This Dubai-based singer left Simon Cowell almost speechless...

She came, she sang, she conquered…

It takes a brave woman to belt out a Whitney Houston number on TV… but Ivy Grace Paredes most definitely did not disappoint.

The Dubai-based expat travelled all the way to the UK to try her luck in front of the X Factor panel for this year’s season of the musical reality show.

The mum of one, who is originally from Malaybalay in the Philippines, revealed she was encouraged to try out after watching a group of compatriots take out fifth place in 2015’s competition.

“I watched 4th Impact, a group of Filipino sisters, perform,” the 33-year-old told the cameras. “I got really inspired that if they can make it, I can make it too.”

So just how did her rendition of All The Man That I Need go down with Simon Cowell, Nicole Scherzinger, Sharon Osbourne and Louis Walsh?

Yep, she killed it.

In fact, her impressive pipes scored her a rare accolade from the stoic Cowell, who rated her as “one of the best we’ve had”.

“It was more than amazing. In the second half of the song, it was like somebody possessed you. I mean, it was incredible, the second part of that song,” he told Paredes.

“She just sang our faces off, pretty much,” former Pussycat Dolls singer Scherzinger said. “Everyone comes in here and says they want it so bad. But that right there, is wanting it and fighting for it.”

Walsh called her a little “diva”, while Osbourne added: “You did yourself proud.”

The expat, who used to perform regularly at Dubai’s Comedy Junction, cited her two-year-old daughter as the reason she decided to bite the bullet and audition.

“For me, I believe this is the biggest competition and I want to be a part of it. And X Factor can give me the stepping stones I need to do good in the future because this is all for my daughter,” Paredes said.

The songstress unsurprisingly scored four yeses from the judges, which sent her straight through to the “bootcamp” stage of the competition.

She particularly stole our hearts when she ripped off her heels to race out of the audition room (and into the arms of show host Dermot O’Leary).

“You are somewhat shorter than I remember,” he quipped.

Good luck at bootcamp Ivy Grace – Dubai’s rooting for ya.

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Image: YouTube/X Factor