This weekend's return of the X Factor brings back memories for singer songwriter Mikey Bromley.

The Cumbrian lad appeared on the eleventh series of The X Factor in 2014 as part of the band Only The Young.

They finished seventh, but made a single and launched a tour.

When the track failed to crack he top 40, the band split up and the former pupil at the Richard Rose Morton Academy in Carlisle went solo and he has just returned after spending 18 months in Los Angeles.

"It was just hectic," is his memory of the hit TV show.

"If you get through the auditions, all of a sudden, you are thrown into the deep end and it is just non-stop.

"Anyone who gets through the auditions needs to know about that."

While he loved his time on the show and in the band, he had to readjust drastically once the four members had gone their separate ways.

"Although we'd had a good run, I could have been down and struggled afterwards because you are left on your own and it is down to yourself.

"I was ok, but if you let yourself stop for a bit, you could go into a depression.

"You get used to always being on the go and being young, you can cope with it and you just do it, which is awesome.

"But when all that stops and you are left to do it on your own, that is where the scary time comes in.

"It is how much you want it and how you keep going.

"I will keep making music all my life and I want to be the next big thing, but I'm not going to be stressed about it. You need to enjoy it."

Following the demise of Only the Young, Mikey launched his debut album – an eight-track CD filled with his own songs – in Carlisle last February then left for LA to pursue his career.

He was recruited to the rnb boy band Abt Lst Nt (About Last Night) but they split up last December.

Now 22, Mikey has moved on from his clean-cut, teen pop days.

After his 18 months in Los Angeles, he now has a more streetwise, 'grunge' look and although he is still writing poppy songs, he says they have more of an indie edge to them.
Mikey Bromley

"People used to say I looked like Kurt Cobain from Nirvana and I was always checked for drugs going through airport security which was kind of offensive because I'm really against them."

He returned from America with a beard, but admits his mum has made him 'tidy up'.

His family live in the Dalston Road area of Carlisle and although he loved his time in LA and is planning to move to London before the end of the year, he admits it's good to return 'home'.

"It is reassuring. When I come home, my tea is ready for me, I go to the gym with my brother and I'm playing football with my schoolfriends. It's like I've not been away.

"I'm looking to go to London before Christmas, I want to improve my songwriting see about getting some sessions and a bit of schooling.

"I have focussed on a particular sound now. It is still poppy, but with an edgier, indie vibe, a bit like James Bay."