Most of the 30 songs chosen by Amadeus for the next Italian Song Festival scheduled from 6 to 10 February could have been written by artificial intelligence
6′ reading
Don’t ask for busy texts, because you will find few: just a few flashes of neo-feminism and a couple of immigration-themed parentheses. Don’t look for rock, because you can barely smell it in some situations: Måneskin’s victory has already been archived. In Sanremo 2024 the winners are urban, four-way cash and obviously love, even better if it ends badly. This is the overall view that can be seen at the end of the pre-listenings of the 30 songs competing at the 74th edition of the Italian Song Festival, the fifth in a row under the artistic direction of Amadeus. And – if we want to be malicious – we could even say that artificial intelligence wins. In the sense that a well-trained Ai could easily have written a good part of the songs we will listen to from February 6th to 10th. Which, always looking at the overall picture, did not excite us. Here are our very bad report cards.
Clara, «Rough diamonds» 5-
The winner of Sanremo Giovani sings to a very tense dance pop: «What are we?/ We are diamonds in the rough/ They fall into a thousand pieces of a single story/ Where will we go then?» Not very far away, we might answer.
Diodato, «You move» 5.5
In 2020 he won, thanks to the vote of the press room which, with the regulations of the time, had a very important weight. Immediately afterwards there was the difficult lockdown season which certainly did not help the growth of his project. Diodato chooses to return to Sanremo with a piano ballad with an intimate verse that evolves into a chorus that opens just as Amadeus likes. Will they be enough to bring him back to the podium?
Mahmood, «Tuta gold» 6-
Watch out for Mahmood who, when he passes for Ariston, always finds a way to win something. This time he plays with a super-produced urban piece, set on the edge of the suburbs. Between those who dreamed of making it and those who actually made it: «We danced in the North area / When you called me bro / With flowers flowers in the gold tracksuit / You smoked half of them». Hence the euphoria surrounding the song.
Sangiovanni, «Finish me» 4.5
Even young people evidently have their heart problems. Listen to Sangiovanni’s poignant ballad-style testimony: «You who don’t love me/ And I’m still calling you/ to tell you/ Finish me/ Make me feel how terrible I am». You would want to put it into words and unplug the stereo system.
Loredana Berté, «Crazy» 7
Go to the pre-listenings of Sanremo 2024 and you will hear the best song sung by a (non) 73 year old lady who was already there at Sanremo 1986. Loredana Berté returns to the Ariston with a post rock ride built on a riff that recalls the latest Smashing Pumpkins (!) and a refrain that is a bit of a variation on the theme of Dedicato a: «I’m crazy about myself / And I want to shout it again / I don’t need anyone who forgives me / I do it alone, alone”. We are already crazy about her but we still have a doubt: will the performance on stage be the same as the studio version?
BNKR44, «Governo punk» 5-
BNKR44 come from Sanremo Giovani, contain representations of rock and roll, some clever quotes (“Give me a bit of yourself, a piece of Blur, a club to rock) and some simple ones («Put another film, a piece of Queen »). The best thing about their piece is the title.
Alessandra Amoroso, «Up to here» 5.5
The Loving aims to bring adults and children together with a little help from Takagi and Ketra. Ballad with the chorus that takes up the concept of La Haine by Mathieu Kassovitz: «And even if I slowly fall down/ from a skyscraper/ during the flight/ floor after floor/ I repeat myself/ so far so good». Not our cup of tea, but the reasoning must have been «Give the people of Sanremo what they want».
Fred De Palma, «Heaven doesn’t want us» 4-
Dancing tamarrata who seems to have been generated by artificial intelligence: «But you promise me that/ we’ll be fine even in hell/ Heaven doesn’t want us». Who knows in hell what they think.
Fiorella Mannoia, «Mariposa» 6
Mannoia latinizes about butterflies and freedom with a hermetic text on being a woman today: «I am the witch at the top of the pyre/ a butterfly who holds the rifle/ a queen without a throne/ a crown of orange and thorns». You are political.
The Kolors, «A boy a girl» 6
Seventies dancefloor that exploits the long wave of Italodisco’s success. Stash brings the sense of airplay, Davide Petrella the Sanremo mood. «A boy meets a girl». The experiment can reach the podium area.
Emma, «Apnea» 5
Music is alchemy. Emma, Davide Petrella, Paolo Antonacci and Julien Boverod get together to make a contemporary pop song and what emerges is what could be a piece by Pupo: «It’s my fault/ If now we’re in the balance/ But it’s your fault/ You have eyes that they kill me.” We are left holding our breath.
French saints, «Love in the mouth» 5.5
Winners of De gustibus.
Rose Villain, «Click boom!» 4
It starts as a dark ballad and becomes a dance catchphrase: «I still remember the sound click boom boom boom/ Feel my heart go like this boom boom boom/ I run to you on my vroom vroom vroom». As the poet would say: “The boss’s broom has a hole in the tire.”
Negramaro, «Let’s start everything again» 6-
First participation in the competition at the Sanremo festival for Negramato who start everything again by betting on an epic ballad à la Negramaro: «And then it rains from that hole on your heads/ yes, but it doesn’t matter/ We’ll start again anyway/ I don’t even know where». Twenty years ago they would have won easily, twenty years later who knows.
Big Mama, «Anger is not enough for you» 3
Usual four-piece bass drum and chorus full of general, generic gender claims: «Look at me/Now I’m someone else/Anger isn’t enough for me» Precisely: the vote is 3.
Renga and Nek, «Crazy about you» 4.5
Pop guitar ballad about the inevitability of love, a feeling that, however you put it, our two boys from the nineties just can’t do without: “I’m crazy about you and you don’t know how I’d like to do without it.” In confidence: we too would have gladly done without it.
Ghali, «My house» 5-
Urban designed for Ghali’s return in style. Lyrics full of great truths: «The meadow is green, greener, greener/ The sky is blue, blue, blue». The authors, in addition to Ghali, are Davide Petrella and Michelangelo but we would have also very well seen Maccio Capatonda in the Padre Maronno version.
Irama, “Not you” 4-
Irama leaves shouting, as if he were a postmodern Adriano Pappalardo: “Just a stupid song to bring you back to me.” We sincerely wish him to reconcile with the recipient of the song, but elsewhere.
Angelina Mango, “The Bride” 6-
Angelina Mango enlists Madame and Dardust to try to leave their mark in this Sanremo. About her Her “her is the cumbia of boredom”, you hear it once and you remember it: programmed for the podium area.
Geolier, «I p’ me, tu p’ te» 5-
The concept is the same as Bob Dylan’s Most Likely You Go Your Way (and I’ll Go Mine), the developments are quite different. The genre is urban, the language bold: «Nuij simm ddoje stell ca stann precipitann». He’s not Neapolitan: he’s Neapolitan.
Maninni, «Spectacular» 5
Pop on the piano, ballad with a catchy refrain about the importance of being together: «But hug me, hug me, it’s normal/ Holding you tight is spectacular». Not a very original show.
La Sad, «Self-destructive» 6-
A necessary premise: in the 2023 pre-listenings we gave 6- to Splash by Colapesce and Dimartine, yet it was the most beautiful song of that festival by far. We realized it on the second listen, because that was a piece to listen to and listen to again in order to be appreciated. For this reason, we would like to listen to La Sad’s Autodestructive a second and third time as they try to tell the mainstream public the point of view of those who live on the margins by choice (“And I also vomit my soul to feel alive inside this mess” ) with the help of Riccardo Zanotti of Pinguini Tattici Nucleari.
Gazelles, «That’s all» 5.5
Brit ballad with some original metaphors (“We look like two pandas”) and an easy to memorize refrain: “I would like to watch the past with you / against the wall with the projector”. That’s all.
Annalisa, «Sincerely» 5-
Honestly, we haven’t heard such a clever dance pop piece in Sanremo for a while: «Honestly when when when when I cry». It will work, you can bet on it, but even in this case we smell of artificial intelligence.
Alpha, “Go!” 3
The verse sounds like an Oasis cover, just a little more free-range than the original. Dear Alfa, we couldn’t have said it better: go!
Il Volo, «Masterpiece» 4.5
For the Volo tenors, a return to the Ariston under the banner of modesty. You pass through the Eighties ballad structure with the trademark set voice that emerges here and there, but how do you title a piece Masterpiece? In the Po Valley they would say: «Vula bass’».
Dargen D’Amico, «High wave» 6.5
Among the very few songs in this edition that want to say something more than the usual I love you: «The high wave is coming / We stay still and we don’t talk and we don’t jump». Let’s hope it actually arrives.
The Three, «Fragile» 4-
Usual catchy little pop with some urban suggestions: «We are as fragile as snow, like two cracks». Fragile a bit like this song.
Mr. Rain, «Two Swings» 4
Chef Mr. Rain cooks the house specialty: the pop song that all children will like, a bit like schnitzel with chips: «You and I stop the world when we are together / even if it lasts a second like comets» . We would already be satisfied if they stopped the glycemic index.
Ricchi e Poveri, «But not all life» sv
In Amadeus’ Sanremo there is never a lack of retro quota: this time it is expressed by the Ricchi e Poveri who produce what should be a contemporary pop: «Even the most beautiful rose becomes withered/Okay I’ll wait for you but not all my life» . Unjustifiable.
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Francesco Prisco
Editor
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2024-01-15 17:00:45
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