IT was apparently 'Cool Britannia' night on X Factor.

What year is it, 1997? Is Tony Blair still Prime Minister?

Anyway, Langho's Grace Davies who, if she makes it through to the final of the reality/talent show, will surely be paying a visit to Blackburn this week for some sort of performance or other (they do that every year), went even further back in time, singing David Bowie's Life On Mars.

It's the sort of song that the judges would say is a brave choice, or a risk.

But it's the kind of classic that seems to suit Grace, who seems to struggle singing modern covers.

So how did she do?

If you ask us, Sharon nailed it when Grace was auditioning at judges' houses, stopping Grace mid-way through her song to tell her to stop cutting all her lyrics short and clipping her words. In other words, talk proper.

Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, Grace hasn't really taken this on board. You can't tell what she's singing half the time, which is especially a problem when singing originals about your teenage heartbreak (which she's prone to do, in case you hadn't noticed).

But luckily, everyone knows the words to to Life On Mars, and Grace nailed it (not forgetting to remind everyone that she can play piano) and delivered a spine-tingling, if not downbeat, version of the Bowie masterpiece.

We didn't like it, we loved it.

Simon Cowell called it a Marmite performance, which perhaps is an apt description of Grace herself.

Luckily, we like Marmite, and so, it seems, do most of the voting viewers on the show.

Louis Walsh called her a class act, while Nicole mainly banged on about her make-up.

Sharon, her mentor, acknowledged her own praise was cliched as she told Grace 'you made it your own'.

Grace is surely going all the way to the final.

She might win it, she might not, but she's already a star, man.