Alessandro Cattelan
X-Factor 12

THE REVIEW

X-factor, compared to Sanremo, has the advantage of showing (at least in part) the selection criteria for the singers competing. Almost all the appointed judges, though not precisely talent scouts, have nonetheless gained experience in the music or entertainment field. It goes without saying that the program, seeking qualitative and meritocratic values, has over the years become not only the best showcase for emerging artists but also an expression of constructive television, a school/training ground for singers, as well as for set designers, stylists, prop makers, hosts, and critics.

All very nice, but still improvable. As far as I'm concerned, what bothers me most about this talent show is the elimination. Only one will remain, like the iconic phrase from Highlander - the last immortal: as if the victory guaranteed life and eternal glory to the last survivor.

In “Human, All Too Human” Nietzsche states: “With one more talent, you are often more insecure than with one less: just as a table stands better on three legs than on four.”

The concept explains how simple it is to eliminate other talents to declare the best, but also that a table with only one leg would no longer be a table.

Standardization, flattening, desolation, solitude. In reality, as in all school classes, there could coexist a top student, others who passed, and some who failed.

Music, like culture, like life itself, has no winners, but various expressive forms. Perhaps this is why the talent show of my dreams sees a conductor searching for the best musical instruments to create a concert. One starts, and many arrive.

Returning to X-Factor 12, in general, I preferred the music of Bowland and their atmospheres, without taking anything away from Anastasio's excellent writings and his End of the World or Naomi's Rap God-Beautiful mash-up. The only great emotion was for Rank & File. Sherol's version, though less tribal and lacking the esoteric mysticism felt in Moses Sumney's fantastic original, breaks the chains of that black magic with a powerful voice, in a gospel enriched with rhythmic bases and contaminations that remind and highlight the value of music as an instrument of integration.