Josh Daniel, an X Factor contestant, almost selected a different song for his audition, and he might go down in history as the performer that moved Simon Cowell to tears.

A Conversation with the Mirror Josh’s friend Kerrianne Covell, who advanced to the ITV show’s judges’ homes in 2014, revealed that he had his sights set on a different song but opted to sing Labrinth’s Jealous after hearing it played for her and friend Liv Quantrill.

Josh was supposed to sing Nathan Sykes’ “Kiss Me Quick,” Kerrianne recalls. “I don’t think that’s the song,” Liv said to us at the dance studio. What additional songs do you recommend?

“I believe jealousy was about his fourth option.” He was cautious not to sound too much like Labrinth. However, the two were able to persuade him otherwise after attending a performance in which he sang while kneeling on the ground.

“There’s no doubt about it,” I said. It has to be the one, Kerrianne added, if you can stir people’s hearts the way you did when kneeling on the ground.

“He called to ask if he could change his song,” a few days before his audition.

Josh dedicated the song to his buddy Tom Woolley, who died in 2013 at the age of 18, as he revealed on Sunday night’s program.

Witnesses saw Simon, whose mother, Julie Brett, died shortly before the auditions began, becoming upset throughout the performance. Later, he was driven away in a golf cart, leaving Nick Grimshaw and Cheryl F-V uncertain what to do.