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" Chris Rene has admitted that he was not afraid when he faced the X Factor USA judges at his first audition. The 29-year-old musician - who finished third on the first season of the Fox reality show - reflected on his time in the competition during an interview with TVLine.  &amp;amp;gt; &amp;#039;X Factor&amp;#039; USA grand final: Melanie, Chris, Josh in pictures Recalling his first audition, Rene said: &amp;quot;Let me tell you, I had nothing to lose at that point. In that kind of life that I&amp;#039;d been living, you&amp;#039;ve got a lot to lose. You have your life you could lose on a daily basis. And being clean and sober, fresh out of rehab - whether I was in the spotlight or wherever - that chance to be on the stage and show them who I was, that meant more to me than anything.  &amp;quot;I did not have fear about it at all; I only had happiness about it. I was proud that I actually had the guts to go up there and audition, straight out of rehab. I can&amp;#039;t say that it boosted my confidence, but it gave more meaning to my music, you know?&amp;quot; Rene, who was open about his previous addictions to alcohol and drugs at the start of the contest, added that he was &amp;quot;not ashamed&amp;quot; to change the lyrics of his original audition song &amp;#039;Young Homie&amp;#039;. He explained: &amp;quot;I had two months clean and sober - 70 days - when I was on that stage, so I had to change the lyrics [which had originally been] &amp;#039;three years&amp;#039; to &amp;#039;two months&amp;#039;. And I was not ashamed to do that. I was actually happy because I knew someone out there might be going through the same thing as me.&amp;quot;  &amp;amp;gt; &amp;#039;X Factor&amp;#039; USA will undergo some changes for second season, says exec Rene also revealed that he has an album&amp;#039;s worth of &amp;quot;more stripped-down&amp;quot; songs in the vein of his track &amp;#039;Where Do We Go From Here&amp;#039;, which he performed during the quarter-final stage of the competition. X Factor creator and judge Simon Cowell has hinted that Rene is one of a number of X Factor USA finalists who is likely to secure a record deal with Sony Music. Watch Chris Rene&amp;#039;s first X Factor USA audition below:      "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/the-x-factor-us/news/a360454/x-factor-usas-chris-rene-i-had-nothing-to-lose-at-first-audition/>