The mum of Miss Frank singer, Graziella, has insisted that Simon Cowell made a mistake by forcing her to compete as part of a band. She believes that Graziella would be more successful singing alone.

Julie Affinita told The Mirror: “I believe Graziella would work so much better without the group. Her style is so different. She’s a rapper and hip-hop artist. That is what she has been doing all her life.

“When I saw her perform with the group last week I thought, ‘this is not Graziella – she can do better than that’. When she works on her own she knows what people want. She knows her audience.

“Graziella has told me she will do her best as part of the group, but she would have more success on her own.”

Julie also revealed that Graziella didn’t intend to audition for the show, but her cousin sent in an application form without telling her.

Julie said: “Ever since these singing shows first appeared on TV, I urged Graziella to enter them. I’d say, ‘come on Graziella, show them what you can do – you would be great’. And each time she’d say, ‘no Mum I’m not ready, I don’t think it’s me. I’m too busy making my own music’.

“And then this year we were all talking about X Factor again and I was saying to Graziella that she should seriously consider applying for it. Her sister Angela teased her saying, ‘You’re too big to be on The X Factor, you don’t have the right look’.

“It must have upset her, but she’s really confident in her singing and I’m so glad she didn’t let that put her off.”