Marina Rei - Return to happiness

The Roman singer-songwriter tells us about her new album, “Per essere felici“, exploring new perspectives, a deep sense of intimacy, and an existentialism that is as engaging as it is effective.

You're one of the few Italian multi-instrumentalists and singer-songwriters: how is it that such a statement can still be made in Italy?

I've always thought of music as a musician as well as a singer, so as to be equipped both to write a song and to perform it - an approach I imagine is just part of my DNA.

Twenty-five years since your first album. What's changed since then?

I'd say a lot has changed - I've grown, and that growth has brought with it an undeniable personal and musical evolution. There are certainly differences both in the writing and in the production. You learn, and you try to keep doing better. The bar keeps getting raised, each time becoming a new challenge.

According to "Per essere felici", what should we do or not do to be happy? Struggle, or "let go", as you sang a few years ago?

Speaking for myself, being happy is probably the result of the choices we make over time - difficult choices. It's proof of the courage we've had, of the toll it inevitably takes to have left behind so many certainties, setting off instead on a rough road with no clear direction. Maybe that's what it takes to be happy: reaching the point where the struggle no longer weighs on you, and what's stronger is the satisfaction of having managed to carry on despite the difficulties.

So "words matter", to quote Nanni Moretti's famous line: do you think that, today, not just songwriting but culture as a whole still pays attention to the "logos", or are we drifting toward an unprecedented linguistic laxity?

Words need to carry weight - I write that too in the song "L'occasione per conoscerci meglio". Everything changes so fast, we need to focus more on the meaning of what's being said; otherwise we risk running into far too much superficiality, and above all we risk letting words become weapons of oppression and incitement to hatred.

The protagonist of this album is a woman, mature, who has come to terms with her own life and her own choices: the outcome hasn't always been reassuring, as she searches the mirror for answers that are often, in fact, locked away in unknown corners of the heart. What key do you use, or did you use, to open those hidden drawers?

Naturally with the key of fragility and suffering, coming to terms with myself. The key of truth and sincerity, being conscious of who you are and what you want, of the limits and the enormous difficulties you'll run into, of the rejections and indifference, but also of those moments of beauty when you'll feel appreciated, which will repay you for everything.

These are very personal songs, born of lived experience, like "Comunque tu", which deals with the father figure and a relationship that isn't always easy to handle. What chords did you want to strike with that song?

The whole album is about me, about an important part of me. In "Comunque tu" there's the daughter, and the suffering in the necessary separation from the parental figure, the father figure who has always been a strong presence in my life and of great importance in my music. On the other hand, in "Bellissimo", there's the desire for independence and freedom of a son I see growing and changing. It's as if it were the same need told once through the eyes of a mother and once through those of a daughter.

Yours has been a career that's stayed independent over the years: what would you advise a young singer-songwriter today? 

To go for it, if that's really what she wants, but also to be aware of the enormous difficulties she'll encounter.

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