'X Factor' Contestant Chris Rene Becomes YouTube Sensation (Video)

Santa Cruz, Calif. trash collector Chris Rene has become a YouTube sensation because of his premiere episode performance around the X Factor.our editor recommends'The X Factor' Redux: 5 Afterthoughts around the Shows Premiere Simon Cowell's 'The X Factor' Premieres Less Than 'American Idol'Simon Cowell's 'The X Factor' Premieres Viewer Responses Mixed'The X Factor' Premiere: Simon Cowell Won Over by Youthful Rachel Crows Song, Emotional Backstory (Video) Related Subjects•The X Factor The recording of Rene singing their own composition "Youthful Homie" on Fox's new competition series has registered a lot more than 2.a million hits online up to now. PHOTOS: Behind the curtain: THR's 'X Factor' Cover Shoot Furthermore, the song has inspired several cover versions that have been published around the streaming video site too, including 15-year-old Forrest Burnham's version with piano accompaniment, and electric guitar takes by Nicole Christine Pedraza and Eric May Pantay. The nearly nine-minute video of Rene's performance includes a job interview with him by which he states, "I wish to be on stages, singing for individuals, earning moneyInch and "I'm completed with carrying trash, time for you to sing on stage and entertain America." PHOTOS: Fox's Year Television Shows: 'Terra Nova,' 'The X Factor' and much more Rene, who told idol judges Antonio "L.A." Reid, Nicole Scherzinger, Paula Abdul and Simon Cowell he was 70 days sober, confesses to some drug-addicted past within the clip, "I had been smoking weed at 12, 13 consuming beer at 15, then [segued] to cocaine and methamphetamines. "I've this ailment known as addiction. The shame and also the guilt got in my experience. It broke me. There's always an opportunity there's always an option. Rather than not doing anything with myself, I would like my boy to determine me singing on stages because existence is simply too precious to alter.Inch PHOTOS: An 'American Idol' to 'X Factor' Timeline When requested exactly what the contest's prize money means for him, Rene responded, "This means the planet. Particularly this means stability for me personally and my boy, my loved ones.Inch The idol judges' responses to his performance were passionate overall. "Honey, I'm stumbling you. I'm able to't even describe your talent," stated Scherzinger. PHOTOS: The Hollywood Reporter Cover Tales "Sometimes with a few of the finest stylish-hop artists from Jay-Z to Kanye and every one of my boys, they'd are proud of me right now to tell you just how you're the truth," announced Reid. Cowell declared, "Always my personal favorite perspective of world happens when I sit within this chair and that i meet a star the very first time. Ad there's something in regards to you, things i like is the fact that you may require the show, maybe we want you." Related Subjects Nicole Scherzinger Paula Abdul Simon Cowell Antonio L.A. Reid The X Factor