SALT LAKE CITY -- An artist with Utah ties caught the attention of judge Simon Cowell during The X Factor last year and launched her career as a performer; she sat down with Fox 13’s Tamara Vaifanua to share some of her story.
Dinah Jane is part of the all-girl musical group Fifth Harmony. She grew up in Salt Lake City, and she moved away when she was 8 years old. She said her first audition at The X Factor started on a rough note.
“My first song, Simon stopped and me and goes, ‘Oh wait, wait, wait, just stop right there. Do you have another song?’ And I was like, ’Oh my gosh, oh my gosh I don't have another song prepared!’”
But Dinah pulled herself together and belted out the Beyonce song “If I Were a Boy”, after which Cowell became an instant fan—and so did America.
The young singer got her start wowing audiences as 4 year old performing in church. As she got older, she said she started to put her music out into the world.
“I thought I was so cool because at 11 I had my first YouTube channel, my first YouTube video, and had, like, two fans on YouTube," she said. “I'm like, ‘oh my gosh! I’ve got 2 fans. It's so cool.’”
Dinah said her biggest fans are her family, and she lives with more than 20 of them in Santa Ana, California.
“23 people is actually a typical Polynesian home,” she said. “It’s always fun to have a lot of people in the house.”
During The X Factor the solo singer became part of a larger group. Her mentor, Cowell, put her with four other girl contestants to form the group Fifth Harmony. The group did not win the competition, which would have meant a $5 million recording contract. They came in third place.
Dinah said she was happy with how they did in the competition.
“It was actually still a blessing that we made it that far, even to finals,” she said.
