Dennis Fantina, the first Meteor winner (of a long series): Vote 4
Today he works as a bartender and complains: “They took me out of the entertainment world.” This is the fate of the first winner of Amici, the singer Dennis Fantina. Everyone remembers him, no one bought his records. However, at that time (Year of Our Lord 2000), the talent of the young golden suppository had even fascinated Mango, who wrote the lyrics for him for the unpublished “Non è il cuore”. There have been various attempts to return to television over the years. All for free. However, as the progenitor of a long line of meteoric winners, we remember (with difficulty) the very good Giulia Ottonello, who triumphed in the second edition, and the snooty Federico Angelucci, whom we then saw again in 2018 at the Tale e Quale show On the Looking for this evaporated success, Deborah Iurato (2013), Moreno “SempreVero” Donadoni or the first triumphant “Rapper” (2012) who landed on the Island of the Famous and is currently a hit on Instagram, achieved the very complicated feat Although three Sanremo -Festivals were all active, the gentle giant Sergio Sylvestre (2015) and above all the crazy card Gerardo Pulli (2011) disappeared, who from the day after the victory began an unstoppable process of self-sabotage: he didn’t show up, he didn’t want a teenager Being an idol when he was ready to engrave at job interviews or in the meeting room. So why did he go to Amici please? Secret. Not in the Circle of the Forgotten, he fell straight into the Styx of the Renegades. Patience.
The tension of Agata Reale and the shocking song of Martina Pensolo: Voice 8
Every Disney villain has an origin. And the same applies to those of Amici di Maria De Filippi. When did the now legendary evil of the fearsome dance professor Alessandra Celentano begin? The year was 2009 and Agata Reale was a promising up-and-coming dancer. Celentano gave her no peace and every teenager of that time discovered the existence of a “new” body part: the instep. At least apparently of fundamental importance for classical dance, the participant unfortunately had it not suitable for this purpose. And then criticism, contradictions, reprimands, as if it were his fault. It may seem like a small thing, it’s true. But the controversy continued throughout the edition, perhaps even more so than Autotune’s controversial entry into the race in recent memory. How should this neck be? Nobody ever really understood it. Maybe not even Celentano herself, who, however, found the key to her character in the talent show and became the eternal evil witch at the christening of Sleeping Beauty. But 2009 was a year full of chaos and turmoil: In addition to the Reale affair, the blonde singer Martina Parola was also hanging around the school and hatching a huge egg of evil. The character, a saber-toothed Chihuahua poorly hidden by a cheeky fringe, released a song protesting everything and everyone right after leaving the talent show. Entitled “Ma Quale Amici,” it was not a success, but it caused a stir, especially because of some poisonous verses dedicated to Maria De Filippi herself: “I see you as an angel from hell.” […] Your promises are like a witch, but they are tempting and you can find yourself in bed with Maria.” Gulp! No one in history has ever dared so much (again).
Marco Carta, from black sheep winner to t-shirt thief (?): Rating 5-
Luca Jurman was desperate and made him kneel on chickpeas during singing lessons. Marco Carta, winner of the 2009 edition, was incorrigible. And that’s exactly why he liked it so much. Especially to Maria De Filippi, who perhaps developed with him her clear preference for the black sheep that would henceforth haunt every edition of the talent show. This year we all learned the term “sandblasted vocal timbre” because, as they said, Carta had it. He was naturally both good at singing and irritable; before attending the Amici television school, he worked as a hairdresser in Sardinia. One cannot forget the moment of his victory: as soon as the infamous cards declared him the winner (over Roberta Bonanno, runner-up), he started running loudly throughout the studio shouting “Mama!” Mummy! Mama!”. So the (false) tyrant dedicated the victory to his mother, who died when he was little more than a toddler, in a scene that is etched in the collective memory of those present. He even won the following year the Sanremo Festival with a completely unforgettable song, La Forza Mia. Thanks to the crazy and desperate televoting of the hormonal Amici viewers, he reached first place. A cheated festival, like the one below, was won by “da tutti i tutti i lago” by Valerio Scanu. However, that was the high point of Cartian’s career. Curiously, ten years later, people were talking about him again only because he was accused of stealing six T-shirts from the Rinascente in Milan in collaboration with a Sciura accomplice. A judge later ruled , that wasn’t true, but ours won at least some, hosted by Barbara d’Urso Still better than nothing?
Emma Marrone, winner revealed (by Stefano De Martino with Belen): Vote 9
2009 was the year of victory for Emma Marrone, who got engaged to aspiring dancer Stefano De Martino during the edition. The two stayed together for a while, enough time for the couple to create fan pages with creative names on the then prehistoric social networks. The best? Certainly that of the “Stemmini”. In any case, as those present could see with their own incredulous eyes, their relationship, always at the center of rumors, ended because De Martino was seduced by Belen Rodriguez, a guest of the talent’s dance group. There were numerous occasions in the years to come when Emma had to perform while the two impostors danced together and rubbed sensually. In the meantime, she had hatched her first single, “Calore,” and would go on to produce many more, until she achieved an inexplicable victory in Sanremo with the mephitic “Non è l’Inferno,” written, not coincidentally, by Kekko from Modà. The triumph of the song was in fact a breakthrough of La Notte di Arisa, which was only the second in 2012. Anyone who forgets is an accomplice. Particularly heated during the talent show was the battle between Emma and Loredana Errore, the “sky-eyed girl”, which even convinced Biagio Antonacci, who agreed to write the lyrics to an unreleased song for her. However, after second place, Errore practically disappeared from traffic. Apart from a disturbing Sanremo performance, still cult, in a duet with Anna Tatangelo in 2011 on the sheet music of the song that “Lady Tata” brought to the competition on that tour, the iconic “Bastardo” is still in today high rotation temptation island. It is known that the career of Emma, who over time, like many of Annalisa’s (Scarrone) colleagues, “lost” to her surname, was unstoppable, even if today she alternates between the role of trainer at Amici and The judge on Factor has perhaps become more of a television character than a tough and pure singer. She doesn’t lack patience or charisma. If he decided to become an astronaut tomorrow, he could do it.
Elodie, when she had fuchsia hair (and Anna Oxa made her cry): Vote 5
In the 2015 edition, an almost unrecognizable Elodie came second to the “disappeared” Sergio Sylvestre. She was still very young and had previously tried in vain to take part in the X Factor. The beginnings of the pop star we all know today and to whom Prime Video even dedicated an entire documentary series (without ever talking about the initial difficulties) were certainly not easy. Already beautiful and pretty good, fortunately she played in the team under the leadership of Elisa Toffoli, all the caresses and good advice. On the other hand, this year the inflexible Anna Oxa, who didn’t like the fuchsia-haired competitor at all, stood out among the judges. The tension between the two was always clearly noticeable and in the end the tears were Elodie’s fault. Faced with another lecture, he burst into tears at Serale. Oxa encouraged her to be a little more light-hearted in her interpretation, explaining that otherwise she would have found it difficult to reach the public. As I said, there was a lot of complaining, but if we think about what the performer’s repertoire is today between Bagno a Mezzanotte, Pazza Musica and Andromeda… perhaps Oxa wasn’t wrong. However, who would have ever thought that a supersonic diva would emerge from this “whiny” competitor? The parable of an ordinary 5 that then turns into a 10. A surprise.
Kledi, Ode to the Father of All Teen Idol Dancers: Rating 8.5
He came from Albania, he danced divinely and everyone loved him. Posters, school diaries and glittery stickers with Kledi Kadius’ large face and stomach printed on them have been on the market among professional dancers since the first edition – when the talent show was still called Saranno Famosi. We may never have heard him say a word in all his years of dance militancy, but he is remembered for the plethora of youthful hormones that fueled his every move. He was the “father” of every (aspiring) handsome dancer who went on to set fire to the dreams of high school students and beyond. Kledi was also the mascot of Maria De Filippi, who also took him to C’è Posta per Te. It reached its peak when the Amici television school gave birth to Anbeta Toromani. Her pas de deux wrote radio history with its elegance and sophistication. Furthermore, in a time without Spotify and YouTube, they have introduced young people to songs that they might otherwise have had difficulty becoming familiar with. Of course, the musical choice did not depend on them, but the fact is that the miracle happened. We remember, among other things, the romantic choreography for “Via con Me” by Paolo Conte. There wasn’t a high school student who didn’t know this song by heart. Not bad for a program that has always been accused of being pure criminal garbage and of being culturally on a par with the Stone Age. To be clear: Amici has always been that way. But not only.
Annalisa is already a “beautiful” but boring duckling: rating 4/5
Annalisa had just graduated with a degree in physics in 2010 and was the ultimate nerd. He never missed a word and already demonstrated an impressive range of voices. However, talent and seriousness did not bring her the victory, which in this edition went to the singer-songwriter Virginio Simonelli. After finishing second, it took the former competitor practically more than a decade to establish herself as a permanent star in the Italian music sky. In between, various participations in Sanremo went almost unnoticed and embarrassing summer buzzwords continued, especially the terrifying “Avocado Toast,” which emerged from the cages of horror in 2019. Today, before the resounding success of Mon Amour and Bellissima, it seems impossible to imagine a time when Annalisa was not the queen we all know. And yet they existed. If we only have to and have to assess the path within the talent, it is very difficult to nurture it. Perhaps also because of the annoying but successful unreleased flagship “Diamante lei e luce lui”, a kindergarten dirge that quickly penetrates the eardrums of any unwary listener. A path without excessive twists and turns, that of Annalisa. Just taking that into account, our meteor could have become one of the many meteors that the record company has forced over time to remove the last name (Scarrone). Instead, he subverted the predictions with extreme persistence. Well, yes, but later.
Giuliano Peparini and his (much regretted) dance “pictures”: Rating 8+
Giuliano Peparini, an internationally known choreographer whose social pages are in French, was artistic director of Amici di Maria De Filippi for years and had full power over the dance. Very full of strength indeed, considering that according to him he never showed his choreographies to Maria or anyone else before proposing them to the evening. Peparini did not write badly, and the “paintings” he created are still missed more than water in the desert. With him, the days of unisex rompers ended and the participants began to show themselves in all their glory in dreamlike choreographies, the so-called “pictures”. We remember in particular the film inspired by the Oscar-winning film Life is Beautiful by Roberto Benigni. However, every fan of the show has at least one “image” from their heart. So much so that even today, at every dance performance, on Twitter (sorry, He left the position in 2020 “to pursue new projects”, but it seems that relations with Maria De Filippi remain excellent. So Who knows, after all, dreams don’t cost anything…
Fight against the Kolors, the arrogance always loses: vote 3
2014, sparkling edition. The Kolors won after returning to the top of the wave this summer thanks to the hit ItaloDisco, but back then they sang only and exclusively in English. On the verge of triumph, a brave journalist dared to ask Stash if Sanremo could be one of the band’s upcoming projects, but Maria even intervened because: “No, the boys don’t want to sing in Italian.” We know more than well, how it ended. In any case, under the leadership of coach Elisa, they took first place. On the way, however, the very snooty rapper Briga gave them more than just a thought, an idol of the girls who gave the impression that he had already arrived. He came second, a big bubble of his fanatics formed on social media, who fought against anyone who dared to criticize him for a few months and then disappeared along the way. Despite “Strambella” participation in the festival (2018) with Patty Pravo (?!). Memorable, a very viral meme that made fun of the moment of the Kolors’ victory and especially Briga’s warm hug to Stash Fiordispino: The second was Simba, the first was Scar from The Lion King. And to see the scene again – we present it again in photos – actually…
The appearance of the Caciarona VIP jury distracts from the competitors: vote 2
At some point it was decided that the show needed a VIP jury. Possibly consisting of always different VIPs and with few solid certainties, including the impeccable Sabrina Ferilli. Over the years, we’ve seen practically everyone from Luca Argentero to Christian De Sica to Emanuele Filiberto di Savoia (for some reason). This resulted in dynamics that desperately tried to be funny and failed almost every time. Certainly not the fault of those involved. The problem with including this “quality” jury was the inevitable distortion of the talent, which lost focus on the competitors, favoring, for example, 20 minutes of Ferilli and De Sica throwing water balloons at each other as if they were in a tourist village bet. All playing time was forever robbed from the unfortunate competitors who were there to showcase their talent. To persist for over twenty years and always achieve excellent Auditel results is certainly not an easy undertaking. It must be admitted, however, that this boisterous attitude diverted public attention from the competing boys to the arguments between the jurors (and/or the professors). A choice that will of course entertain even the most fearless spectators, but at the same time has very little to do with the search for new artists who will not disappear within a week. Research that is now of little or no interest to everyone present, especially in the hot phase of the evening. And so the audience has to endure Rudy Zerbi dressed as Al Bano, as if he were Cirilli in Tale and Which. Sin. Amici wasn’t all that bad when it came to talking about talent.