Anna Georgette Gilford[1] (born 12 March 1981), professionally known as Honey G, is an English rapper.[2] She was a contestant on the thirteenth series of The X Factor in 2016.
In her first audition, she sang "Work It" by Missy Elliott, which earned her three yes votes. At the six-chair challenge, she sang "WTF (Where They From)" by Missy Elliott and Pharrell Williams, and was eliminated by mentor Sharon Osbourne; however, Osbourne brought her back as a replacement for Ivy Grace Paredes, who was unable to travel to Los Angeles due to visa issues.[6] Osbourne later picked Honey G to advance after her performance of Coolio's "Gangsta's Paradise". She ended up in the bottom two for the first time against Ryan Lawrie on week 7. Cowell, Osbourne and Walsh voted to save her. However voting statistics revealed that Lawrie received more votes than Honey G meaning if Walsh sent the result to deadlock, Lawrie would've advanced to the quarter-final and Honey G would've been eliminated. Honey G was in the bottom two in the quarter-final against 5 After Midnight. After the sing-off, only Osbourne voted to send Honey G through to the semi-final, and was the eighth contestant eliminated.
During her time in the competition, Honey G faced criticism for being a novelty act, branded such by judge Nicole Scherzinger.[7] Isabel Mohan of The Telegraph gave her the title of "the biggest joke in X Factor history."[8]
She performed at The X Factor Final at Wembley Arena as a guest performer where she officially announced that she had signed a record deal with Cowell's record label, Syco Music,[9] and would be releasing her debut single, "The Honey G Show", on 23 December. The single received little promotion[10] and reached number 149 on the UK Singles Chart.[11]
