A SINGER and songwriter will have to “Think Positive” after he missed out on a spot in this year’s X Factor despite impressing the judges with his own song.

Luke Britnell, 19, from Canvey, flew the flag for Essex as millions of people around the UK tuned in for the new series of the X Factor this weekend.

He wowed judges Gary Barlow, Sharon Osbourne, Nicole Scherzinger and Louis Walsh, with a catchy song he wrote called Think Positive, which prompted praise for the teenager from people on social media.

However, his hopes of following in the footsteps of other Essex X Factor favourites Matt Cardle and OllyMurs were dashed last night when he crashed out of the competition after a performance at Wembley Arena.

Luke’s mum Amanda, 44, of The Fallows, Canvey, said her son lost his confidence ahead of his performance as he had wanted to sing another of his original songs, but instead opted to perform Daft Punk’s hit Get Lucky.

She said: “He had just wanted to performhis own song, but when he sang that song, I just don’t think he felt as comfortable and it affected his confidence.

“It was disappointing, but Luke isn’t the type to dwell on things, he is very positive.”

Luke, a former pupil of Canvey’s Cornelius Vermuyden School and Southend’s South Essex College, started playing the guitar, aged 15. He soon developed a talent for it and went on to study music at college.

In 2011, he began singing and, after a talent contest at Thorney Bay, Luke was signed up by Choice Entertainment to perform as a Justin Bieber tribute act. Last year he performed in front of thousands at London’s O2 Arena after getting to the finals of the Open Mic UK competition.

Since then he has continued to write his own songs and is hoping to release a CD of his work soon.

Proud mum Amanda said: “He really hasn’t been singing that long, but he has really made a success of it.

“It was a shame Luke didn’t go through. The judges andXFactor people were very shocked as they really liked him.

“Luke has been writing his own songs and that’s really what he wants to be doing, hopefully hewill get a break and someone will come forward that could help him along that road.”

After Saturday’s show X Factor Judge Nicole Scherzinger tweeted: “Woo-ooh, think positive!

Still got Luke's song in my head now.”

Follow Luke at on Twitter at @LukeBritnell.