Ili

Ili, whose real name is Emily Middlemas, is a Scottish singer-songwriter born on 26 September 1998 in Glasgow.

She began her career very young: she auditioned for Britain’s Got Talent, joined the group Loud N Proud at nine and started writing her own songs at thirteen. In July 2014 she won the TeenStar singing competition in Birmingham.

She became known to the wider public by taking part in the eleventh series of The X Factor, reaching the judges’ houses. She returned in 2016 for the thirteenth series, performing a cover of Master Blaster (Jammin'). Placed in the girls category and coached by Simon Cowell, she reached the live shows; after the eliminations of Cowell’s other acts she became his final remaining contestant and was ultimately eliminated in fourth place after a bottom two with Matt Terry in the semi-final.

In 2017, under her own name, she released her debut single Lost and Found and began her first headline UK tour, the Memory Lane Tour, comprising 11 dates.

In March 2018 she released the single Layla, a tribute to a young girl who died of neuroblastoma; she followed it with Habit and Broken Record later that year.

In August 2019 she announced the adoption of the stage name ili and released that month A Little Bit, her first single under the new pseudonym. She then unveiled Changes in September, which lent its name to her first EP. The five-track EP Changes was published on 1 November 2019. She released Breath on 8 May 2020 and Time Go By two years later.