Francesca Michielin
Di20are

Despite having some distrust towards the "talent generation," that is, towards all these marketing puppets churned out in the last 10 years by the likes of "Amici," "X Factor" and "The Voice," there are two exceptions that prove the rule: Claudia Megrè, who participated in 2014's "The Voice"; and Francesca Michielin, the winner of the fifth edition of "X Factor" in 2011. Today I'll talk about "Di20are," a repack of "Di20," the second album by the Bassano singer. Four tracks have been added to the eleven that composed "Di20," namely "Nessun grado di separazione" (with which Francesca participated in Sanremo 2016, placing second), "È con te," "Nice to meet you," this one voice and guitar only, and a new version of "Tutto è magnifico," which I appreciated more both for the arrangement and for the absence of Fedez's rap, replaced by pop verses. Thus, talking about "Di20are" is practically like talking about "Di20," although the order of the songs differs between the two products. Essentially, it is an important album for its author, a sort of summation of her maturation journey from 16 to 20 years. There are all the major hits that made her known to the general public, in addition to the already mentioned "Tutto è magnifico": "L'amore esiste," which anticipated the release of "Di20"; "Lontano," with an engaging video; "Battito di ciglia," also enhanced by a video clip; and "Amazing," the soundtrack of "The Amazing Spider-Man 2." Speaking of the latter, it is not the only song sung in English; there are also "Sons and daughters" and the already mentioned "Nice to meet you." Francesca thus ranges from Italian to English and from richer arrangements to minimal ones. I've listened to it about ten times so far and must say that in its 54 minutes, it goes by effortlessly. Michielin's voice shows a certain confidence in the sung material, which, however, does not have particularly challenging points, neither in the musical writing nor in the text. Everything is faithful to the protagonist's age, and this is the critical angle to take. The album's production is by Michele Canova Iorfida, the man who now oversees the sound of much of Italian mainstream music. In conclusion, I wanted to give an injection of confidence to the Venetian singer by buying her CD, which will give me access to a subsequent mini-live and signing session, and I don't regret it. Of course, any comparison with the Italian music of previous generations is inappropriate, Francesca is musically a child of the 2010s, yet her elegance and discretion struck me within her generation, which at times reminds me of Alice. Francesca will represent Italy at the Eurovision Song Contest 2016, hoping she'll uphold the honor of the nation's music. I'll give the album 2 stars, easy material, and easy listening, suitable for a car trip or on the PC while doing other things on the internet. Nothing more. From this, it can be deduced that my opinion on other "talents," except Megrè, is alas even more severe.