On December 13, 2008, Alexandra Burke won The X Factor , which peaked at 14 million viewers.
The reality singing competition was one of the biggest shows on British television at the time, regularly attracting celebrity duet performers such as Rihanna, Christina Aguilera and Kylie Minogue in its annual live finals.
But Beyoncé's duet with eventual X Factor winner Burke became one of the most memorable moments in the show's 17-year history.
Bey sang her 2007 critically-acclaimed hit "Listen" with the aspiring singer in the season five finale, a song that earned Queen Bey a Golden Globe and Academy Award nomination.
bey and alexandra duet
"Ladies and gentlemen, I absolutely can't believe I'm introducing this woman to the stage," Burke said through tears as she introduced her A-list duet partner. "Please welcome my hero Beyoncé."
The pair ended their performance to a standing ovation from X Factor judges Simon Cowell, Cheryl Cole, Dannii Minogue and Louise Walsh. Later in the show, Burke won the series, defeating that year's runners-up boy band JLS, with 58% of the final vote.
Fifteen years later, their duet is fondly remembered by fans and has been viewed more than 11 million times online to date.
“We did it on the spot”
Burke reflects on her performance on BBC show The Noughtie in 2020 and shared that X Factor guru Cowell revealed her duet partner the night before the finale.
Burke recalled her first meeting with Bay, recalling: "She walked in and said, 'It's great to meet you, blah blah blah.'" I was in tears, I kept crying. "
Burke added that after shedding some tears herself, Beyoncé said they "really needed to practice" her song "If I Were a Boy" — but Burke wasn't convinced and suggested they sing "Listen."
“I said, ‘You can pick every verse you want, just give me a line, but can we sing a song that I know?’ We really hyped it up,” she continued.
"If you look back and we were holding each other's hands, you'd see we were just saying, 'It's your turn, okay, it's my turn, okay, it's your turn,'" Burke revealed . "That's what the song goes like. We made it all up on the spot."
