Missed

Album: Chapter One (2014)
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Songfacts®:

  • This was the ballad that made Ella a breakout sensation on The X Factor. She sang it at her first audition, wowing the public and her performance subsequently received more than eight million hits on YouTube.
  • The song was inspired by Ella's late grandad, Bill, who died in the middle of the night from lung cancer when she was nine years old. She never went to visit him in hospital or attended his funeral, which the singer now regrets. "One day I was on the piano and was feeling very angry and emotional, I was having a down day," Ella told The Daily Record. "I started trying to write down lyrics and I got a melody in my head. Then I realised I was using this raw emotion from when I didn't get to say goodbye to my grandad."
  • Ella Henderson explained to Artist Direct how her grandfather influenced this tune. "Lyrically, the song is about hope, regret, and redemption," she said. "My grandfather is a massive influence on me in terms of music. He taught me so much. I respected so much."

    "When I was talking about him because I sang that song, and it was so emotional, they were drawn together," Henderson continued." It became the song I write about my granddad. I did think about it deeply. It can relate in one way because I did have a lot of resentment for never attending his funeral. It's about holding something and not letting go. I love him so much though it wasn't about that."

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