‘Knockout brilliant’ Britain’s Got Talent child star is unrecognisable 16 years later

A child star on Britain’s Got Talent who wowed audiences with her singing is now unrecognisable 16 years later.

Natalie Okri shot to fame as a 10-year-old on the show in 2009 after performing Alicia Key’s No One.

However, despite melting the hearts of the public and Simon Cowell, Natalie failed to progress past the semi-finals when she performed Jamelia’s hit Superstar.

She did have to compete against the likes of Susan Boyle and Diversity, however.

But, her spellbinding audition has so far racked up more than 129million views on YouTube.

Now, more than a decade later, the 26-year-old has returned to the music industry.

The Belverdere-based singer last year released the afropop-tinged single Touch.

She also made several appearances on radio, on BBC 1Xtra.

In 2010 she was immediately signed to Simon Cowell’s record label, Syco Entertainment.

But she decided to leave in 2012 as it interfered with her education.

In an interview with Cene, she said: ‘I was signed to Syco and my days were kind of weird and different because I spent a lot of time doing rehearsals, going into the studio, doing interviews and doing performances. And it was kind of taking me away from my studies.

‘My mum was very concerned and my dad, who is a barrister, got the contract cancelled.

‘When I was 16, I released my first-ever song and started again. I started taking it more seriously in my third year of university when I was about 19, releasing regularly from there.’

Now 26-years-old she is still performing and making music, as well as creating content on her Instagram and TikTok pages.

In a recent video, Natalie shared a clip of her singing the same song she auditioned with, 15 years later.

‘POV: I sang this song on BGT when I were 10 years old and got 127million views on YouTube… now I’m singing it at 25.’

‘Girl u don’t know what u did for 6 yr old me,’ follower Jodi said.

Strictly star Saffron Barker also commented: ‘Omg this was my favourite audition of all time.’

Emma added: ‘Omg I loved this audition so much!! I watched it on REPEAT Love to see this!! xx’

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