Paola Iezzi managed to take the Mad-Dog to the Live show featuring original songs on X Factor 2026. During the fourth Live show, on Thursday, November 12, the band from Sassari sang in Italian on the talent show for the first time. It was the judge who had chosen the four at Last Call who wanted to hear Renato Marchisio sing in his native language. Now in her third year as a judge, Iezzi is the singer-songwriter who won Sanremo with her sister Chiara and brought dance-pop to the charts.
Who is Paola Iezzi, from 883 to success with Chiara
Born in Milan on March 30, 1974, Paola Iezzi is a singer-songwriter, musician, producer and DJ. Before achieving recording success, she performed in Milan clubs with her sister Chiara. In 1995, the two began working as backing singers for 883. In 1997, as Paola & Chiara, they won Sanremo’s Newcomers category with Amici come prima and opened for Michael Jackson’s concert at San Siro that same year.
In 2000, the duo changed its sound with Television, the album featuring Vamos a bailar (Esta vida nueva). The single won the Festivalbar, and the music video was directed by Luca Guadagnino. Songs such as Festival and Viva el amor! cemented their dance-pop turn. After the duo split in 2013, the sisters returned to compete at Sanremo in 2023 with Furore.
From a solo career to the X Factor judging panel
Paola had already embarked on her solo career in 2009 with Alone, a song in English for which she wrote the lyrics and music and handled production. Over the years, she has continued to release music under her own name, from Lovenight to Club Astronave and Stessa Direzione, released in April 2026.
She joined the X Factor judging panel in 2024. The following year, she won with rob, the stage name of Roberta Scandurra. In 2026, she returned to the judges’ table alongside Francesco Gabbani, Jake La Furia and Irama.
What Paola Iezzi asked the Mad-Dog to do
Iezzi chose Renato Marchisio, Davide Dore, Luca Pintus and Jacopo Sale at the October 15 Last Call, after their performance of Somebody Told Me by the Killers. She called them “my four Moors” when they made their live-show debut. The four are from Sassari and have an indie-rock identity and an album of original songs, Shame On Youth, released in December 2025. The band’s story before X Factor runs from Green Day covers to their first songs written in English and Italian.
After their debut with Club Foot by Kasabian, Iezzi asked the band to bring together Simon & Garfunkel’s original and the Lemonheads’ version in Mrs. Robinson. For David Bowie’s Rebel Rebel, she also worked on their stage presence, asking the four to deliver a more sensual interpretation.
On Hell Factor, the shift from Elenore by The Turtles to Scende la pioggia by Gianni Morandi was intended to let listeners hear Marchisio’s voice in Italian ahead of the original songs.
The Mad-Dog made it through the fourth Live show without facing the sing-off. On Thursday, November 19, the group will return to the stage with one of their own original songs.