Casadilego: “After X Factor disappearing was a saving grace”
To some his name might mean something, to others not. It was 2020 when Casadilego, real name Elisa Coclite, won the fourteenth edition of X Factor at just 17 years old. She entered the Sky talent show as the announced winner, after having moved the jury, including Manuel Agnelli, with a cover of “A case of you” by Joni Mitchell. What led her to triumph over her coach Hell Raton: in the aftermath of the victory, on 11 December 2020, Sony Music – at the time the recording partner of The EP remained for six years the only project published by Casadilego, who in these six years took a long break from discography, «but not from music». A Silence from which the singer-songwriter from Abruzzo now re-emerges with an album, the first of her unreleased songs, which is called “Silenzio”: it contains nine songs that mix American, British and Irish folk with analogue electronics, giving shape to an alternative, intimate and personal pop. «For me it is the victory of the artisanal intelligence of things, in a time in which coolness seems to be the exact opposite», she says.
What do you mean exactly?
«I grew up with acoustic instruments, I studied piano. Besides being ignorant, I’m also not a fan of anything that has to do with electronics. I’m happy to have been able to produce this project in the way I’m capable of doing it: analogue in all respects, organic, warm, true, today when music is artificial.”
What title is “Silence”?
«The song of the same name has something to do with it. I wrote it many years ago and initially it talked about something completely different, about unrequited childhood love, about a person who disappeared taking all the pieces of me with them. Over time it took on a different, deeper meaning. It has become the description of mourning, but a figurative one: the passing of time, nostalgia. And also about me who wrote the song.”
Did this mourning also have to do with what many believed to be Casadilego’s artistic death, after the talent show?
«No, the opposite. I chose to stay silent rather than share music that didn’t make me satisfied and happy. But I never stopped making music. I simply took the time to work on a musical project that was worthwhile. I studied, I worked a lot in the theater (in 2023 he acted alongside Manuel Agnelli in the Italian version of “Lazarus”, the musical on which David Bowie worked before his death, brought to the stage by Walter Malosti, for a total of over fifty performances, ed.) and I prepared myself psychologically and emotionally for a moment of true sharing, like this.”
How did you manage pressure and expectations after winning the “X Factor”?
«It was very useful to have real musical training and real experience, thanks to my parents, both musicians. Before entering the program and the discography I already had an idea of what the profession of a musician was. I’ve always been interested in that, more than the fame or what comes with such an experience. It helped me avoid falling into the trap of failure. Disappearing wasn’t painful, but saving. Meeting people who have the same vision of music as me has made the difference.”
Who are these people?
«In addition to my current staff (it entered the roster of Otr, the Roman agency which is the home of Italian songwriting of the last thirty years, from Carmen Consoli to Max Gazzè, from Diodato to Daniele Silvestri, passing through La Nina, ed.), the musicians who actually worked on the album: Donato Di Trapani, Carmelo Drago, Davide Savaresem Samuele Barracco and Dani Castelar, former right-hand man of Paolo Nutini, artistic producer of the entire project. Dani revolutionized some songs that I thought were dead.”
How?
«Giving another life to these songs that have accumulated over time and which as such were. Like parchment.”
Excuse me?
«They were so ancient and told such young things that I struggled to see them in another, more current guise. I succeeded with him.”
“I was taken advantage of in the wrong way by the music industry, they wanted to turn me into something I didn’t want to be,” you said. These are serious accusations.
«It’s true, but as far as I’m concerned they are profoundly sincere. I don’t want to demonize the record companies I’m talking about. This is how business works. I was simply very small and the plan that was attempted to be made for me was wrong. You could feel it in the result: I didn’t like their vision, they didn’t like mine. I terminated the contract (with Sony, ed.). We realized that it was a marriage destined to fail before it was celebrated.”
Have you ever had psychological breakdowns, in these six years, like those that affected Sangiovanni and Angelina Mango? Or was the “Silence” a shield?
«Silence was a shield. I didn’t have the same media and physical pressure as Sangiovanni and Angelina, whom I respect deeply. Working immediately afterwards in the theater alongside Manuel Agnelli made the difference: it helped me to be part of a working group and not be alone on stage. I wasn’t the protagonist, but the music.”
If you could go back, would you participate in the talent show again, or would you look for another path for your music?
«It’s difficult to answer. If it hadn’t been for talent I would now be a classical pianist. I would have gladly saved myself the three years following the program, which were a nightmare. But if I had never participated I wouldn’t be here talking about my album now.”
What’s in the future of Casadilego?
«Many concerts, I hope. In the meantime, we have announced the first two dates: on April 11th I will be at the Parco della Musica in Rome, on the 18th at the Circo Arci Bellezza in Milan. The two dates are the preview of a larger summer tour. I will let the spectators enter the wonderful studio where we recorded the album and they will feel all the energy of the collective.”
