Gigi D’Alessio, the king of molasses: 4.5 rating
Balance on the throne. For the third consecutive year, Gigi D’Alessio is reconfirmed as king of malassa in the jury. Also in this new edition, in fact, the Neapolitan singer-songwriter has implemented his proven strategy “violining to catch” and voilà the team is served. Difficult to trace something memorable of his seasonal sitting in the red armchair. But not impossible: thanks to The Voice Senior 3 we learned how ours has a life-size statue of Elvis at home (which Loredana Bertè gave him years ago). He keeps it near the piano (in turn a cadeau by Renato Carosone). Basically, he gives the impression of living in a very kitschy 5-star pawn shop. However painful, the notes of most of the duets in which he has chosen to embark as if they were a nice thought for viewers. Particularly criminal, the version of the monumental Never tell him “embellished” with random bars by rapper Clementino. On the other hand, the barbarous courage with which the bespectacled coach uttered the following sentence is to be envied: “I don’t like pimps”. Oxymoron D’Alessio.
Clementino, half jester half scavenger fish: vote 7
We told them all sorts of things. Yet, looking back on the entire edition as a whole, one would like to thank him. His indefatigably out of place exploits, sometimes managed to really give more rhythm and liveliness to the episodes of The Voice Senior, also thanks to the inertia of some colleagues on the jury. Literally a nineties tourist entertainer plunged into 2023 via time travel gone wrong, the forty-year-old rapper knew how to move among the sacred monsters of Italian music around him. Typically, to annoy them. Although the constant affectionate quarrels with D’Alessio were repetitive (they have been going on since the first edition, we understand the game), individually Clementino the coach-jester still had his own cards to play. And the team he put together is proof of that. Furthermore, it is impossible not to empathize with those who, on paper, are at a disadvantage. Cross of this edition for him, the fact that very few competitors chose him. So, in defiance of adversity, he was almost always the first to turn around at the first note emitted by the aspirant, intoned or not, thus trying to let the unfortunate person feel a priori trust and take home the bone. His the role of scavenger fish from The Voice Senior 3, a beggar who made it.
Rich and Poor fugitives, who have come to do us: vote 3
Mamma Maria, how boring these Rich and Poor! New entries in the third edition of the talent show, the Clerici’s Angels Angelo Sotgiu and Angela Brambati didn’t shine for exuberance, betraying expectations. In the course of the episodes, we saw them bragging about an employment agency – they were pitying golden throats with the promise of including them in their band – but above all tired repeaters. Rarely, have they contributed to the show with anecdotes or notable remarks, merely following along from the other coaches. The only pale attempt to throw herself into the fray was that of Brambati when she, arming herself with profane courage, attempted to cajole a competitor by intoning a Neapolitan neo-melodic piece. It’s a pity that only she, as a Genoese by birth, managed to cancel out every possible inflection. A dialectal mess that is not enough to awaken from the vigilant coma into which she has poured their participation in a double seat in this talent. And to think that the two, who in the meantime we will see again from Saturday 4 March together with the rest of the jury on The Voice Kids, had even proposed themselves to Milly Carlucci as competitors in the next edition of Dancing with the Stars. Maybe we won’t get rid of it so soon. Of course, we could do without it.
Loredana Bertè supreme queen: vote 10
“I am the daughter of a certain fame, I am a daughter of Loredana”, so Bertè sang just a couple of years ago. And to see her dominate the judging panel of The Voice Senior for the third year in a row, there is no doubt about her hypothesis that she may have given birth on her own. Her charisma of steel, also this season she was the most coveted coach by the competitors in the race. The best of her, in a parterre made up of excellence, always ended up straight to her. And she repaid the tributes with sci-fi anecdotes about her dazzling past. We list just a few, in pieces: she ice-skated with Federico Fellini in New York and, still in the Big Apple, she attended an English course with Pele as classmate. In the seventies, she was in the cast of the musical Hair, here in Italy, and was “more time in court than in the rehearsal room” because of some nude scenes that so offended the public morals of our bigoted Bel Paese. And not only. Loredana recounts: “I was arrested in Santiago for my too daring clothing. ‘I’m dressed as me, as Loredana’, I told him, ‘if you wanted Orietta Berti, you had to call her’”. And so, that time, due to forced detention, the possibility of performing at the Viña del Mar Festival in Chile vanished for her. Meanwhile, today, she declares that she wants to go on stage at the next Sanremo. Future plans? continue to reign.
Duets like grasshoppers, someone disinfect the stage: vote 4
Duets, duets everywhere. During the edition, we had already dealt with the thorny theme of the featurings that storm the stage of The Voice Senior as if they were invasions of crazed grasshoppers. Only Loredana Bertè has always managed to score points, bringing high-level performances to the stage. The other coaches, with the exception of the sympathetic curtain between Ricchi e Poveri and Don Bruno Maggioni, could have avoided (and spared us) the punctual torture. Already mentioned, the tremendous “mash-up” by Clementino and Gigi D’Alessio on the notes of Non dirgli Mai. However, all the attempts of captatio benevolentiae made by the jurors to ingratiate themselves with a coveted competitor by going on stage with him (or her) are also avoidable. They left a lot to be desired. D’Alessio at the piano, Clementino and his criminal bars, all musical massacres that could (and perhaps should have) been avoided. The short duration was the only intrinsic quality of such a ritualistic atrocity. For the next edition, with heart and eardrums in hand, we hope appropriate cuts in the lineup.
Antonella Clerici, at the helm without protagonisms: vote 9
We recently saw her go wild on the notes of “Furore” together with Paola and Chiara during È Semper Mezzogiorno (Rai 1). Antonella Clerici knows how to take the stage, but she also boasts enough foresight and empathy to step aside, as she does on The Voice Senior, in order to let the contestants shine with their exceptional voices and personal stories. The plausible risk was that of running into an excess of emotainment, focusing on “tear-ripping” narratives that would have moved, but also weighed down the viewers. A bit like what had unfortunately happened in the latest edition of “Dancing with the Stars” where, quoting the jury, “the only contestant who said he was happy was killed in the third episode”. Clerici, presenter-hen shouting “Long live life!”, chases away all the horror of pain TV and never lingers on the dramatic parts of the experience of those in front of her, to give light, instead, to those of rebirth . Before performing, each golden uvula sat down on the sofa with her to tell a little about herself. And the result was, punctually, a polite, respectful portrait, full of positive energy. It wasn’t obvious. And for that we are very grateful to him.
The game is beautiful when it doesn’t last long (even on TV): vote 8.5
Despite the insufficiencies that, in the report card, certainly cannot be missing, The Voice Senior reconfirms itself as a beautiful and consolidated surprise in the generalist TV schedules. Since the announcement of the first edition, one would have expected a talent focused on two main ingredients: tears and trash. Instead, none of these feral components has almost never peeped on the stage of the show or behind the scenes. Among the exceptional cast of Over 60, there are those who sing without half a lung, those who have never been able (but always wanted) to give themselves up to singing, those who met the woman of their life in the hospital ward after an operation that, on paper, would have left him with very little hope of survival. But also those who attended the Actors Studio in New York to then collaborate with Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin and go on a US tour with Joe Cocker. Others have “happened” to write lyrics (or music) for memorable songs for Mina, Francesco De Gregori or Lucio Dalla. All the stories of the contestants are singular and very personal, as much as their voices which, in terms of intonation, far exceed the average of far more acclaimed talents that we are used to putting up with as if they were not an offense to our eardrums. Finally, all these roller coasters of emotions and superfine performances have the inestimable advantage of being condensed into a civil playing time: each episode, like Cinderella, closes its doors at the stroke of midnight. Today as today, a truly unusual form of respect for viewers (who, in fact, reciprocate the courtesy with sensational ratings). In seven evenings, then, the winner is immediately elected and an appointment for the coming year. Yes, the game is good when it doesn’t last long. Even on TV.
Maria Teresa wins and it’s a happy ending (also for Clementino): 8.5 mark
«This is a program that gives strength to talent», thus a proud Stefano Coletta closes his speech on the stage of The Voice Senior to praise the talent of Rai 1 and leave room for the announcement of the winner. With 31.19% of the preferences, Maria Teresa Reale of the Clementino Team triumphs (which, for the first time in three editions, sees one of her competitors arrive on the top step of the podium). Maria Teresa, 61, bewitched the audience of the first Rai network by singing Oggi sono io, the historic ballad by Alex Britti, but in Mina’s version. She was born in Sora, in the eighties she sang in piano bars. Then, she put her passion aside to devote herself to teaching. Until the challenge of The Voice Senior that saw her triumph, with merit, over the other three super finalists: Paolo Piluso (Ricchi e Poveri), Lisa Malosperti (Loredana Bertè) and Alex Sure (Clementino). Last year’s winning coach, Gigi D’Alessio, was dry-mouthed, sportingly taking the defeat: «The public is king». Maria Teresa was very excited about the goal achieved, bordering on disbelief. Now, in addition to the great personal satisfaction, the recording of an unreleased song for Universal Music awaits her as a reward, which will be included in an EP with all the covers she presented on the stage of the talent show Over 60. Well deserved victory, even though the competition was more than fierce. Nearly all of the 12 finalists, especially the four who went on to contend for the crown, would not have been charged with burglary if they had won. In any case, congratulations to Maria Teresa, the public wanted to reward her elegance, class, spotless vocal perfection. And it was a happy ending.
