Noemi ( born Veronica Scopelliti on 25 January 1982) is an Italian singer-songwriter. She rose to fame in 2009, after competing in the second season of Italian talent show X Factor. Immediately after being eliminated from the competition, she released her debut single, “Briciole”, which peaked at number 2 on the FIMI Singles Chart. As of 2022, she has released 6 studio albums, which spawned commercially successful singles such as “Vuoto a perdere”, “Sono solo parole”, “La borsa di una donna”, “Glicine” and the chart toppers “L’amore si odia”, featuring vocals by Fiorella Mannoia, and “Per tutta la vita”. She dueted with Italian band Stadio and with rapper Fedez, among others, and her single “Makumba”, a duet with Carl Brave, became a summer hit in 2021. Noemi performed songs for the soundtrack of Italian films Women vs. Men and Domani è un altro giorno, receiving a special Nastro d’Argento award in 2019.

During her career, Noemi recorded songs written for her by well-known songwriters, including Vasco Rossi, Fabrizio Moro, Ivano Fossati, Tommaso Paradiso, Marco Masini, Federico Zampaglione, Giuliano Sangiorgi and Gaetano Curreri. She competed seven times in the Sanremo Music Festival between 2010 and 2022. She toured several times across Italy, performing in theatres, clubs and outdoor venues.

Between 2013 and 2015, she was a coach for three seasons in The Voice of Italy, and in 2019 she appeared as a judge on the second season of Sanremo Young. Noemi was born in Rome, the eldest daughter of Armando and Stefania. Her father was an entrepreneur, and he became a city councilor in Vasto, while her mother was a painter. Both of them tried to pursue a musical career, with Armando competing in the Castrocaro Music Festival, and Stefania performing as an amateur singer. She has a younger sister, Arianna. When she was 19-months-old, she appeared in a TV commercial for diapers brand Pampers. She graduated from the Roma Tre University in 2005, earning a Bachelor of Arts in performing arts. During her studies, she worked as a filmmaker for Italian television Nessuno TV.

In 2007, Noemi took part in SanremoLab, a competition aimed at selecting three artists to debut in the Newcomers Section of the Sanremo Music Festival 2008. She was among the twelve finalists with her song “Briciole”, but she was not chosen by the artistic director of the 2008 contest, Pippo Baudo. With her band, named Bagajajo, Noemi also performed in several small venues in Rome, mainly singing English-language covers.

In late 2008, Noemi auditioned for the second series of X Factor, which started in January 2009. She was one of four singers in the “Over 25” category, mentored by Morgan. Noemi recorded a studio version of Vasco Rossi’s “Albachiara” and Ivano Fossati’s “La costruzione di un amore”, originally performed at X Factor, for the official show’s compilation albums, titled X Factor Anteprima Compilation 2009 and X Factor Finale Compilation 2009, respectively. She was eliminated before the semi-finals of the competition, placing fifth overall. Despite this, she appeared as a guest in the following episode of the show, performing her debut single “Briciole”. The song was her entry in SanremoLab 2007, but was never released or publicly performed before. In April 2009, the single peaked at number two on the Italian Singles Chart compiled by FIMI. Shortly after, her self-titled extended play was released by Sony Music. The studio set featured four original songs, including the single “Briciole”, and two covers. During the summer of 2009, Noemi toured in Italy, performing at several small local events and patronal festivals.

On 21 June 2009, she was among 43 female artists performing at the San Siro stadium in Milan during the charity event Amiche per l’Abruzzo, created by Laura Pausini with the purpose to raise funds supporting the reconstruction in the territories affected by the 2009 L’Aquila earthquake. She sang Irene Grandi’s “La tua ragazza sempre” with Grandi herself, Syria and Dolcenera. On 19 August of the same year, she also performed at the Concerto per Viareggio, a charity event, created by Zucchero, whose proceeds were devolved to the families of the victims of the Viareggio train derailment.

Noemi and Fiorella Mannoia (pictured in 2009) recorded together the song “L’amore si odia”, released as the first single from Noemi’s debut album Sulla mia pelle Noemi’s first full-length studio album, Sulla mia pelle, was released by Sony Music on 2 October 2009. The album, produced by Diego Calvetti, featured a song written by Baustelle’s frontman Francesco Bianconi, and a duet with Fiorella Mannoia, titled “L’amore si odia”. “L’amore si odia” was released as the album’s lead single, and spent two consecutive weeks at number one on the Italian FIMI singles chart.