Simon Cowell recounts Harry Styles, Camila Cabello X Factor auditions: ‘Something special’

Simon Cowell recollected the “special” auditions by Harry Styles and Camila Cabello for The X Factor while talking about the successful musicians’ careers he has played a big role in creating.

In an interview with Extra, the music mogul remembered the As It Was hit-maker’s audition, who came on the UK version of the show as solo artist in 2010.

However, Styles was eliminated as soloist and he was later asked to form a group with Zayn Malik, Louis Tomlinson, Liam Payne and Niall Horan.

They stayed in the competition as boy band One Direction and were placed third in the competition, a show created by Cowell in 2004.

"I remember his audition like it was yesterday," the reality show judge told the publication. "He was very charming, he was very confident, he was very funny, and I liked him."

"I just thought there's something … special about him. You never forget those moments, and, like I said, genuinely if we weren't making people's careers successful, I would never be making these shows today," he added.

He further talked about the Senorita singer, who like Styles, auditioned for the US version of the hit show as solo artist in 2012 and got the option to create a group with Lauren Jauregui, Normani, Dinah Jane and Ally Brooke.

The girls stayed in the show and named the gang as Fifth Harmony and were place third in the completion just like One Direction.

"She wasn't really supposed to audition. I happened to go backstage, and I saw her crying, asked her why she was crying,” Cowell revealed.

“And she said, you know, it was too late for her to audition because she was a reserve, whatever that meant," he added. "I said to her, 'Well, I'm one of the producers, you just got an audition.'"

"When those moments work, and seeing Camila today or Harry Styles, Leona Lewis, Carrie Underwood, Kelly Clarkson, there's been so many times luckily where I've been there at that moment where their career is going to go in a completely different direction," he shared with the outlet.

"If we didn't have those things happen, then there'd be no point making the shows," Cowell continued.