X Factor 2021: Live, between research and identity

After an armored edition threatened by the shadow of the Covid positives, the Live phase of X Factor 2021 resumes with the same enthusiasm and the same energy that they breathed before the pandemic, with the audience present at the Repower Theater, a location found after the fifth and sixth edition of the program, and the grand finale at the Assago Forum set for December 9 with the super-guests Coldplay. Before that, the car warms up its engines with the first episode, which will be broadcast Thursday 28 October at 9.15 pm on Sky Uno, always available on demand on Sky Go and streaming on NOW, and, exceptionally, in simulcast on TV8 (channel 8 of the dtt). “Being here after such a crazy year is very strange”, explains Nils Hartman, Senior Director Original Productions Sky Italia, during the press conference to present the Live, in the presence of the four judges Emma, Mika, Manuel Agnelli ed Hell Raton, their rosters and the host Ludovico Tersigni.

“This year we can count on a very heterogeneous cast with a great centrality of writing and an important return to the form of the song”, adds the curator of X Factor Eliana Guerra, who anticipates that the musical guest expected at the first Live will be Carmen Consoli. Along with the release at midnight on October 28 of the disc Mixtape Volume 2 produced by Sony, the focal point of the program remains the teams, for the first time freed from the rigidity of the categories. To compete will be: the Karakaz, Versailles and Edoardo Spinsante (Baltimore) for Hell Raton; the Westfalia, Nika Paris and Fellow for Mika; the Bengala Fire, the Mutonia and Erio for Manuel Agnelli; and Vale LP, Le Endrigo and Gianmaria for Emma.

The fact that the elimination of the categories involved the presence of only two women among the teams is not, however, a symptom of any discrimination. Especially considering that X Factor has always made inclusivity its banner since the first edition: «With the abolition of the categories, we were given the opportunity to form a team that, in an artistic way, could resemble us as much as possible. As long as we talk about pink quotas, we women will always remain the weak link in society, because the talent fails », points out Emma, ​​escorted by her colleagues. “X Factor it is a transmission that does not have to prove that it has openness: that there are no women is a coincidence. If the transmission were not completely true, they would have imposed a pink quota that did not exist. This shows that our choices were free ”, adds Manuel Agnelli. What matters more than anything are the judges’ intentions: the search for Emma’s personality (“Working with my boys, I learn something too”); Manuelito’s will to “break”; the need to respect artistic identity of Agnelli, and the centrality of Mika’s emotion. To make everything more peppery, then, there will be a novelty: l’Hot Factor broadcast immediately after the Live which will be entrusted to Paola Di Benedetto, which already followed last year X Factor for Rtl 102.5. All ready, all smooth.