X Factor ''The X Factor'' is a television music competition franchise created by British producer Simon Cowell and his company Syco Entertainment. It originated in the United Kingdom, where it was devised as a replacement for ''Pop Idol'' (2001–2003) ...

'' is an

Italian television Television in Italy was introduced in 1939, when the first experimental broadcasts began. However, this lasted for a very short time: when fascist Italy entered World War II in 1940 all transmissions were interrupted, and were resumed in earnest ...

music competition to find new singing talent; the winner receives a

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists o ...

300,000 recording contract with

Sony Music Sony Music Entertainment (SME), also known as simply Sony Music, is an American multinational music company. Being owned by the parent conglomerate Sony Group Corporation, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is owned by Sony Entertainmen ...

. Before the start of the auditions process it was announced that

Morgan Morgan may refer to: People and fictional characters * Morgan (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Morgan le Fay, a powerful witch in Arthurian legend * Morgan (surname), a surname of Welsh origin * Morgan (singer), ...

and

Mika Mika is a given name, a nickname and a surname. Notable people and fictional characters with the name include: People known just as Mika * Mika (singer) (born 1983), Lebanese-born British singer-songwriter Michael Penniman, Jr. * Mika (footbal ...

would be confirmed as judges and mentors, whilst

Victoria Cabello Victoria Ellen Cabello (born 12 March 1975, in London) is an Italian television presenter. She was born in London to an Italian father and an English mother, and grew up in Valsolda, a small town in the province of Como, just a few kilometers f ...

and

Fedez Federico Leonardo Lucia (born 15 October 1989), known professionally as Fedez (), is an Italian rapper, singer, songwriter, social media personality and businessman. In 2011, he released the albums ''Penisola che non c'è'' and ''Il mio primo di ...

have been chosen for replacing

Simona Ventura Simona Ventura (born 1 April 1965) is an Italian television presenter. Television career Ventura was born in Bentivoglio. She started in TV on "Domani Sposi" with Giancarlo Magalli on Rai Uno. Her love for sport took her into sports reporting ...

and Elio in the role; also

Alessandro Cattelan Alessandro Cattelan (born 11 May 1980) is an Italian television and radio presenter best known for presenting the Italian edition of ''Total Request Live'', broadcast by MTV Italia, and ''Le Iene'', broadcast by Mediaset's Italia 1. Cattelan als ...

returned as host. The eighth season has been airing on

Sky Uno Sky Uno ( en, Sky One) is an Italian entertainment television channel, based on the defunct reality television channel ''SKY Vivo'', both owned and broadcast by Sky Italia. It broadcasts the Italian version of the shows '' The X Factor'', '' Go ...

since 18 September 2014. Auditions for season 8 took place in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. Th ...

and

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language, Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 1 ...

in June 2014; bootcamp took place in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard language, Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the List of cities in Italy, second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 ...

for two days, on 1 and 2 July. Unconfirmed rumors revealed that Mika will mentor the Over-25s, Fedez the boys, Cabello the girls and Morgan the groups; they selected their final three acts during judges' houses. Lorenzo Fragola, a member of the category Boys and mentored by Fedez, was announced the winner of the competition on 11 December 2014. His winner's single, "

The Reason Why ''The Reason Why'' is the fourth studio album by American country group Little Big Town. It was released on August 24, 2010 via Capitol Nashville. "Little White Church," which was released in March 2010 as the album's lead-off single, has since b ...

", released at the end of the Semi-Final on 4 December, won a Gold Certification of sales.

Cast

Vocal coaches: Paola Folli e

Rossana Casale Rossana Casale (born July 21, 1959) is an Italian singer. Biography Casale was born in New York City to an Italian-American father, photographer Giac Casale, and an Italian mother. Shortly after her birth the family moved to Venice, Italy, then ...

Applications and auditions

A preliminary phase of auditions was held: *at

PalaLottomatica PalaLottomatica, formerly known as Palazzo dello Sport or PalaEUR, is a multi-purpose sports and entertainment arena in Rome, Italy. It is located in the heart of the well known modern EUR complex. The arena hosted the 1960 Olympic basketba ...

, from 10 to 12 May 2014; *at

Lingotto Lingotto is the name of a district of Turin, Italy, as well as the name of the Lingotto building in Via Nizza. It once housed a car factory built by Italian automotive company Fiat and today houses the administrative headquarters of the manufactu ...

, from 24 to 26 May 2014. The judges auditions was held: *at

Unipol Arena Unipol Arena (previously known as Futurshow Station, PalaMalaguti and originally Palasport Casalecchio) is an indoor sporting arena located in Casalecchio di Reno, Province of Bologna, Italy. The seating capacity of the arena for basketball game ...

, on 7 and 9 June 2014; *at

, from 21 to 22 June 2014. The auditions were then broadcast on

from 18 September to 2 October, and on

Cielo Cielo (Spanish and Italian for "heaven" or "sky"), El Cielo (in Spanish) or Il Cielo (in Italian) may refer to: Art, entertainment, and media * ''Cielo'' (film), a 2017 Chile-Canadian documentary film * Cielo (TV channel), an Italian television ...

from 21 September to 5 October.

Bootcamp

Bootcamp took place at

Mediolanum Forum Mediolanum Forum (originally the Forum di Assago, formerly the FilaForum and DatchForum) is an indoor sports arena that is located in Assago, a small town 3 km outside Milan, Italy. The arena has a seating capacity of 12,700 and is primarily use ...

Assago Assago ( lmo, Assagh or ) is a town and '' comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Milan, in the northern Italian region of Lombardy. It contains the headquarters of Nestlé's Italian branch and the Mediolanum Forum. Sport Football Teams:''GS ...

, over two days, on Tuesday 1 July and Wednesday 2 July; it was broadcast on 9 October on Sky Uno and on 12 October on Cielo. Before Bootcamp, all the contestants who passed the auditions, were divided into two groups: the first one passed directly to the Bootcamp, since it was made by singers who fully convinced the judges; the other one was made by singers who didn't fully convince the judges, thus they had to face the “Room Auditions”. These were held into the Forum; the ones who succeeded in the Room Auditions, passed to the Bootcamp. For the first time in Italy, besides the presence of spectators at the Bootcamp, to pick the six contestants from each category, the ''“Six Chair Challenge”'' was introduced: each judge has six chairs at their disposal and they can decide to make a contestant sit (thus passing them to the “Home Visit”) or not (eliminating them); if the chairs are all occupied, the judge of the specific category can decide to make a contestant stand up (eliminating them) and make the other sit on the chair. After the Bootcamp, 24 contestants passed to the Home Visit.

Judges' houses

The ''“Home Visit”'' is the final phase before the Live Shows. In this phase, the contestants who passed the Bootcamp had to perform one last time in front of their specific judge, in four different locations. At the end of this audition, the top twelve contestants were chosen. The Home Visit took place in four different locations decided by each judge: Cabello chose

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, Fedez chose

, Mika chose

Motya Motya was an ancient and powerful city on San Pantaleo Island off the west coast of Sicily, in the Stagnone Lagoon between Drepanum (modern Trapani) and Lilybaeum (modern Marsala). It is within the present-day commune of Marsala, Italy. M ...

and Morgan chose

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. Each judge was also helped by a guest to choose:

The Bloody Beetroots The Bloody Beetroots is an Italian electronic music project of musician and producer Bob Rifo (also Sir Bob Cornelius Rifo and SBCR, born Simone Cogo). Established in late 2006, the Bloody Beetroots were initially a duo consisting of Bob Rifo an ...

for Cabello,

Raphael Gualazzi Raffaele Gualazzi (born 11 November 1981), better known as Raphael Gualazzi, is an Italian singer and pianist. He was born in Urbino. Biography ''Love Outside the Window'' On 16 September 2005, Gualazzi released his first studio album, titled '' ...

for Fedez, Elio for Mika and

Eugenio Finardi Eugenio Finardi (born July 16, 1952) is an Italian rock singer, songwriter, guitarist and keyboardist. Life Eugenio Finardi was born in Milan, Italy, on July 16, 1952, in a musical family: his father Enzo was an Italian music sound engineer a ...

for Morgan. The Homevist took place around the end of July 2014. Between the eliminated in this phase, those written in bold in the following chart were chosen by the judges for re-proposal. The four ones were then voted by the public who decided to bring Riccardo Schiara back in the competition during the second Liveshow. The twelve eliminated acts were: *Boys: Dirty, Riccardo Schiara, Dario Guidi *Girls: Giorgia Bertolani, Carolina Faroni, Maria Faiola *25+: Alessio Bersaglini, Jade Angiolina Canali, Sarah Fargion *Groups: Fading Memories, Aula 39, Les Babettes

Contestants and categories

Key: : – Winner : – Runner-up : – Third place

Live shows

Results summary

The number of votes received by each act were released by

Sky Italia Sky Italia S.r.l. is an Italian satellite television platform owned by the American media conglomerate Comcast. Sky Italia also broadcasts three national free-to-air television channels: TV8, Cielo and Sky TG24. As of 2018, following an agr ...

after the final. ;Colour key

Live show details

Week 1 (23 October 2014)

*Group performance: Medley of famous songs performed by the twelve contestants (" Try" / "

Wrecking Ball A wrecking ball is a heavy steel ball, usually hung from a crane, that is used for demolishing large buildings. It was most commonly in use during the 1950s and 1960s. Several wrecking companies claim to have invented the wrecking ball. An e ...

" / "

Paparazzi Paparazzi (, ; ; singular: masculine paparazzo or feminine paparazza) are independent photographers who take pictures of high-profile people; such as actors, musicians, athletes, politicians, and other celebrities, typically while subjects ...

" / "

No Woman No Cry "No Woman, No Cry" is a reggae song by Bob Marley and the Wailers. The song was recorded in 1974 and released on the studio album '' Natty Dread''. The live recording of this song from the 1975 album '' Live!'' was released as a single and i ...

" / " Forever Young" / "

With or Without You "With or Without You" is a song by Irish rock band U2. It is the third track on their fifth studio album, ''The Joshua Tree'' (1987), and was released as the album's lead single on 16 March 1987. The song was the group's most successful singl ...

" / " Someone Like You" / "Penso Positivo" / "

Happy Ending A happy ending is an ending of the plot of a work of fiction in which almost everything turns out for the best for the main protagonists and their sidekicks, while the main villains/ antagonists are dead/defeated. In storylines where the prota ...

") *Celebrity performers:

Tiziano Ferro Tiziano Ferro (; born 21 February 1980) is an Italian singer, songwriter, producer and author. He broke through in 2001 with his international hit single " Perdono" and has remained commercially successful since then, in several countries. Ferro ...

("Senza Scappare Mai Più") and

Robin Schulz Robin Alexander Schulz (; born 28 April 1987) is a German musician, DJ and record producer. On 4 February 2014, he released the first single from his debut album, a remix of " Waves" by Dutch hip hop artist Mr. Probz. This remix later receiv ...

& Lilly Wood and the Prick ("

Prayer in C "Prayer in C" is a song by French folk pop duo Lilly Wood and the Prick, originally released on their album ''Invincible Friends'' in 2010. In 2014, German DJ and record producer Robin Schulz remixed the song, and the remix was re-released in ...

") ;Judges' votes to eliminate * Morgan: Diluvio – backed his own act, The Wise. * Mika: The Wise – backed his own act, Diluvio. * Fedez: Diluvio – considered him inappropriate for the show. * Cabello: Diluvio – agreed with Fedez.

Week 2 (30 October 2014)

*Group performance: "Logico #1" ( Cesare Cremonini and the contestants) *Celebrity performers: Cesare Cremonini ("Logico #1") and ("Greygoose") ;Wildcard ;Judges' votes to eliminate * Morgan: The Wise * Mika: The Wise * Fedez: The Wise * Cabello was not required to vote because there was already a majority, but confirmed she would have eliminated The Wise.

Week 3 (6 November 2014)

*Theme: Dance *Celebrity performers:

Charli XCX Charlotte Emma Aitchison (born 2 August 1992), known professionally as Charli XCX, is an English singer and songwriter. Born in Cambridge and raised in Start Hill, Essex, she began posting songs on Myspace in 2008, which led to her discovery b ...

Boom Clap "Boom Clap" is a song by English singer and songwriter Charli XCX, released as the first single from the soundtrack album of '' The Fault in Our Stars'' (2014) and is also featured on XCX's second studio album, '' Sucker''. There are two exist ...

") and

Kiesza Kiesa Rae Ellestad (born January 16, 1989), known professionally as Kiesza ( ), is a Canadian singer and multi-instrumentalist from Calgary. In 2017, she was involved in a car accident in Toronto, suffering severe injuries that required her to ...

(" Hideaway") *Trivia: During the opening of the show, the host and the judges of the new season of

Italia's Got Talent ''Italia's Got Talent'' is the Italian version of the international ''Got Talent'' series. The pilot episode was aired on 12 December 2009 on Canale 5 and it was seen by 5.3 million people. After this episode, Mediaset decided to hold on this sho ...

came on stage to promote it. ;Judge's vote to eliminate * Cabello: Vivian Grillo - after a moment of hesitation, considered Magli's growth more interesting. * Mika: Vivian Grillo - agreed with Cabello's comments. * Fedez: Camilla Andrea Magli - considered Grillo more interesting. * Morgan: Camilla Andrea Magli - 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. Camilla Andrea Magli was eliminated as the act with the fewest public votes.

Week 4 (13 November 2014)

*Theme: Tolerance (billed as: ''We are 1'') *Celebrity performers:

Hozier Andrew John Hozier-Byrne (born 17 March 1990), known professionally as Hozier ( ), is an Irish musician, singer and songwriter. His music primarily draws from folk, soul and blues, often using religious and literary themes. He had his interna ...

Take Me to Church "Take Me to Church" is a song by Irish singer-songwriter Hozier. It was released as his debut single on 13 September 2013, originally featuring on his extended play of the same name, before being featured as the opening track of his 2014 debut a ...

") and

Fabi The history of Chinese currency spans more than 3000 years. Currency of some type has been used in China since the Neolithic age which can be traced back to between 3000 and 4500 years ago. Cowry shells are believed to have been the earliest ...

, Silvestri, Gazzè ("L'amore non esiste") *Trivia: Songs assigned for this week suffered from censorship, talk about freedom of expression or are about controversial themes such as bullying or discrimination. ;Judges' votes to eliminate * Morgan: Spritz For Five - abandoned the studio straight after he made his decision. * Cabello: Spritz For Five - followed their mentor's decision. * Mika: Komminuet - based on the final showdown performances. * Fedez: Komminuet - could not decide so chose to take it to deadlock. With both acts receiving two votes each, the result went to deadlock and reverted to the earlier public vote. Spritz For Five eliminated as the act with the fewest public votes.

Week 5 (20 November 2014)

*Theme: ''"Apocalypse Night"'' (double elimination) *Celebrity performers:

Francesco De Gregori Francesco De Gregori OMRI (born 4 April 1951) is an Italian singer-songwriter. In Italy, he is popularly known as "Il Principe dei cantautori" ("The Prince of the singer-songwriters"), a nickname referring to the elegance of his lyrics. He is of ...

("La Donna Cannone") and

Ed Sheeran Edward Christopher Sheeran (; born 17 February 1991) is an English singer-songwriter. Born in Halifax, West Yorkshire and raised in Framlingham, Suffolk, he began writing songs around the age of eleven. In early 2011, Sheeran independently r ...

Thinking Out Loud "Thinking Out Loud" is a song by English singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran, recorded for his second studio album, '' ×'' (2014). It was written by Sheeran and Amy Wadge, and produced by frequent collaborator Jake Gosling. It was released in the US ...

") *Trivia: Two rounds, on the first, each contestant brought a one-minute-snippet of a song they had previously sung and there was a direct elimination; on the second, each contestant brought a song picked by their mentors and there was a Final Showdown between the two least voted contestants. Also, Morgan who in the previous week stated he would abandon the show, came back as the fourth judge. ;Judges' votes to eliminate * Cabello: Leiner Riflessi – backed her own act, Vivian Grillo. * Fedez: Vivian Grillo – backed his own act, Leiner Riflessi. * Morgan: Leiner Riflessi – felt Riflessi could be commended more outside the show. * Mika: Vivian Grillo - felt Grillo was not at ease on stage but could not decide so chose to take it to deadlock. With both acts receiving two votes each, the result went to deadlock and reverted to the earlier public vote. Vivian Grillo was eliminated as the act with the fewest public votes.

Week 6: Quarter-final (27 November 2014)

*Theme: Mentor's Choice (first round); "Light" (second round) *Celebrity performers:

Marco Mengoni Marco Mengoni (; born 25 December 1988) is an Italian pop singer-songwriter who rose to fame in 2009, after winning the third season of Italian talent show '' X Factor''. Since that he has sold over 2.8 million records in Italy, peaking the ...

("Guerriero") and

and

Francesca Michielin Francesca Michielin (, ; born 25 February 1995) is an Italian singer and songwriter. She rose to fame after winning the fifth season of the Italian talent show '' X Factor''. Her first single, "Distratto", debuted atop the Italian FIMI Top Dig ...

("Magnifico") *Trivia: Two rounds, on the first, each contestant sang a song chosen by their mentors; on the second, each contestant sang a song chosen from the ones voted by the public on-line. ;Judges' votes to eliminate * Morgan: Mario Gavino Garrucciu - backed his own act, Komminuet. * Mika: Komminuet - backed his own act, Mario Gavino Garrucciu. * Cabello: Komminuet - said she always stood for Garrucciu. * Fedez: Mario Gavino Garriucciu - 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. Komminuet were eliminated as the act with the fewest public votes.

Week 7: Semi-final (4 December 2014)

*Group performance: "

Counting Stars "Counting Stars" is a song by American pop rock band OneRepublic from their third studio album, ''Native'' (2013). The song was written by lead singer Ryan Tedder, and produced by Tedder and Noel Zancanella. It was released as the album's sec ...

" (with

Ryan Tedder Ryan Tedder (born June 26, 1979) is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. As well as being the lead vocalist of the pop rock band OneRepublic, he has an independent career as a songwriter and producer for various artists since th ...

) *Celebrity performers:

OneRepublic OneRepublic is an American pop rock band formed in Colorado Springs, Colorado, in 2002. It consists of lead vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Ryan Tedder, lead guitarist and violist Zach Filkins, rhythm guitarist Drew Brown, bassist and cel ...

I Lived "I Lived" is a song recorded by American pop rock band OneRepublic. It was released as the fifth and final single from the album, ''Native'' (2014). It was originally planned to be released as the fourth single in January 2014, but was shelved in ...

") *Theme: ''Apocalypse Night'': two contestants eliminated. First round: Original songs; Second round: Mentor's choice. ;Judges' votes to eliminate * Cabello: Emma Morton - backed her own act, Ilaria Rastrelli. * Mika: Ilaria Rastrelli - backed his own act, Emma Morton. * Fedez: Emma Morton - gave no reason, but said he was hoping for a deadlock since the decision was too hard. * Morgan: Emma Morton - said he had always supported Rastrelli.

Week 8: Final (11 December 2014)

*Theme: Celebrity Duets (Round 1); Original Songs (Round 2); Own Choice (Round 3; billed as ''My Song'') *Group performance:

, the Finalists and the ex-contestants (''Good Guys'' and ''

'') *Celebrity performers: Chiara (''Un Giorno di Sole''),

Saint Motel In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and denomination. In Catholic, Eastern Ortho ...

(''My Type''),

David Guetta Pierre David Guetta ( , ; born 7 November 1967) is a French DJ and music producer. He has over 10 million album and 65 million single sales globally, with more than 10 billion streams. In 2011, 2020 and 2021, Guetta was voted the number one D ...

& Sam Martin ('' Dangerous''),

('' La differenza tra me e te'', ''Senza scappare mai più'', ''La fine'')

References

External links

''X Factor Italia''
{{X Factor (Italy) 2014 Italian television seasons Italian music television series Italy 08 X Factor (Italian TV series)