly vulnerable to such accusations. Mindful of the ‘vile chav’ talk that greeted her appointment, it was even more important for her to not be embroiled in any unpleasant allegations.

  Then, there was the second post-semi-final storm for her to weather. She simultaneously faced a new plugging row, when she was criticised for using her Twitter account to promote a dental firm that had given her free tooth veneers. Having been fitted with 12 porcelain veneers by dentist Dr David Bloom at Senova Dental in Watford, Hertfordshire, free of charge after she was hired as an X Factor judge, Tulisa had been overjoyed with her new look. She told the Radio Times how happy she was to be on the receiving end of so many ‘freebies’ since coming under the X Factor umbrella. ‘It’s mental, the amount of free things I get offered,’ she said. ‘There are things I work to afford and I don’t have to pay for them. It’s ridiculous. I could sell half the free things I have and be able to put a mortgage down on a house.’

  The press then suggested that she might be facing an Office of Fair Trading (OFT) investigation for her mentions on Twitter of how and where she had received her veneers. She had first mentioned the treatment on Twitter in March, when she Tweeted on one of her treatment days, signing off the message ‘THANK U…DAVID!xx’ She subsequently sent out four further Tweets about the treatment, each name-checking the dental firm that had given her the treatment. One such message, sent during the summer, read: ‘Every1 keeps asking me about my new teeth & who did them, so here goes @drdavidbloom @senovadental, their [they’re] amazing so happy.’ The fact Tulisa had not mentioned that she had received the treatment free of charge meant she risked falling foul of OFT regulations. The organisation, which does not publicly confirm whether an individual is being investigated, stated: ‘It must be clear if endorsements in blogs, posts and microblogs like Twitter have been made in return for payment or payment in kind.’

  The week leading up to The X Factor final is normally one of relentless hype, excitement and expectation. In 2011 the anticipation took a while to get going. The first major story of the week centred around an apparent mistake on the website of music chain HMV. A ‘winners single’ for Amelia Lily appeared on the website, leading to claims that here was a ‘smoking gun’ proving the show was fixed for her to win it. The chain was forced to apologise, saying that ‘an unforeseen and regrettable technical issue’ had caused the page to appear. Conspiracy theorists were scarcely placated by HMV’s words. As well as those who claimed the mistake showed that victory had been fixed for Lily, others claimed that this was evidence of a plot to destroy her. This theory posited that the story had been cooked up to discredit Lily and therefore push more votes to Little Mix, the supposed beneficiaries of the fix in this scenario. Twitter users raged, using the hashtag ‘fix factor’.

  However, a more positive sense of excitement surrounded the announcement, 48 hours before the final, that Tulisa, Barlow and Rowland would duet with their respective acts in the final. As we have seen, the duet is a key part of the final. The news that the three judges would duet with their acts gave the 2011 final a new dimension. Asked how she felt about the prospect of her duet with Little Mix, Tulisa said: ‘I’m more nervous than they are!’ There was much laughter as Barlow observed: ‘Thank God Louis didn’t get an act in the final.’ Walsh took the quip in good heart and said: ‘I think Johnny [Robinson] and I would have been a good duet… We were thinking of Renée and Renato, “Save Your Love”.’ Tulisa was wonderfully ebullient about the chances for her act in the final. The X Factor is not a forum for false modesty or shy understatement and she was not in the mood for either. ‘A group has never won this competition, especially not a girl group even getting this far in the competition,’ she said. ‘I’m the youngest judge, it’s my first year and I want to change X Factor history with these little muffins behind me.’ On a more personal note, she also reflected on the impact the series had wrought on her. ‘It has been a journey and very life-consuming,’ she said. Fellow judge Barlow had also recently spoken of what a toll the duties had taken on him. That a man with as long and at times tumultuous showbiz career as Barlow found it a strain is significant. For Tulisa, who had seen plenty of drama in her life but who was younger and fresher, it was also a trial. ‘It does become your world,’ she said. ‘Literally. It takes over your life.’

  Turning to the much-discussed tears she had shed while watching Misha B’s exit from the semi-final, Tulisa explained that despite her reputation as a hard character, she too could hurt sometimes. ‘I am not a stone,’ she said. ‘If I see someone going through such an emotional thing, it’s hard not to be upset at that. I completely get it. I can imagine how they must feel. I felt very emotional watching her journey and it just ended. If anyone had been in that position I would be crying.’ She said another factor in her emotions was the knowledge, as she watched Misha’s farewell performance, that it could have been her own ‘little muffins’ waving goodbye. ‘I thought this journey could be over and that scared the crap out of me to the point where I was tearful before I came on,’ she said. ‘Then just seeing Misha go made it real… that a contestant that had been in a competition for that long is now going home.’

  As for Tulisa’s band members, they embarked on the traditional ‘journey home’ that finalists make in the week after the semi-final. It makes for a powerful ‘VT’ video to be run prior to their performance on the big final. Jane told reporters that their beloved mentor was making sure they kept their feet on the ground, despite being spoken of as many people’s favourites to win the show and then build a worthwhile career afterwards. ‘There is no way we will become divas,’ she said. ‘It’s just not our style. We’d give each other a slap. Tulisa keeps us grounded and we all keep each other very grounded, too.’

  Tulisa took the chance to take a swipe at rival judge Gary Barlow. The Take That singer had heavily criticised Little Mix in the semi-final. Tulisa felt this was no coincidence. ‘[Gary’s comment] was tactical – 100 per cent,’ she told the Mirror. ‘If they win this competition they could become a brand like the Spice Girls – everyone has their favourite member, so everyone needs their time to shine. There will be a little girl at home
waiting for a certain one to come on.’ Cleverly, she then positioned Little Mix as the plucky underdogs of the final showdown. ‘All the odds are stacked against us – I’m up against Mr Competitive in Gary Barlow and a girl band has never won,’ she said. ‘But the other part of me says things were against N-Dubz and we made it. We are in the final, but we are still the underdogs. I just hope the underdogs can win.’

  It was the sentiment of the N-Dubz album Against All Odds transferred to her new gig. Playing the underdog card was a shrewd move. Tulisa is unlikely to become a politician any time soon but she had shown throughout the X Factor live shows that she can electioneer with the best of them. Thumping the desk as she implored each of the girls’ home towns to ‘pick up the phone and vote for them’, presenting them as a force for good in society, and then placing them as the underdogs of the final weekend – she was pushing some very effective buttons with the audience. Would it be enough to see her become the youngest-ever winning mentor in X Factor history, and enough for the act to become the first band to win the competition? The closest any band had come before was the second-placed finish for G4 and JLS, and then the third-placefor One Direction.

  Meanwhile, having told her act to remain focused and keep their feet on the ground, Tulisa had to stay grounded herself when, just days before the X Factor final, she was voted ahead of Kate Middleton and boy band One Direction in a poll of young people to find Britain’s ‘most magical people’. She was the highest-ranking celebrity in the poll, finishing just behind ‘Mum’ at number one and ‘Dad’ at number two. The survey was carried out among 1,000 young people aged 4 to 16 years old on behalf of the Lite Sprites toys. While such polls should be kept in perspective as a bit of fun and are only partially representative at best, it remained a welcome boost to her to her spirits know that she was rated so highly among young people. Indeed, the news was also further vindication of Simon Cowell’s selection of her to make The X Factor appeal to younger viewers. He had, it was widely felt, got many things wrong for the 2011 series of the show but hiring Tulisa was proving to be the wisest stroke he had pulled. As he remained in America, trying to pull X Factor USA closer towards the sort of viewing figures he had envisaged for it, he decided after all to not join the panel for the final of the British show. It was felt he had decided that the best thing for him was not to be associated too closely with this latest, controversial, instalment of the show. However, he remained very proud of Tulisa and the contribution she had made. Hiring ‘Trouble’ had, he felt, been a great move.

  If she could steer Little Mix to victory, Tulisa would consider the experience to have been particularly successful. As she prepared for the final hurdle of the long series, she looked back not only over her X Factor experiences but over her career and life in general. Who would have thought when she went through such pain and torment as a child and during her teenage years that just a few years into her twenties, she would be a popular and successful musician, an actor and television presenter, and a much-loved judge on Britain’s leading talent show? So many hurdles and obstacles had been placed in her way, but Tulisa had found a way to overcome them all. So while she did feel stressed and tired by the demands of The X Factor, she was also able to keep them in perspective rather better than her rival judges, whose lives had not been as tough as hers. Could the tough and at times cold resolve that life had installed in Tulisa be her hidden weapon as the finishing line was in sight?

  She gave her girls a final pre-show push by predicting that they would not just be a successful pop act but actually a force for good in British society in general. ‘I think the thing about these girls, if they got that record deal and came out into this industry, they wouldn’t just bring music to the UK, they would be inspiring lots of women across the country,’ she said, in full-on electioneering mode. ‘I think they would make a difference to people’s lives as well as their ears.’ she added. This had been a selling point that Tulisa had worked well during the live shows. Aware that girl bands often fail to attract votes from The X Factor’s largely female voting base, she approached the issue bravely by appealing straight to the hearts of female viewers. In doing so, she was positioning her band not as the next Saturdays, but the next Spice Girls – a movement and almost political brand as much as a pop band. As such, they were the perfect vessel to attract votes. Why vote for someone just because of how they sing and look, when you can also vote for them because they stand for something that connects with you? Having attached such a powerful message to her band, Tulisa could approach the final with confidence that she had given them the best chance possible. Just one more weekend of X Factor duty and she could finally take that well-earned holiday.

  The moment Tulisa appeared on screen on the Saturday evening she captured the imagination of viewers. Indeed, her outfits for the two shows certainly got tongues wagging. On the Saturday, she emerged wearing a corseted mini-dress with a huge skirt, black netting, polka dots and layers of tulle. As a Grazia writer commented: ‘Blimey…she ended up looking like a puffy cupcake, no?’ She introduced her act three times on the Saturday show. At times during her introductions she seemed subdued, even depressed. Was it the pressure of the evening affecting her, or could it have been the words of Barlow, who while praising his own act had taken a thinly veiled dig at Tulisa. His reference to how often his rival judges had asked the public to vote for their respective acts, and to ‘thumping of the table’, seemed to unsettle Tulisa for a while. Big rows between judges during the final are often frowned upon by the public. Therefore, while she could undoubtedly have bitten back hard at Barlow, she did not.

  She might have been subdued at times on the panel but when it came to her duet with her act, Tulisa was in strong voice. They performed a superb mash-up of Alicia Keys’ ‘Empire State Of Mind’ and ‘If I Ain’t Got You’. She slotted into the line-up in the perfect way for the context: she seemed simultaneously at one with the band but with an element of elder stature. More than anything, her vocals were the best of the three judges in the eyes of many viewers. Twitter became awash with admiring comments from X Factor viewers, many of who seemed surprised that Tulisa had such great pipes. As she sang with her finalists, Tulisa seemed a million miles from the days when her X Factor role had first been revealed. Asked which of the three mentor-act duets he enjoyed most, Walsh particularly praised Tulisa’s vocals with Little Mix. ‘Honestly, I really liked all three,’ he said of the duets. ‘I love the bond between Gary and Marcus. But then the little muffin and the other little muffins came on! I didn’t know Tulisa could sing that good,’ he added.

  During the sister show The Xtra Factor, the boss of the show finally made an appearance – albeit via satellite. Wearing sunglasses and sitting outside in a t-shirt, Simon Cowell was clearly enjoying being able to show the contrast between the weather on the west coast of America and that in London. He spoke admiringly of the final. ‘Do you know what, it really made me miss being back in Britain,’ he said. ‘It was absolutely amazing, one of the best finals I’ve ever seen and I wasn’t on it.’ Asked who he thought had performed best, he immediately chose Tulisa’s act. ‘No question, Little Mix won the night,’ he said. ‘I thought all three contestants did really well… but I got to say Little Mix are a revelation and if a girl group was to win the show, it makes history and maybe something special is going to happen.’ He then turned to the criticism Tulisa and the rest of the panel had faced in the new series of the show. ‘They’ve been great, the new panel this year,’ he said. ‘I’ve really enjoyed the show. [It] could have had a bit more controversy, but at the end of the day, it’s all about finding stars, and I think tomorrow night Marcus versus Little Mix is going to be sensational… I couldn’t call it.’ However, he had clearly leaned more to Tulisa’s act. Roll on Sunday.

  On the Sunday Tulisa wore another eye-catching dress. This time it was a striking, full-length, mermaid-style gown. It had been made especially for her by Fyodor Golan, the winner of the 2011 Fashion Fringe. She seemed t
o have difficulty walking in the frock and needed to hold onto Louis Walsh’s hand in order to reach the judges’ panel without falling. Walsh looked a touch comical himself, wearing a bright red suit that resembled at first glance the sort of dressing gown one might imagine a ‘young-at-heart’ chum of Hugh Hefner to ill-advisedly sport at a Playboy mansion bash. Tulisa’s final weekend outfits seemed to get the thumbs-down from many viewers. The following morning the Daily Mail opined that she had lost her overall ‘style war’ battle with Kelly Rowland. Her bold choices for the final weekend had certainly swung the newspaper’s approval from her.

  As for her act, they performed the Christmas carol ‘Silent Night’, En Vogue’s ‘Don’t Let Go (Love)’ and the winners’ single, Damien Rice’s ‘Cannonball’. Marcus Collins, too, performed ‘Cannonball’ as his potential winners’ single, but he seemed less comfortable with the track. Tulisa’s act received wonderful feedback all night. Walsh said: ‘I’m going to predict – Little Mix – big future.’ Even Barlow – whose act was up against the girls – said: ‘Simple, beautiful, emotional, very very Christmassy…Well done.’ Tulisa said: ‘Girls, I’ve pretty much said all I can say but I want to say to you again how proud of you I am from the bottom of my heart. You have done so well.’ She then ramped up the emotion and gravitas in her voice, asking: ‘And who said that a group can’t win? Who said that a girl group can’t win The X Factor? I believe you can do it and I hope you believe as well and I hope the UK believes you can do it – and I hope they pick up the phone and vote!’ O’Leary said: ‘She’s at it again – she’s like Winston Churchill or something.’