Sanremo 2025

An essential guide to surviving Sanremo week, to read and consult as needed, share with friends and in WhatsApp groups. As soon as a rapper appears on stage, that way, you won't have to ask your nephew if that's Emis Killa (spoiler: it isn't, he pulled out).

For each of the 29 singers competing in the “Big” category, the ones not under investigation for criminal association, you'll find: essential biographical info to show off like some Marino Bartoletti wannabe; a short introduction of no more than 100 words (promised) that you can even memorize for the office, the local bar or family gatherings, dazzling onlookers with your wit and preparation; the title of the competing song and a comment on the lyrics, exactly as published in the essential “Tv Sorrisi e Canzoni” of February 4th, the true sacred text over which to spend sleepless nights searching for meaning.

To help you even more memorize this army of singers, then, a prejudice. Basically, we do almost all the hard work ourselves, so that all you have to do is watch the Festivàl or, believe it or not, not even watch it at all and still be able to fake being in the know. All of this, being written before the songs have been made public, with a hefty dose of guesswork and boundless divination, where santería meets the cult of Hastur and the prophet Habakkuk. These are the harsh rules of Sanremo week, which bend even the laws of dead-serious music criticism to carnival spirit and trash. “Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch’intrate all’Ariston”, wrote the Poet, but then he had to cut it short for metrical reasons.

Achille Lauro – “Incoscienti giovani”

Whether because of his previous three appearances at Sanremo, or because of the character he is, everyone knows him. Even Chiara Ferragni knows Fabrizio Corona quite well, trusting as she does in him. There was a time when he did trap, there was a time when he was a rapper, but it was a youthful pretext for becoming a third-rate quick-change artist, good enough to amaze Helen Lovejoy. Now he's more introspective, bringing a ballad he calls retro and aiming to win over mothers and daughters by singing about Rome's outskirts and love. Lyrics full of clichés straight out of a half-hearted movie: “Mezza sigaretta e dopo addio”.

Prejudice: repentant quick-change artist turns into a cut-rate traditionalist. Right-wing newspapers are baffled.

Bresh – "La tana del granchio"

The first "who on earth is this?" moment for anyone over 40 following our guide, with the risk that the more distracted among them might confuse him with a Unilever detergent. He came to Sanremo as Emma Marrone's guest, and now he's back, seeing as his hometown of Bogliasco isn't far off. You might know him from "Guasto d'amore", a five-platinum disaster. He falls into the category of artists making pop with homeopathic doses of rap, melancholic and reflective. The lyrics go: "I have the wrong word for every sentence". Well then, come write your own profile, why don't you.

Prejudice: a local scene singer on loan to rap and wannabe cantautore improvises himself into the heir of the Genoese school. Rejected.

Brunori Sas – "L'albero delle noci"

The intellectual quota, the "real music" quota, the "critics' award" quota. If Fabio Fazio had come back, rather than just Brunori Sas he'd have brought the whole holding company with him. A fish out of water, Calabrian singer-songwriter Dario Brunori will act as a balm between one ugly moment and the next. A song about his young daughter, who'll grow up all too soon, and the fears of parenthood. Every so often he lets the poetic side slip out, writing lines like "sono cresciuto in una terra crudele dove la neve si mescola al miele".

Prejudice: in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king. Brunori has two eyes.

Clara – "Febbre"

It must be tough when your whole career revolves around Sanremo at just 25. The Yamamay ambassador describes herself as changed, more mature, but asked for a catchphrase for her second Festival in two years, she can't come up with one: unstoppable! Foreign buzzwords aside, which will leave the boomers baffled, the lyrics seem unbearable, and she'll probably sing and rap them without particular distinction. There's a real risk she'll be forgotten before the next Sanremo rolls around, lingerie photos and videos permitting.

Prejudice: young model and actress passes through the Ariston and, while she's at it, sings too. Forgettable.

Coma_Cose – "Cuoricini"

California and Fausto Lama used to be fun, but then success knocked them out and changed them. They made a kind of pop with a rap edge, ironic and poetic, urban and dreamlike. More melancholic and indie, they won over the Sanremo crowd with "Fiamme negli occhi". They got burned, and maybe even found each other again, but then a run of summer singles snuffed out what little enthusiasm remained. Here, judging by the lyrics, they're back to being likeable ("se mi trascuri impazzisco/ come la maionese") while still touching on the difficulty of a relationship (again). Third time at Sanremo. Speremm.

Prejudice: a couple in crisis takes it with a laugh, but also with a cry. They do it all, for their fans.

Elodie – "Dimenticarsi alle 7"

As with Achille Lauro, we can assume everyone knows Elodie Patrizi. Whether from "Amici", from her hits of recent years, from her steamy live videos, or because she surprised more than a few people with her latest releases. Appearing at the Ariston for the fourth time, where she's also co-hosted, she brings a song tied to the club culture she's fully embraced in recent years. Somewhat divisive, she's nonetheless a powerhouse in terms of communication, and that could put her in the running for the win. Forgettable lyrics, let's hope for the beat.

Prejudice: a hugely famous pop star tries again, somewhere between ballad and disco, happy enough even if she doesn't win.

Fedez – “Battito”

Another one everyone knows. At the center of the gossip of the past few weeks, the apex of a love triangle and countless stories to confirm or deny, including talk of a withdrawal from the Festival. He too was once a rapper, like Achille Lauro, and he too was once fun, like Coma_Cose, but then he changed, and changed again: weepy to the point of whining, macho to the point of ridiculous, generally confused about what to do with his musical career. Already at Sanremo in 2021 (he came second), he brought a song about depression: “Fluoxetina, poca saliva”. The covers night could be his turning point: he's bringing the problematic “Bella stronza”.

Prejudice: social media star in marital and personal crisis cries and swears. Goes viral online.

Francesca Michielin – “Fango in Paradiso”

She was there with Fedez at Sanremo 2021, but also in 2016: runner-up twice. Firmly in pop territory, she offers a heartfelt track in which, she says, she'll bare herself completely. Also known for hosting “X Factor”, the singer from Bassano del Grappa tells of the end of a relationship (yawn), aiming for tears (“Chissà con chi farai un figlio”).

Prejudice: young but seasoned popstar chases gold after two silvers, but risks a flop.

Francesco Gabbani – “Viva la vita”

Maybe it's because he's always smiling, or that face of someone who could steal your girlfriend, or maybe it's just that he's Tuscan, but Gabbani is hard to swallow for many (though not for this writer). His fourth time at the Ariston, he doesn't seem particularly well served by a set of lyrics with a grating, confused and superficial optimism, including lines like “insieme due paralisi fanno un movimento” (?). A far cry from the showmanship of “Occidentali's Karma”. Still, for anyone who grew up with Marco Columbro, this guy from Carrara might bring a fleeting, harmless smile.

Prejudice: smiling forty-something Tuscan entertains and amuses without hurting anyone. Unwittingly reveals to the audience that he's Columbro in disguise.

Gaia – “Chiamo io chiami tu”

Lyrics, read without music, are always tricky to judge. A good beat, an excellent vocal performance or a curious arrangement can sometimes redeem lyrics that, on paper, look terrible. Well, Gaia's are hopeless: she machine-guns an unbearable “chiamo io, chiami tu”, name-drops the iPhone (gasp!) and Rio, and uses phrases like “lo stesso film”. She doesn't even try, in fact she brings back memories of vintage Guzzanti. Already competing at Sanremo back in 2021, after winning “Amici”, Gaia recently lent herself to “Sesso e samba”, the disastrous 2024 summer single with Tony Effe. Here she says she wants to “far ballare piangendo”.

Prejudice: disoriented singer blends pop and dance doses into a smoothie. A failed attempt at an out-of-season hit.

Giorgia – “La cura per me”

Giorgia is reassuring. Fifty-three years old but looking a good ten years younger, this is her fifth time at Sanremo, having already won thirty years ago with “Come saprei”; she can be linked to the profile of Brunori Sas: his thing is “real music”, hers is “bel canto”. This time she seems to be going for it with more conviction, and the lyrics suggest a building arrangement and vocal runs. She'll sing “Skyfall” in a duet with Annalisa, and it'll be yet another occasion for showering praise on her voice. Even if she doesn't win, she smiles, unlike Ultimo. Humble, soothing, measured.

Prejudice: jovial fifty-something returns to the stage that changed her life, just to say hello. Maybe she wins, maybe she doesn't; she'll certainly say thank you.

Irama – "Lentamente"

His sixth time at the Ariston, which is to say a toxic relationship. And yet he's only 29, and this shouldn't be his only way of reaching a wider audience. The track he's bringing this time seems like the usual love song dripping with anguish, which nobody really needs at a Festival whose history is already full of mournful ballads. He says "fucking" (fottuto) several times, which is a textbook example of dubbing-speak: what on earth are you even saying, man, nobody actually talks like that! 

Prejudice: young half of a toxic relationship recounts his god-damn pain, using the laziest dubbing-script language around.

Joan Thiele – "Eco"

A profile that blends Milan, Naples, Lake Garda, Switzerland and Colombia, with a name that sounds like it came from abroad. One of those names that might leave you disoriented (for the record, it's pronounced "tee-leh") belongs to a sophisticated pop singer with international leanings, who could well leave the Ariston with a major boost in fame and opportunities. Right now she's one of the least-streamed of these 29 artists on Spotify's monthly listeners, on a par with Marcella Bella and still above Lucio Corsi. A playful lyric full of onomatopoeia, dedicated to her brother.

Prejudice: cosmopolitan singer gets a slot on the Great Italian Song stage but isn't a superstar guest and is, on top of that, young.

Lucio Corsi – "Volevo essere un duro"

One of the freest spirits, at times almost naif, of this edition. A Tuscan heir to glam, one of the few practitioners left at home... and we already said as much before he ever got to Sanremo. He risks getting lost amid all the gossip, petty controversies, dishevelled outfits, real and alleged scandals. But he has a secret weapon: more than the song itself, which judging by its lyrics is a small, rebellious "alternative" anthem ("gold medal in spitting"), it's his cover-night performance with Topo Gigio, singing the thoroughly traditional "Nel blu dipinto di blu", quoting Lundini and gently taking the piss out of the terribly elegant audience.

Prejudice: glam jester at the Festival genuinely amuses a black-tie crowd.

Marcella Bella – "Pelle diamante"

If you're over 40, there's not much to explain: this is her ninth time at Sanremo, and it's hard to forget her "Montagne verdi" or "Uomo bastardo". If you're under 30, this might be the first time you find yourself asking "who on earth is this?". Because Marcella Bella, the alliteration-machine of a singer, hasn't been at the Ariston in 18 years, despite churning out albums as if she were some kind of Tony Effe. At 72, she writes a feminist anthem about women's strength. The lyrics are tough, driving, anything but geriatric. Much better than that fired-up Zanicchi turn.

Prejudice: curly-haired granny, too restless for the retirement home, rebels — don't even try to stop her.

Massimo Ranieri – "Tra le mani un cuore"

An eighth appearance for the oldest of the 29 artists, at 73 candles. The song is co-written by Tiziano Ferro and Nek, but it still sounds like a classic Ranieri offering, since it seems impossible to ask him to drop that emphatic, theatrical, overblown style he's been stuck in for far too many years. Then again, he's passed the half-century mark in his career, and his first time at the Ariston recalls the presence of Domenico Modugno (who died in 1994, for any very young readers out there). In "Tv Sorrisi e Canzoni" he stresses how important suspenders have been in his life, just so you get the picture. Prime quaver-warbling territory.

Prejudice: emphatic, dapper, suspender-clad elder risks a full-blown vocal warble-fest.

Modà – “Non ti dimentico”

Kekko Silvestre is a man of a certain age with a stage name that's frankly embarrassing, an abuse of occlusive consonants that the Accademia della Crusca should sanction. Modà are a scourge on Italian music from which we seemed to have been freed, and yet, as in the horror-movie cliché, they're back. They want to "start over" and honestly I would have preferred they get demoted. The lyrics are heavy on rhetoric, with repetitive lines and the usual vocabulary of anguish they're so fond of ("regrets", "fear", "you tore through", "pain"). Incorrigible they were, probably are, and will be.

Prejudice: a resurrected forty-something-plus with his band torments us with a heart-wrenching song. When it ends, life is better.

Noemi – “Se t’innamori muori”

Another eighth appearance, because this is a Sanremo of great change. The song is by Mahmood and Blanco, who apparently can't bear to stay too far from the Ariston stage. Hard to dislike this sparkling Roman singer, but then again there are people who hate Gabbani, so anything's possible; she's modest, more of a person and less of a persona than almost all her fellow singers. The lyrics don't seem like much, and she'll sing them with her slightly scratchy voice, which is a bit of an acquired taste.

Prejudice: cheerful red-haired Roman singer drops by to say hello on stage, without trying too hard to overdo it.

Olly – “Balorda nostalgia”

Yes, you don't know him either, if you remember watching "Twin Peaks" for the first time on Mediaset. Here's a quick primer: he was already at Sanremo two years ago, but clearly he's been forgotten by anyone with more fingers and toes than years. And yet his "Devastante" is closing in on 80 million streams on Spotify, boasting three platinum records. If you ask the person writing this, he's one of those who could pull off the big surprise, maybe even win. He's also bringing De André into the covers segment, which is a bit like Baby Jesus: untouchable. No sign of Benji.

Prejudice: likely to become the nephew of half of Italy, clean-cut face and sincere feelings: the mix of new and old that appeals to the general public.

Rkomi – “Il ritmo delle cose”

You don't know him either, if you were old enough to vote for Berlusconi. You might remember him, if you're really sharp, at Sanremo dressed like a Tekken character. He was a rapper too, not particularly fun but interesting, with some potential. For a while now he's seemed to be somewhere else stylistically, and this time he'll offer up an electro-pop track: let's hope he's learned to sing, because in 2022 he showed up with a voice a bit like Topo Gigio's that came off as unintentionally funny. Long lyrics, crammed with words, not particularly appealing.

Prejudice: rejected by a famous fighting game, a reformed rapper reinvents himself as a pop star but lets slip a "what on earth are you saying!?"

Rocco Hunt – “Mille vote ancora”

Last year Geolier came within a whisker of winning, unleashing an undying wave of hatred from a great many people against Angelina Mango. This year it's Mr. Pagliarulo's turn, whose surname must have made middle school hell. He was a rapper, a summer-hit tormentor, beloved by half of Italy with "Nu juorno buono" at Sanremo 2014; he came back in 2016 but only he remembers that. It's unlikely he'll be back in trend now, but maybe he's banking on Campanian revenge. Ominous title.

Prejudice: Geolier's role in this edition is played by a slightly faded Neapolitan rapper.

Rose Villain – "Fuorilegge"

After finishing twenty-third last year she's giving it another go, if only because she's trying everything at this point: a third album on the way, hopefully better than the second; a full slate of live shows, including one at the Forum di Assago; a second season hosting the (mediocre) Netflix talent show "Nuova scena"; a cosmetics line. Young but not that young, Rosa Luini could have been a rare example of a female Italian rapper, and instead she's trying to become a pop star, with mixed results and plenty of public support. The lyrics are a mix of clichés ("Bonnie and Clyde"; "angels"; "I can't sleep anymore" etc.), so let's hope the delivery saves it.

Prejudice: statuesque bombshell struts the Ariston stage between commitments, kicking off a 2025 of relentless overwork.

Sarah Toscano – "Amarcord"

Barely nineteen, but already a winner on "Amici", this singer from Vigevano fits squarely among the names you may never have heard of. Her breakout single, at least in terms of success, is the somewhat retro electro-pop of "Sexy magica", not exactly thrilling: half Clara, half Ditonellapiaga. The lyrics tell a love story that fills her with nostalgia, as if to say originality won't be her selling point. As is always the case with "Amici" winners, she could win over a huge chunk of the TV audience.

Prejudice: very young "friend of Maria" references a film almost three times her age, dreaming of international pop stardom.

Serena Brancale – "Anema e core"

An elusive figure, perhaps the hardest of these 29 to pin down. A multi-instrumentalist from Bari with three albums under her belt and countless collaborations, she moves between jazz, funk, soul, pop and r'n'b, but isn't averse to electronics either, as heard on the explosive, exuberant 2024 single "Baccalà", produced by Dropkick_m and gone viral for its sheer eccentricity. She could be one of the surprises of the Festival, because behind the slightly zany, full-on kitsch image of that hit lies a singer who is anything but improvised. Cover night dedicated to Alicia Keys with Alessandra Amoroso.

Prejudice: singer from Bari performs lively track to wake up the crowd, then reminds us she can actually sing.

Shablo feat. Guè, Joshua & Torment – "La mia parola"

If we're looking for something new in this edition, it's the presence of a hip-hop producer like Buenos Aires native Shablo, backed by three rappers of varying experience and fame. Certainly a more traditional idea of rap than the kind that wins the streaming charts these days, but still able to speak to the present. We'll have to put up with the whining of those who look for socially-conscious lyrics in rap, clinging to a thirty-year-old idea that just won't die.

Prejudice: veteran producer throws a party with three friends of different ages, putting together a bash amid too many heavy hearts.

Simone Cristicchi – "Quando sarai piccola"

His fifth time among the Big Artists, one as a Newcomer and three more as a guest: there's clearly a case of pathological attachment here too. He has often gravitated toward the theme of illness, and here he turns to the related subject of old age: he writes to his elderly mother, who no longer remembers his name or that she ever had a husband, and who gets lost in the street. You need to be in the right frame of mind for this kind of song, but it's part of the typical Sanremo playbook. Filed under "makes you think too". It's unclear what he does for the other 11 months of the year.

Prejudice: brooding, message-driven singer-songwriter stirs up emotion in Italian families with grandmothers well into their eighties.

The Kolors – "Tu con chi fai l’amore"

Third time on the Ariston stage, but we all still remember "Italodisco" more than the rest of their discography put together. Stash and the other two nameless guys are ready with a high-energy track that, we're willing to bet, will be chasing after that hit. The lyrics are still stuck in tourist-brochure mode, this time namedropping Mykonos, Rome and Puerto Rico: message clearly isn't their strong suit, so let's at least hope for a good beat. Unusual cover choice: "Rossetto e caffè" by Sal Da Vinci, who'll duet with them, is a song from 2024. Rumor has it someone south of Rome actually knows it.

Prejudice: a rowdy pop group acts as a Ligurian holiday-camp entertainer, livening up an old Festival.

Tony Effe – "Damme 'na mano"

He was supposed to be the most inappropriate of them all, the former DPG member, and yet Sanremo will seal his definitive transition into total harmlessness: the foul-mouthed trapper has become mama's little darling, a Roman lad head over heels for the Capital, the sonic equivalent of a greasy amatriciana. The gossip circus with Fedez will matter more than the performance or the song itself. Califano will be trotted out for cover night, to hammer home the image change: from coke-trap to "Tutto il resto è noia" in the space of a few major-label signatures.

Prejudice: once the most fried-out provocateur of trap, now a caricature crooning old-school stornelli.

Willie Peyote – "Grazie ma no grazie"

Nearly forty years old, this rapper-slash-singer-songwriter from the Turin area has already been to Sanremo with "Mai dire mai (la locura)". He has a habit of stirring up controversy just to generate noise on social media and in the papers, wrapped in a bit of smugness. He's caustic, but not too much so, and this time he's taking the piss out of poor Jalisse. It works, because it's a style of rap that's palatable even to people who despise or ignore the genre altogether — that is, most of the TV audience. A stage name worthy of a drunken slip of the tongue.

Prejudice: Turin singer-songwriter-rapper tries to needle everyone with a track where, once again, he comes off feeling better than the rest.

Ride the wave of great music

Add OndaRock to your favorite sources on Google Discover. Don't miss our reviews, milestones and latest news straight in your feed.

Follow on Google