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Before Louis Tomlinson was a music superstar who toured the world with One Direction and subsequently launched a successful solo career, he was just 18-year-old Louis from Doncaster, England, who changed his life by auditioning for The X Factor.

The singing competition unveiled the extended cut of the now-30-year-old singer’s 2010 audition on Wednesday (Aug. 17), where Tomlinson is seen visibly nervous onstage before judges Simon Cowell, Nicole Scherzinger and Louis Walsh.

He begins to sing Scouting for Girls‘ “Elvis Ain’t Dead,” before Cowell stops the music, asking him what other songs he has prepared. “I’m so nervous,” Tomlinson admits, before Cowell assures him, “You’re actually doing well, which is why we asked you to do a second song.”

Tomlinson then sings the rendition of Plain White T’s “Hey There Delilah” that Directioners know and love, which was met by enthusiastic applause from the audience. “You feel like you look a little defeated,” Scherzinger said to Tomlinson, who replied, “Yeah, I can do so much better than that, honestly. If you just give me a chance.”

Thankfully, the judges did give him a chance, and Tomlinson got a resounding “yes” from Cowell, Scherzinger and Walsh. In July, The X Factor shared a clip showing how One Direction was formed, with The Pussycat Dolls singer arranging Tomlinson, Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne and Harry Styles’ photos together to create the famous boy band. “The little girls are gonna love them,” she said at the time.

Revisit the moment that changed Tomlinson’s life forever by watching his full X Factor audition clip below.