Wintec student has the X Factor

A Wintec music student will sing tonight for a place in TV's X Factor finals, after making it through to the final auditions in Auckland.

Amy Maynard-Hassett was one of those chosen for Thursday's Sky City audition from among hundreds of hopefuls who lined up at Hamilton's Meteor in late January.

The 25-year-old, who got the news she had been chosen in a phone call on her birthday, said she was happy to put her name out there.

"Any exposure is good exposure," she said.

She has prepared herself by treating the filmed audition as if it was any other gig.

"Ignore the cameras, ignore the judges and just be in my own bubble," she said.

Although she feels confident in her performance, she has taken opportunities to sing solo at Biddy Mulligans open-mic night on Mondays.

Maynard-Hassett started musical competition young, when she entered a country music awards competition in her hometown Gisborne at the age of six.

She went on to well-known competitions such as Rockquest at the age of 12 and the 2012 Battle of the Bands with her band Soulfej.

Maynard-Hassett had taken a break from  music until she started up the band Soulfej with fellow Wintec students.

Since then her passion for music had started to thrive again.

She believed this had brought back her confidence.

"It's like I could be me again, it was the best thing I had ever done," she said.

X Factor's judges are Melanie Blatt, Daniel Bedingfield, Ruby Frost and Stan Walker.

Maynard-Hassett hopes to wow them with the Brooke Fraser song Arithmetic.

- THE WAIKATO INDEPENDENT