Francesca Michielin - "No Degree of Separation"

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" (2018), "Io non abito al mare" (2018) and (2019). 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, 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.