Janet Maureen Aoife Devlin (born 12 November 1994)[1] is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter who competed in the eighth series of The X Factor in 2011, where she finished in fifth place.

Devlin's only performing experience before auditioning for The X Factor was singing in her school, pubs and local talent shows.

[6] Her audition was screened on 20 August 2011, where she performed Elton John's "Your Song" in front of judges Louis Walsh, Gary Barlow, Kelly Rowland and Tulisa.

After passing the bootcamp stages, Devlin then progressed to the judges' houses round and was later put through to the live shows by Rowland in her Girls category (solo females aged 16–24) alongside Misha B, Amelia Lily and Sophie Habibis.

[12][failed verification] Finishing fifth, she was one of nine acts to perform on the X Factor Live Tour 2012, which took place in cities throughout the UK and Ireland.

[16] Following the X Factor Live Tour, Devlin began work on her debut album at Steelworks Recording Studios, Sheffield.

The song "Crown of Thorns", which was one of the first she wrote, with Jim Jayawardena and Philippa Hanna (of Kennedy's Steelworks team), quickly became an addition to her live sets at gigs.

[citation needed] A live version of her song "Things We Lost in the Fire" was premiered on her YouTube channel on 6 December 2013.

[33] In early January 2014, Devlin debuted a new live version of her song "Delicate", (written with Jack Savoretti and a new addition to the general release album) performing with Tom Dibb (guitar and vocals), in a BalconyTV session.

The album would feature new single "House of Cards" (to be released on 26 May)[38] with 3 other new original songs ("Whisky Lullabies" co written with UK songwriter Tim Jennings, "Lifeboat" and "When You Were Mine"), a cover of The Cure's "Friday I'm in Love" and reworked versions of "Delicate" (from the EP Nothing Lost), "Wonderful", "Creatures of the Night", "Things We Lost in the Fire" and "Hide & Seek" from the limited release album Hide & Seek.

[43] Prior to the album, Devlin issued the title track "Confessional",[citation needed] "Saint of the Sinners", and "Honest Men" in early January 2020.

[47] It serves as the first single from Devlin's upcoming studio album, also titled Emotional Rodeo, due for an autumn 2024 release.

[48] Devlin is heavily influenced by alternative artists including City and Colour, John Frusciante, Nirvana, and Devendra Banhart.

[49] In 2012, Devlin performed at Croke Park, in front of a capacity 82,300 crowd, as part of the half-time show for the All Ireland Gaelic Football final on 23 September.

[24] She performed at the X Factor NSPCC Childline Ball on 18 October, again singing her original song 'Walk Away' and 'Fix You' by Coldplay, helping to raise over half a million pounds for the charity.

[51] Devlin performed for the Dalai Lama on 18 April 2013 as part of Northern Ireland charity, Children in Crossfire's 'Culture of Compassion' event in Derry.

[55] Devlin played 4 gigs in the USA supporting Heffron Drive on their 'Happy Mistakes Unplugged' Tour in early July 2015.

[57] In 2018, Devlin appeared in the short fantasy film "Songbird" by Triskelle Pictures, directed by Sophie Black, with screenwriting by Tommy Draper.

[64] Devlin explained, "I hit many rock bottoms, to be honest, but I kept digging [...] I definitely displayed addictive behaviours from a young age.