X Factor is an Italian television music competition to find new singing talent; the winner receives a € 300,000 recording contract with Sony Music. Before the start of the auditions process it was announced that Elio, Morgan and Simona Ventura would be confirmed as judges and mentors, whilst Mika has been chosen for replacing Arisa in the role; also Alessandro Cattelan returned as host. The seventh season aired on Sky Uno starting from 26 September 2013 to 12 December 2013.
Auditions for season 7 took place in Naples, Genoa and Milan in June 2013; bootcamp took place in Milan for two days, on 26 and 27 June. Unconfirmed rumors revealed that Elio will mentor the Over-25s, Morgan the boys, Mika the girls and Ventura the groups; they selected their final three acts during judges' houses.
Michele Bravi, a member of the category Boys and mentored by Morgan, was announced the winner of the competition on 12 December 2013. His winner's single, "La vita e la felicità", released immediately after the end of the show, was co-written by Italian singer-songwriter Tiziano Ferro.
Judges, presenters and other personnel
During the sixth Live Show of the season, Arisa complained about voting mechanism, and tossed allegations against Simona Ventura, accusing her of being «phony» in judging her acts. In February 2013, Sky Movies and Entertainment vice-president Andrea Scrosati announced in an interview to Corriere della Sera that Arisa would not be confirmed as a mentor. At first, even Morgan and Elio seemed intended to leave the show; newspapers and websites cited Malika Ayane, Lorella Cuccarini and Gigi D'Alessio as possible replacements. On 23 April it was announced that Mika would be the first non-Italian mentor in the competition history; finally, on 12 and 19 May the presences of Morgan and Elio were confirmed.
Alessandro Cattelan has been confirmed to present the main show on Sky Uno HD in February 2013. Also vocal coaches Alberto Tafuri, Paola Folli and Gaetano Cappa, music-director Lucio Fabbri and art-director and choreographer Luca Tomassini were confirmed, whilst Mika chose Rossana Casale as the fourth vocal coach.
Applications and auditions
A preliminary phase of auditions was held: at Castel Sant'Elmo, Naples, from 12 to 14 May 2013; at Unicredit Tower, Milan, from 25 to 27 May 2013.
The judges auditions was held: at 105 Stadium, Genoa, on 1 and 2 June 2013; at Teatro Dal Verme, Milan, from 17 to 19 June 2013.
On 18 June auditions Fedez starred as guest-judge.
Bootcamp Bootcamp took place at Mediolanum Forum, Assago, over two days, on Wednesday 26 and Thursday 27 June.
Judges' houses "Home visits" was broadcast on 17 October. Morgan mentored the Boys at E-Werk, Berlin, assisted by Asia Argento; Mika took the Girls at Slane Castle, Republic of Ireland, assisted by Marco Mengoni; Elio auditioned the Over 25s at Museo del Violino, Cremona, with Linus, and Ventura tested the Groups at Officine Grandi Riparazioni, Turin with Davide Dileo.
The twelve eliminated acts were: Boys: Andrea Butturini, Marco Colonna, Alberto Galuppini Girls: Chiara Grispo, Valentina Livi, Roberta Pompa 25+: Valeria Crescenzi, Sebastiano Di Santo, Adriana Salvadori Groups: Dynamo, Extra, Mr. Rain & Osso
In the second live show, the eliminated act of the home visits, Roberta Pompa was brought back, after a final showdown with Mr. Rain & Osso.
Contestants and categories
Key: – Winner – Runner-up – Third place
Category (mentor)Acts Boys (Morgan) Michele Bravi Andrea D'Alessio Lorenzo Iuracà Girls (Mika) Gaia Galizia Roberta Pompa Valentina Tioli Violetta Zironi 25+ (Elio) Aba Fabio Santini Alan Scaffardi Groups (Ventura) Ape Escape FreeBoys Street Clerks
Live shows
Results summary The number of votes received by each act were released by Sky Italia after the final.
Colour key –Contestant was in the bottom two/three and had to sing again in the final showdown –Contestant was in the bottom three but received the fewest votes and was immediately eliminated –Contestant received the fewest public votes and was immediately eliminated (no final showdown) –Contestant received the most public votes
+ Weekly results per contestant Contestant Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Quarter-Final Semi-Final Final Part 1 Part 2 Part 1 Part 2 Part 1 Part 2 Round 1 Round 2 Round 1 Round 2 Round 1 Round 2 Round 1 Round 2 Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Michele Bravi 3rd20.71% 2nd19.89% 1st24.80% 1st30.12% 1st23.77% 1st26.73% 1st27.41% 1st31.00% 1st29.88% 1st37.33% 1st42.67% Winner57.33% Ape Escape 2nd24.28% 1st22.69% 3rd21.16% 1st25.35% 2nd18.03% 3rd15.43% 5th14.55% 2nd22.08% 3rd24.11% 2nd22.61% 2nd31.49% Runner-up42.67% Violetta Zironi 1st24.33% 1st25.54% 1st28.13% 2nd22.16% 3rd13.79% 5th14.56% 3rd18.27% 3rd19.19% 2nd26.10% 3rd21.59% 3rd26.04% Eliminated(final) Aba 5th10.20% 5th10.34% 5th14.96% 3rd17.81% 5th10.07% 2nd15.98% 2nd24.19% 4th15.58% 4th19.91% 4th18.48% Eliminated(final) Andrea D'Alessio 3rd20.51% 2nd21.13% 2nd20.53% 2nd22.66% 4th11.18% 4th14.74% 4th15.57% 5th12.15% Eliminated(semi-final) Gaia Galizia 2nd22.29% 4th15.10% 4th11.86% 4th16.12% 7th8.16% 1st39.54% 6th12.56% Eliminated(quarter-final) Fabio Santini 5th10.78% 6th9.42% 5th10.14% 5th11.80% 8th6.52% 2nd31.66% Eliminated(Week 5) Valentina Tioli 1st24.31% 4th15.68% 2nd22.43% 3rd20.66% 6th8.48% 3rd28.80% Eliminated(Week 5) Street Clerks 4th12.15% 5th13.72% 3rd19.55% 5th13.78% Eliminated(Week 4) Roberta Pompa Not in live show 3rd20.74% 4th16.84% 4th19.53% Eliminated(Week 4) Alan Scaffardi 4th13.18% 3rd17.82% 6th9.42% Eliminated(Week 3) FreeBoys 6th8.27% 6th7.94% Eliminated(Week 2) Lorenzo Iuracà 6th8.33% Eliminated(Week 1) Final showdown FreeBoys,Lorenzo Iuracà Fabio Santini,FreeBoys Alan Scaffardi,Aba Roberta Pompa,Fabio Santini Gaia Galizia,Street Clerks Fabio Santini,Gaia Galizia Gaia Galizia,Ape Escape Andrea D'Alessio,AbaNo final showdownor judges' vote:results will be basedon public votes alone Judges' vote to eliminate Elio's vote Lorenzo Iuracà FreeBoys Alan Scaffardi Roberta Pompa Street Clerks Gaia Galizia Gaia Galizia Andrea D'Alessio Mika's vote Lorenzo Iuracà FreeBoys Aba Fabio Santini Street Clerks Fabio Santini Ape Escape Andrea D'Alessio Morgan's vote FreeBoys Fabio Santini Alan Scaffardi Roberta Pompa Gaia Galizia Fabio Santini Ape Escape Aba Ventura's vote Lorenzo Iuracà Fabio Santini Alan Scaffardi Roberta Pompa Gaia Galizia Fabio Santini Gaia Galizia Aba Eliminated Lorenzo Iuracà3 of 4 votesmajority FreeBoys2 of 4 votesDeadlock Alan Scaffardi3 of 4 votesmajority Roberta Pompa3 of 4 votesmajority Street Clerks2 of 4 votesDeadlock Valentina TioliPublic vote28.80%to save Gaia Galizia2 of 4 votesDeadlock Andrea D'Alessio2 of 4 votesDeadlock AbaPublic vote18.48%to save Violetta ZironiPublic vote26.04%to save Ape EscapePublic vote42.67%to win Fabio Santini3 of 4 votesmajority Michele BraviPublic vote57.33%to win
Live show details
Week 1 (24 October 2013) Group performance: "Qualcosa che non c'è" (with Elisa) Celebrity performers: Chiara ("The Final Countdown"/"Il futuro che sarà"/"Purple Rain"/"L'esperienza dell'amore"/"Distratto"), Francesca Michielin ("Cigno nero"/"Due respiri"), Elisa ("L'anima vola") and Icona Pop ("I Love It") + Contestants' performances on the first live show Part 1 Act Order Song Result Gaia Galizia 1 "Seven Nation Army" Safe Andrea D'Alessio 2 "Clint Eastwood" Safe FreeBoys 3 "Baby Can I Hold You" Bottom two Fabio Santini 4 "Sotto casa" Safe Valentina Tioli 5 "Where Is the Love?" Safe Alan Scaffardi 6 "Creep" SafePart 2 Act Order Song Result Michele Bravi 7 "Carte da decifrare" Safe Aba 8 "You Oughta Know" Safe Street Clerks 9 "Wake Me Up" Safe Lorenzo Iuracà 10 "Se sapessi come fai" Bottom two Violetta Zironi 11 "Let Her Go" Safe Ape Escape 12 "Burn It Down" SafeFinal showdown details Act Order Songs Result FreeBoys 13 "Umbrella" Safe 15 "Grazie perché" (a cappella) Lorenzo Iuracà 14 "Emozioni" Eliminated 16 "Kiss from a Rose" (a cappella)
Judges' votes to eliminate Ventura: Lorenzo Iuracà – backed her own act, FreeBoys. Morgan: FreeBoys – backed his own act, Lorenzo Iuracà. Mika: Lorenzo Iuracà – considered it appropriate to continue the project of an Italian boyband. Elio: Lorenzo Iuracà – having revealed the difficulties in approaching the songwriting.
Week 2 (31 October 2013) Group performance: "Walk on the Wild Side" Celebrity performers: Ellie Goulding ("Burn")
+ Contestants' performances on the second live show Part 1 Act Order Song Result Street Clerks 1 "Nice che dice" Safe Gaia Galizia 2 "Bitch" Safe Alan Scaffardi 3 "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" Safe Michele Bravi 4 "See Emily Play" Safe Fabio Santini 5 "Basket Case" Bottom two Violetta Zironi 6 "Le tasche piene di sassi" SafePart 2 Act Order Song Result FreeBoys 7 "Let Me Entertain You" Bottom two Aba 8 "Lover to Lover" Safe Andrea D'Alessio 9 "Another Brick in the Wall" Safe Roberta Pompa 10 "Trouble" Safe Ape Escape 11 "Luce (Tramonti a nord est)" Safe Valentina Tioli 12 "Raggamuffin" Safe Act Order Song Result Fabio Santini 13 "Suspicious Minds" Safe FreeBoys 14 "Try" Eliminated
Judges' votes to eliminate Elio: FreeBoys – backed his own act, Fabio Santini. Ventura: Fabio Santini – backed her own act, FreeBoys. Mika: FreeBoys – wanted to give Santini another chance. Morgan: Fabio Santini – could not decide so chose to take it to deadlock.
With both acts receiving two votes each, the result went to deadlock and a new public vote commenced for 200 seconds. FreeBoys were eliminated as the act with the fewest public votes.
Week 3 (7 November 2013) Theme: Songs from the 1990s Celebrity performers: John Newman ("Love Me Again"), Mika and Chiara ("Stardust")
+ Contestants' performances on the third live show Part 1 Act Order Song Result Ape Escape 1 "Smells Like Teen Spirit" Safe Fabio Santini 2 "Everybody Hurts" Safe Gaia Galizia 3 "I'll Stand by You" Safe Alan Scaffardi 4 "Black Hole Sun" Bottom two Valentina Tioli 5 "Ghetto Supastar (That Is What You Are)" Safe Michele Bravi 6 "Cieli neri" SafePart 2 Act Order Song Result Aba 7 "Why" Bottom two Andrea D'Alessio 8 "Digging in the Dirt" Safe Violetta Zironi 9 "Friday I'm in Love" Safe Street Clerks 10 "...Baby One More Time" Safe Roberta Pompa 11 "All That She Wants" Safe Act Order Song Result Alan Scaffardi 12 "This Time" Eliminated Aba 13 "I Put a Spell on You" Safe
Judges' votes to eliminate Elio: Alan Scaffardi – considered Aba the best singer in the competition Morgan: Alan Scaffardi – found Aba's performances more convincing. Mika: Aba – appreciated Scaffardi's passion. Ventura: Alan Scaffardi – considered Aba had an untapped potential.
Week 4 (14 November 2013) Theme: Hell Factor (double elimination) Group performance: "The Passenger" Celebrity performers: Luca Carboni and Tiziano Ferro ("Persone silenziose"), Tom Odell ("Another Love")
+ Contestants' performances on the fourth live show Part 1 Act Order Song Result Roberta Pompa 1 "True Colors" Bottom two Ape Escape 2 "Mentre tutto scorre" Safe Valentina Tioli 3 "When I Was Your Man" Safe Fabio Santini 4 "La casa in riva al mare" Bottom two Andrea D'Alessio 5 "Grease" SafeFinal showdown detail Act Order Song Result Roberta Pompa 6 "Cornflake Girl" Eliminated Fabio Santini 7 "Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out Of" SafePart 2 Act Order Song Result Gaia Galizia 8 "Monna Lisa" Bottom two Street Clerks 9 "Some Nights" Bottom two Aba 10 "Crazy in Love" Safe Michele Bravi 11 "Reality" Safe Violetta Zironi 12 "One Day / Reckoning Song" SafeFinal showdown detail Act Order Song Result Gaia Galizia 13 "Every You Every Me" Safe Street Clerks 14 "Fix You" Eliminated
Judges' votes to eliminate (Part 1) Mika: Fabio Santini – backed his own act, Roberta Pompa. Elio: Roberta Pompa – backed his own act, Fabio Santini. Morgan: Roberta Pompa – thought that Santini could have more chances in the music business. Ventura: Roberta Pompa – considered Santini particularly original.
Judges' votes to eliminate (Part 2)