Francesca Michielin

Francesca Michielin (Italian: [franˈtʃeska mikjeˈlin], Venetian: [mikjeˈliŋ]; born 25 February 1995) is an Italian singer-songwriter. She rose to fame after winning the fifth season of the Italian talent show X Factor, she published five studio albums and several successful singles, peaking four times at number one on the Italian singles chart and selling over 1.3 million copies in Italy.

Her first single, "Distratto", debuted atop the Italian Singles Charts, becoming the first female winner of X Factor to achieve it. Michielin's debut studio album, Riflessi di me, was released in October 2012, preceded by the single "Sola". Between 2013 and 2014 she recorded two commercially successful collaborations with Italian rapper Fedez "Cigno nero" and "Magnifico". During the following years, she released the albums di20 (2015) and 2640 (2018), and several hit singles, including "L'amore esiste" (2015), "Nessun grado di separazione" (2016), "Vulcano" (2017) and "Io non abito al mare" (2017). In 2020 Michielin published her fourth studio album Feat (stato di natura) with the lead single "Cheyenne", followed by Cani sciolti in 2023.

During her career, Michielin has competed thrice in the Sanremo Music Festival, placing second both in 2016 with "Nessun grado di separazione" and in 2021 with "Chiamami per nome", performed with Fedez, while coming 21st in 2025 with "Fango in paradiso". In 2016 she went on to represent Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest. She was nominated at the MTV Europe Music Award for Best Italian Act, MTV Italian Music Awards and at the italian cinematography awards David di Donatello and Nastro d'Argento for her original song "Nei tuoi occhi".

Michielin also co-wrote and produced songs with several Italian artists, including Måneskin, Giorgia, Elisa, Fabri Fibra, Carl Brave, Coma Cose, Annalisa, Alessandra Amoroso, Kid Yugi, Emma Marrone and Gaia Gozzi. In 2022 Michielin debuted as a novelist with the book Il cuore è un organo and hosted the docu-series Effetto serra and the new seasons of X Factor.

Michielin was born in Bassano del Grappa, to Vanna Moro and Tiziano Michielin. She has an older brother, Filippo. Her first experience with playing music came from studying piano, when she was 9-years-old. She later started studying electric bass. At the age of fourteen, she started singing in her hometown's gospel choir. Thanks to her brother, she developed an interest in rock music, and she later focused on artists like Bon Iver, Jeff Buckley and Damien Rice. After listening to Adele's debut album 19, Michielin started writing her own songs on piano. During high school, she also founded a three-pieces punk rock girl band, named Monkey Nuts, in which she played bass.

Before rising to fame, she was a student at the third year of the liceo classico Brocchi in Bassano del Grappa. Starting from the school's fourth year, she only took exams as an external candidate, to continue pursuing her musical career. In July 2014, she obtained the maturity diploma at the Cavanis institute in Possagno. In March 2022, she was graduated in jazz singing with honours at the Conservatory Agostino Steffani in Castelfranco Veneto.

When she was sixteen, she was asked to replace a soloist singer in a gospel concert. Her performance impressed a sound technician, who decided to register her for the auditions for the fifth series of X Factor, in 2011. She sang Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love", and she was chosen by her mentor Simona Ventura to be part of her team. During the live shows, she performed songs including Adele's "Someone Like You", "Roadhouse Blues" by The Doors, and Stevie Wonder's "Higher Ground".

On 29 December 2011, during the semi-final, Michielin premiered the song "Distratto", written by Elisa and Roberto Casalino. In the final on 5 January 2012, she was announced as the winner, beating runner up vocal group I Moderni. With her victory, she won a recording contract with Sony Music, with a stated value of €300,000.