THE X FACTOR roller-coaster ride may be over for sassy girl group Miss Frank - but Edmonton rapper Graziella Affinita says the trio still have momentum.
As even her mum reportedly urged the 25-year-old to "ditch" her band and go it alone this week, Graziella told the Journal that her future was with the group thrown together by X Factor judges.
Upbeat after their shock exit from the ITV talent show on Sunday, Graziella said: "We mentally prepared ourselves every week that we were going out because everyone was amazing. We left with a bang and I got to showcase my rapping as well."
Rapping and hip hop are important to Graziella, who was living with her dad and half-brothers near Pretoria Road, in Edmonton, until she hit TV screens.
The former student at nearby The Latymer School began singing as a child with a gospel choir, but at 16 discovered hip hop and later toured with Grime act Foreign Beggars.
"I've grown up listening to swing and Motown, a lot of old school type records my parents used to play," said Graziella.
"I love heartfelt music and from listening to blues - for me it's an expression of putting your heart on the table, and hip hop was the same. It's the new age blues."
Her X Factor audition came as a shock as a cousin entered Graziella for the show, but she was proud to represent Edmonton and Totten-ham - and said the area's music scene had influenced her.
"There were a lot of things going on when I was young, pirate radio stations and stuff," she said. "I'd always hear it from windows in people's bedrooms."
The dream ended for Miss Frank when they failed to win the public over with their version of That's Life on Saturday, landing them in a sing-off against Danyl Johnson that split the judges.
The public vote eventually saw the girl group sent home.
Graziella is now focused on getting a record deal with Miss Frank - although she also sends out a hopeful "call me" to Tottenham star and MOBO winner Chipmunk, who apparently said he would like to work with her.
"We're looking so bad to get signed, we just want to keep on keeping on and getting out there and just see how far Miss Frank can go," she said.
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