John Lewis advert 2014: Tom Odell - From a one star NME review to scoring the biggest Christmas gig on TV

The musician has been asked to score the new ad following Lily Allen last year

Tom Odell has been selected to score the John Lewis advert

Never let it be said that a one star review in NME stands to ruin a young musician’s career.

After being described as a “poor, misguided wannabe who’s fallen into the hands of the music industry equivalent of Hungarian sex traffickers” by the magazine, Tom Odell has now been chosen to score this year’s John Lewis advert.

The harsh review prompted Tom Odell’s father to ring up NME in protest against its paltry one star billing, but NME’s words don’t appear to have hampered the young singer’s chances.

Odell, who covers John Lennon’s “Real Love” in the new advert, now stands in pole position for this year’s Christmas number one following the success of Lily Allen’s “Somewhere Only We Know” last year.

Allen signed the young singer to her record label In the Name Of in 2012. His debut album Long Way Down topped the UK album charts the following year.

Since then, the 23-year-old from Chichester has gone on to win the critics’ choice Brit Award and songwriter of the year at the Ivor Novello Awards.

Read more: John Lewis 2014 advert debuts