Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

Sicilian tenor turned pop Lorenzo Licitra (25) won against all odds the 1th Italian X Factor beating in the final Måneskin lead by bad boy Damiano, who were expected to win after they already gained quite a following and even sold a gold disc before the final with Chosen .  Which one do you prefer? X Factor in Italy has give us winners Marco Mengoni, Francesca Michielin, Chiara, Michele Bravi and Lorenzo Fragola among others, and also Giusy Ferreri and Madh, so chances are we will hear about Licitra a lot in the future, and Måneskin also has its reasons to stay in spotlight.  I don't know why but I think Lorenzo screams EUROVISION!!!

Madh (or Marco Cappai) made himself known in the X Factor Italy in 2014, and has since been going his own, very un-Italian way that is intriguing, interesting and exciting. Like Powerlife . His debut was Sayonara followed by River . Not forgetting fabulous In cerca di un senso , that wasn't taken to Sanremo Giovani 2016. That's quite scandalous, me thinks. 

The names are out. These 12 will be fighting for the six places in the Sanremo 2016 newcomers final.  The live broadcast will take place on November 27 on Raiuno from Teatro Ariston in Sanremo. Then the lucky six will return next February for real.... Click the titles below to listen their entries. Beatrice Visconti - Paulette Cecile - N.E.G.R.A Chiara Dello Iacovo - Introverso Ermal Meta . Odio le favole Francesco Gabbani - Amen Francesco Guasti - Io e te Irama - Cosa resterà Michael Leonardi - Rinascerai Rumor - Il grande salto Siberia - Gioia Una - Amare stanca Valeria e Piero Romitelli - Mai abbastanza I didn't listen to all the entries and if these are the 12 best I'm glad I never bothered. And if I did I would now only be very disappointed and pissed as most likely all my favorites would be out.... Out of these 12 I liked with the first hearing.... none.  I'm not really a fan of Madh but it seems his exclusion is already causing scanda...

Sanremo newcomers or Nuove proposte wilL have eight artists. Two of them will be chosen among these AreaSanremo ones , while the other six from these 61 hopefuls, picked among the 648 submissions plus the latest winner of Castrocaro festival for the new voices, Dalise , who recently also won the Festival della Canzone in New York. Another well known name among them is Albanian Ermal Meta , who has already participated among newccomers as the leader of band La Fame di Camilla and is now one of the most succesful songwriter for names like Annalisa and Chiara.  The we have from the other talent shows several names: from The Voice Dinastia, Timothy Cavicchini , Tommaso Pini , Francesco Guasti, Valentina Tioli and Gianmarco Dottori. From X Factor we have Violetta Zironi, Madh , Antonella Lo Coco , and Lavinia Desideri. There's even Piero Romitelli supporting his sister Valeria. Piero is the co-author of San Marino's Jesc song this year as well as that of Michele Perniola's....

Marco Mengoni released Guerriero in mid-November and becomes one of the only four double-platinum selling album in Italy in 2014. The other three are Cesare Cremonini's Logico #1 , Francesco Renga's Il mio giorno piú bello nel mondo and Fedez ft Francesco Michielin in Magnifico . I don't have the exact numbers but one thing is sure: he sold the double platinum fastest and the expectations for the release of his new album next week are very high..... Get ready for some Mengonimania in coming weeks :-) Cremonini's success continues when GreyGoose sells platinum, as well as Renga's Vivendo adesso making them the big sellers of the year. Sanremo winner Arisa also sold platinum with Controvento but is also featured in another, Club Dogo's Fragili . Other platinum singles are Biagio Antonacci's Ti penso raramente , Emis Killa's Maracanà , Giorgia's Non mi ami , The Voice winner Lorenzo Fragola's The reason why as well as runner up Madh...