X Factor is a Romanian television music competition that aims to find a new music talent to become a star. The seventh season will started airing on 10 September 2017 on Antena 1.[1]
The hosts are the same as in the first six seasons: Răzvan Simion and Dani Oțil, who are also known for hosting a well known morning show on Antena 1. Delia Matache, Horia Brenciu, Carla's Dreams and Ștefan Bănică, Jr. returned to the judging panel.[2]
Jeremy Ragsdale won the competition, making Horia Brenciu's second win as a mentor.
Delia Matache is a famous Romanian eurobeat singer-songwriter, TV celebrity, dancer, philanthropist, former model, fashion designer. She has started her stage music activity in 1999 in N&D music band with Nicolae Marin and had released 4 albums, and after the split off in 2003 she had released another two solo albums.
Horia Brenciu is a Romanian singer, television host for the Romanian version of Dancing with the Stars, successful entertainer, and philanthropist. He studied at National College Andrei Şaguna from Braşov, then he continued to Şcoala Populară de Artă Braşov, at piano and canto class, and in 1998 he graduated The Theater Academy in Bucharest.
Ștefan Bănică, Jr. is a Romanian entertainer, of Roma people origin on his father side, TV presenter, one of the most important Romanian TV personality, the son of actor Ștefan Bănică. He is well known in Romanian for presenting the Romanian version of “Dancing with the Stars”, the largest dance competition ever aired in Romania, broadcast on Pro TV.
Carla's Dreams is a Moldavian musical project which was initiated by Dobra Robert in 2012. The band is an anonymous group of singers and composers who sing in Romanian, Russian and English. During concerts the band's vocalist wears hood, sunglasses and a masked to hide his identity.
Established in Chișinău, Carla's Dreams combines several musical styles, including hip hop, jazz, rock and pop. The first song produced by Carla's Dreams was Dă-te ("Get Off"). Carla's Dreams has launched in Romania in 2013, along with Inna with the song P.O.H.U.I., later to sing with Loredana "Lumea Ta" ("Your World"), and in 2015 with Delia, releasing songs "Cum Ne Noi" ("How We Us") and "Da, Mamă" ("Yes, Mother").
Cities that auditions and/or pre-auditions were held in.
Audition process was based on the British and American version. First up were "The Producer's Audition", where the producers chose singers to proceed to the second phase which was "The Audition before the Judging panel".
The auditions were broadcast from 8 September 2017 until 17 November 2017. The auditions consisted in 11 episodes.
Bootcamp
This season, there will be four categories : Boys (14–24 years), Girls (14–24 years), Over 24s and the Groups.
Brenciu will mentor the Over 24s, Bănică the Boys, Carla's Dream the Groups and Matache will mentor the Girls.[3][4][5]
Complete Teams
Color key
– Eliminated in Four-chair challenge
– Eliminated in Duels
– Finalist
– Wildcard
Category (mentor)
Top 41 acts
Boys (Bănică)
Anton Banaghan
Pierluca Salvatore
Alin Buruiană
Gabriel Haralambie
Viorel Grecu
Cristian Porcari
Sebastian Hădărean
Lilian Dobândă
Simone Venditti
Radu Mitrea
Girls (Matache)
Alina Mocanu
Teodora Sava
Ioana Mîrți
Francesca Nicolescu
Costina Crăciun
Ana Nica Văcari
Isabela Chitoșcă
Ioana Savu
Narcisa Stănescu
Mikayla Kachur
Geanina Mîndrescu
Over 24s (Brenciu)
Katerina Biehu
Jeremy Ragsdale
Alexandra Crăescu
Vlad Gliga
Armando Drăgan
Georgi Simeonov
Cristi Nistor
Maria Gogu
Miruna Ionescu
Mike Obinna
Groups (Carla's)
Ad Libitum
Flashback
18:27
Dream Girls
X Fusion
Daudia
Random
Artizan
Debu & Vasâi
Denisa & Rebeca
Four-chair challenge
This season, the categories will face the four-chair challenge. From the 41 acts competing (the Girls category had an extra act), at the end of this round, only 16 acts will go further in the competition.[6][7]
The four-chair challenge were broadcast from 23 November 2017 until 7 December 2017. This consisted in 4 episodes, one for each group.
Color key
– Contestant was immediately eliminated after performance without switch
– Contestant was switched out later in the competition and eventually eliminated
– Contestant was not switched out and made the final four of their own category
Contestants performances on the four-chair challenge
^ 1. The act Alina Mocanu was switched with Teodora Sava and therefore eliminated. After the performance of Isabela Chitoșcă, Delia decided to recall Alina Mocanu in the competition, stating she has made a mistake, concluding with Ana Nica Văcari elimination.[8]
^ 2. The act Debu & Văsâi was offered a chair, but due to Debu's response when asked if they want a chair ("I don't care"), Carla's decided to eliminate them.
Duels
At the end of this round there will be 8 acts remaining, two for each category.
The duels were broadcast on 8 December 2017.
Colour key:
- Artist won the Duel and advanced to the Live shows
In this season, like season 6, the public will have the chance to save one of the acts that competed in the Auditions. The most voted act will go directly to the Live Shows. In the first live show if one of the mentor decides to take him in his team, then he will go further in the competition, otherwise he will be sent home.
The winner of this season selected by the public was Francesca Nicolescu, from the Girls Category.
Finalists
The nine finalists will compete in the Live Shows.
