Sanremo 2023

Over the past week, as I made my way through the songs competing in the seventy-third edition of the Sanremo Festival, I had the chance to read plenty of opinions in the specialist press and swap views with friends and colleagues. Many consider Amadeus's fourth term at the helm as one of "restoration," of "normalization," after a few years in which artists - especially the younger ones - had dared more. This time, the argument goes, a generally cautious, more conservative attitude prevailed. The textbook case people keep bringing up is Tananai, who by his own admission was stunned to receive such a thunderous ovation at the end of his first performance on Tuesday night.

Beyond personal opinions on individual editions - which can turn out better or worse depending on the average quality of the competing songs - the analysis should, in my view, be more properly focused on the trend, and it's undeniable that in recent years the Festival has been significantly shifting its center of gravity, moving toward a decisive rejuvenation, both stylistically and generationally, essential to staying relevant to younger generations, to that slice of the audience that can guarantee the event's future existence. Today's Sanremo is no longer a parade of relics well past their prime, but a mirror - at least somewhat - more varied and truthful of the Italian pop song. Not that everything is represented there, mind you, we're still talking about one of the most conservative events on the peninsula, but it's clear to everyone how considerably the Festival has opened up to diversity.

A trend that began well before Amadeus took over as artistic director, one that means taking part in Sanremo is no longer a source of embarrassment for many musicians with an already solid following. This is also thanks to a now-long line of artists of real substance who have taken the Ariston stage without compromising their identity. Just think of Elio e le Storie Tese, Mauro Ermanno Giovanardi, Subsonica, Afterhours, Marlene Kuntz, Zen Circus, Motta. None of them brought their finest work to the Festival, but each one stayed rigorously true to themselves, without selling out, without compromising, helping to blur a boundary - once far sharper - between the mainstream and the "alternative" circuit.

Some come back a second time, perhaps as a songwriter or by taking advantage of the duets night, without fearing they'll have to justify themselves to fans who, just a few years ago, wouldn't have understood or approved of such choices. For that matter, fans no longer feel betrayed if their favorite singer decides to enter the competition: just look at how many teenagers are thrilled to spot some of their favorite artists on the list of contestants, realizing that Sanremo can, in some cases, be a decisive choice for reaching audiences that would otherwise be out of reach.

A Sanremo with an increasingly social-media-driven attitude, with the fun little Fantasanremo game embraced with wit and enthusiasm by the musicians on stage. One sour note - though in this case the judges' verdict must be accepted - is the total absence of women in the top five, despite the presence of many female voices that deserved a better placing. Gender issues aside, this year we heard plenty of great songs, picked up on more than a few pleasant confirmations, and discovered several young artists capable of real quality and great potential. I'm certain we'll be seeing some of them again in these pages in years to come.

In 2023, OndaRock renewed its affectionate relationship with the "Festival della Canzone Italiana," following every night with close attention. Below you can read the editorial team's impressions of all the singers and songs that took part in the competition. Judgments subject to change down the line, since they were written on the fly, in the heat of the moment; different perspectives, too, since so many different writers were involved, representing the many souls that make up OndaRock. Enjoy the read.

(Claudio Lancia)

Anna Oxa - "Sali (Canto dell'anima)"

Sali, donna, sali e resuscita

Sali e ritorna alla tua nascita

During the first night she screams, croaks and sings using only her chest register, unable to support her vocal cords or deliver anything resembling a proper vibrato. She does better in the following nights, but the subversive, sensual, stylish Oxa, capable of using her voice as an instrument - technical reservations notwithstanding - seems to have given way to an angry little old lady lost in new wave musings about crystals and bio-psycho-energetic balance.

The song, co-written with Francesco Bianconi of Baustelle, has a solemn, ritualistic charm that works a bit better on record. (Giulia Quaranta)

Score: 5

ARIETE - "Mare di guai"

Everything I love always scares me

In the end, little Ariete pulled off quite a feat: bringing to the Ariston stage a love song sung by one woman to another woman. Dardust's production gives the track a livelier feel, while Calcutta's fingerprints show up in the off-kilter meter and the uncertain flow of the verses, which Arianna struggles to keep up with on the first night, only to find her footing in the following performances, thanks to a clear voice and a tender, delicate stage presence. Despite the unfairly low fourteenth place and a host of flaws — including a dangerous resemblance to "Nascosta in piena vista" by I Cani — the romantic despondency of "Mare di guai" wins over most listeners, even if it takes several listens to be fully absorbed and understood. (Giulia Quaranta)

Score: 6

ARTICOLO 31 – "Un bel viaggio"

We didn't want to grow up, but it happened all at once

They could have made up for lost time by following the path J-Ax has taken as a solo artist, but instead Articolo 31 reunite for a track worthy of the most nostalgic, predictable Max Pezzali. On stage, Dj Jad tries to carve out a role for himself, throws in the odd scratch and moves around just enough to let us know he isn't some old-timer who wandered into the Ariston by mistake. The whole thing leaves that bittersweet aftertaste you get when you run into an old friend, promise to keep in touch, and know full well you never will. The best "Un bel viaggio" can do is remind millennials what things were like back when Articolo 31 were big. Watching J-Ax run out of breath trying to keep up with the lyrics is almost painful: they (and we) really have gotten old. (Antonio Silvestri)

Score: 4

COLAPESCE E DI MARTINO – "Splash"

Ma che mare, ma che mare

meglio soli su una nave

per non sentire il peso delle aspettative

They're the stars of the Festival's seventy-first edition. They come back fully aware of the risks of playing the classic double-or-nothing game. Because "Musica leggerissima" could easily have turned out to be the kind of once-in-a-lifetime overhead kick after which you're doomed to warm the bench forever. And yet, no. "Splash" plays the same cards and robs the house all over again. This time the two Sicilian singer-songwriters swap out Iglesias for Battisti, cockiness for the need to escape, and the urge to do nothing for a heart broken by a miserable summer. They sing of a beach only longed for, in a dream turned upside down with their usual irony. Dimartino takes the lead, with Colapesce a fine second banana. After all, there's a reason "Afrodite" was written by the former — an album that inexplicably slipped past most people, and one that plenty would do well to revisit before the trick wears thin. Or maybe not — perhaps there's no such thing as too much of a good thing twice over. Who knows. In the meantime, the pair strike again with a song already on the lips of half of Italy. And in the end they even sweep the awards: both the coveted Dalla and Martini prizes go to them. For fans of their earlier work, there's still the wait for a truly definitive album, rather than one built to ride the coattails of a second hit. (Giuliano Delli Paoli)

Score: 7.5

COLLA ZIO – "Non mi va"

Ogni tanto c'è un altro che sfiora i tuoi sensi, ma non mi va

They're clearly having a blast, the problem is it's not clear whether we're invited to their party. They've got a not particularly original funk groove going for them, and they're certainly lively and undeniably young, but the whiff of holiday-resort entertainment is never far off. The lyrics try to leave a mark with a few over-the-top lines, but it's really not enough to avoid coming across as a lesser version of La Rappresentante Di Lista, who are, incidentally, decidedly more '90s-inflected. The rap sections, meanwhile, are on par with Amadeus when he strains to sound "fresh". (Antonio Silvestri)

Score: 4

COMA_COSE – "L'addio"

Potrò sempre ritornare da te

se mi dimentico me, com'ero

The performance needs to be separated from the song. The former is a mix of tenderness, with that exchange of glances and the intensity of a couple broadcasting a crisis to the whole world on stage — but while she gets by on that thin thread of a voice, he gets almost everything wrong, singing out of tune and struggling to bring any energy or rhythm (there's no point flailing your arms about as if you were Eminem, it doesn't work). Setting aside these none-too-minor issues, the song itself is a harmless ballad that doesn't take many risks, though nothing to be ashamed of either. I can't pinpoint when Coma_Cose lost all their irony and turned into a spin-off of "Casa Vianello" set in a squatted social centre. The marriage proposal for the cameras was a display of shameless pandering beaten only by Mr. Rain's kids. A bit of secondhand embarrassment. (Antonio Silvestri)

Score: 5

ELODIE – "Due"

Per me le cose sono due

lacrime mie o lacrime tue

The Roman singer arrives with the certainty that she no longer has to prove anything to anyone, especially not at Sanremo, where she won over audiences as a host in 2021 and as a singer in 2020. A stage presence that also made it to the cinema in 2022 with Pippo Mezzapesa's "Ti mangio il cuore". She's widely regarded as our Dua Lipa, a label that could use some fine-tuning given the obvious gap between the two voices. And indeed, Elodie once again impresses more for her outfit and her supremely sensual, matronly moves than for the vocal performance itself, which is decent but nothing memorable. The song, on the other hand, is all there. Federica Abbate's lyrics are also acceptable in part: predictable, of course, but with a few scattered flashes of inspiration. "Due" is, at the end of the day, the classic song written for Elodie — built to push her beyond the exosphere of radio playlists. Electronic pop tailored to a restrained Di Patrizi, who, in the shift from verse to chorus, tends to glide rather than surge before eventually climbing, carried along by a melody that, in the end, hits the mark. (Giuliano Delli Paoli)

Score: 6.5

GIANLUCA GRIGNANI – "Quando ti manca il fiato"

Ciao papà o addio papà

io ti perdono

The Milanese singer-songwriter takes the Ariston stage for the seventh time, the last being in 2015. The "poeta maledetto" of Italian music — a nickname earned in the '90s for the adolescent restlessness running through his lyrics — presents a song that reads like a letter written to his father. The lyrics are deep and at times heart-wrenching, bringing out all of Grignani's traits, for better or worse: life, suffering, imperfections and insecurities. The song is certainly commendable in terms of content, but rather thin on notable ideas, aside from a vigorous, understated final coda. Grignani gets through his various performances with real commitment and does the best he can, though he shows a few shaky vocal phrasings. Gianluca was forced to stop Thursday's performance due to an audio problem, apologising to the audience and the sound engineer, admitting — probably with an implicit nod to the Blanco affair — that at fifty these things are handled with more maturity than they might have been at twenty. But that's not quite enough to fully win us over. (Cristiano Orlando)

Score: 5.5

gIANMARIA – "Mostro"

Che mi sono perso? Ero solo distratto, da me

Young gIANMARIA is still coasting on the momentum from his X-Factor performance of "I suicidi", a track of staggering banality but perfectly suited to Emma Marrone's fake tears and Manuel Agnelli's "it hit me right here" comments — Agnelli, sniffing out camera time as ever, unsurprisingly performed alongside him on covers night. Once again, gIANMARIA's intentions are good, while the results, whatever the Sanremo press corps may say as they fall over themselves in praise, are lacking in substance. "Mostro" tells of the feeling of disorientation in the face of life's hardships and events, but does so with adolescent language and a singing style that borders on unintelligible. Give us Irama back. (Giulia Quaranta)

Score: 4

GIORGIA – "Parole dette male"

E tu alla fine eri una bella canzone

la prima fuga al mare in moto d'estate

He hadn't competed since 2001. Giorgia takes the stage at the Sanremo Festival for the fifth time, after winning it back in 1995 with the song "Come saprei".

This year's song deals with the difficulty of letting go of something that's part of a journey which no longer has a reason to exist, turning pain and melancholy into positive strength.

The track, technically too formulaic, doesn't offer any real highlights, either harmonically or conceptually. The subject matter is decidedly overused and handled with little effectiveness. On top of that, the Roman singer's performance across the various nights seems to betray a few small, surprising imperfections. Her extraordinary voice, which in the past has elevated songs that were sometimes decidedly weak, seems to be kept on a leash. Only on the final night did she seem more confident and in command of her own qualities, and the result came across as more compelling. A shame. (Cristiano Orlando)

Score: 5

I CUGINI DI CAMPAGNA – "Lettera 22"

Io non sono altro che un bambino

Che non sa contare

They were supposed to fill this Sanremo's meme quota, but the truth is that I Cugini di Campagna, with a song written by Veronica Lucchesi and Dario Mangiaracina (La Rappresentante di Lista), pulled it off pretty well. "Lettera 22" is one of the catchiest songs in the competition, Nick Luciani's delivery is spot-on live just as it is on record, while the lyrics, simple and direct but rather saccharine and repetitive, could have used a lot more bite.

Deep down, let's be honest, it would have been fun to see them take the Eurovision stage with their curly manes, sequined jumpsuits, silver platform boots and their little jabs at Maneskin, who are guilty — or so they say — of drawing inspiration from their look. (Giulia Quaranta)

Score: 5.5

LAZZA – "Cenere"

Rinasceremo insieme dalla cenere

The finest production of Sanremo 2023, signed - not by chance - by Dardust, is a fusion of deep-house and dramatic pop-rap. The lyrics are a faux-poetic ego-trip full of forgettable lines like "ormai non facciamo l'amore/ direi piuttosto che facciamo l'odio", but set against the fast beat and busy arrangement, marked by an extended vocal sample, the whole thing works just fine. The performance by Lazza, who isn't exactly a second Marco Mengoni on the mic, is surprisingly precise, generous without overdoing it: he moves around, pushes just enough, smiles and says his thanks. He unexpectedly comes second. He's truly matured, now he just needs to avoid ageing outright. The 2019 Lazza would have flattened his Sanremo self with two explicit bars in an impromptu freestyle: how one changes, for the sake of the paycheck. (Antonio Silvestri)

Score: 6

LDA – "Se poi domani"

Verrai da me se verrai da me

o sarai solo un'altra bugia

There's Ed Sheeran in every atom of this track. In all its places and all its lakes, to paraphrase Valerio Scanu a little, who incidentally would have nothing to envy in Gigi D'Alessio's young son, a likeable but forgettable young man both as a singer and a songwriter. Co-written with his cousin Francesco, who also conducts the orchestra, "Se poi domani" is a concentrate of melodic clichés, with good old Ed's big face as the backdrop on your phone screen. The lyrics go even further. And remind us that, whatever happens, love can't be erased "not even by eating a croissant." (Giuliano Delli Paoli)

Score: 4

LEO GASSMANN – "Terzo cuore"

Forse voli in un cielo migliore ma giuro che non ti abbandono

If in Lda's case being born into showbiz — and therefore inevitably advantaged — has some justification, since he did, after all, grow up two feet from a piano, with Leo there's no getting around it. Young Gassmann's delivery, somewhere between the unwarranted excitement of an Amici contestant and a twelve-year-old who's just unwrapped a PlayStation 5 delivered by Amazon, borders on embarrassing. Meanwhile the song itself is a trial from the very first notes: an overused little guitar riff lifted from some random Jack Frusciante impersonator, and a refrain that's flimsy at best, propped up by more than a little favoritism. The lyrics end up taking us to Superquark and octopuses, which indeed have three hearts. It only came eighteenth because plenty of young singers with less illustrious surnames than his somehow manage to do even worse at the Ariston. (Giuliano Delli Paoli)

Score: 4

LEVANTE – "Vivo"

Vivo un sogno erotico

la gioia del mio corpo è un atto magico

Claudia Lagona returns to Sanremo with a "weary destiny" and a look that's been overhauled but hardly overwhelming. The verses seduce with a "synthwave" backing (feel free to take that with a grain of salt), but the chorus burns through every expectation in a poorly-belted crescendo, with lines caught somewhere between the pathetic and the fleeting. Of the promised cynicism and commitment, there's not even a trace. Everything is shouted without any real verve, driven only by an impertinent eagerness to pull it off again without first actually "bleeding" for real, or at least without leaning on the humility the occasion — and the greats — would call for. It rightly finishes in twenty-third place. Maybe she'll go back to writing simple novels for Rizzoli, the diaries of misunderstood girls that made sense back in the '90s, in the pages of Cioè, but certainly not today. Is that her future? Given her current form as a musician, maybe so. (Giuliano Delli Paoli)

Score: 4

MADAME – "Il bene nel male"

La puttana che ha ridato un senso ai giorni miei

It builds like a hurricane rolling in off the ocean and sweeping everything before it. She plays with words, with meanings and signifiers, twisting them her own way, fortunately without making them incomprehensible, and leans on a rhythmically spot-on backing track, despite a certain repetitiveness that toward the end starts to spoil things a bit. She basks in the applause on the final night, and rather less in a seventh place that feels somewhat undeserved, given the presence of vague, unidentifiable objects like Mr. Rain. Madame will make up for it on radio and Spotify, where a different game is played. The doubts voiced beforehand about her being unfinished — doubts scattered all over what is by now no longer a mere promise but a brilliant reality of Italian pop — already feel like a distant memory. (Giuliano Delli Paoli)

Score: 7.5

MARA SATTEI – "DUEMILAMINUTI"

Ho capito che non era amore ma soltanto un posto che avevi creato per me

Like Will's song, "Duemilaminuti" also sounds like it could have come out of a Sanremo edition from about fifteen years ago. The only hints of (forced) modernity are, once again, the sloppy diction and a bit of mumbled fake rap in italics. The funny thing is discovering only afterward that the music is by the singer's younger brother, thasup, while the lyrics are by DamianodeiManeskin. The new guard advancing, in other words. It must be said, though, that Mara Sattei's crystalline voice and her ability to handle the tricky register shifts leading into the chorus give the song a beauty and freshness it wouldn't ontologically deserve, letting us overlook its stumbles, like the shaky control on the low notes (typical of many of the girls who've come out of Maria De Filippi's Amici) and the slightly flat phrase endings. In the end, you can enjoy the throwback feel of "Duemilaminuti" without too much guilt, as if Mara Sattei were a new Chiara Galiazzo. (Giulia Quaranta)

Score: 5.5

MARCO MENGONI – "Due vite"

What paths two lives can take

we're the only ones awake in the whole universe

Rated among the pre-contest favorites, the artist from Viterbo takes the Sanremo stage for the third time, having already won it in 2013 with "L'essenziale" and finished third in 2010 with "Credimi ancora".

The song, which he co-wrote, is an intimate journey into his own nature, but also an invitation to accept everything life offers, without dwelling on what should or could happen. The positive moments, but above all the negative ones, are what help us grow.

Once he shakes off a touch of understandable early nerves, Mengoni makes the song entirely his own, with his usual enviable vocal range and charismatic delivery, even more so during Thursday's performance, complete with glistening eyes at the end and the only standing ovation granted to a competing artist. A slightly Village People-esque look that drew both praise and some criticism.

Weighed within a judgment that has to take the Sanremo context into account, it's certainly one of the best moments in the competition (though not his best), fully living up to expectations and deservedly claiming a victory that had seemed a foregone conclusion to many from the very start. Assured. (Cristiano Orlando)

Score: 7

MODÀ – "Lasciami"

Leave me, with our song and a glass holding a sunset inside it

Fourth appearance at the Festival for the band fronted by Kekko Silvestre, ten years on from the third place achieved with "Se si potesse non morire" and the second place obtained with Emma in 2011 with "Arriverà".

The song presented this year tackles the uncomfortable, much-discussed topic of depression (see Mengoni) and how negative forces need to be channeled to find the key to rebirth.

Setting aside this thoroughly commendable message, nothing else here manages to bring the overall result up to an acceptable level. The song has no appealing hook whatsoever, and even Kekko's voice, always Modà's strong suit, can't rescue what is a decidedly disappointing entry.

On the plus side, they can boast having "opened" for Depeche Mode's performance during the final night. A misstep. (Cristiano Orlando)

Score: 4.5

MR. RAIN – "Supereroi"

All it takes is a moment for me to realize every scar of yours is mine too

All it takes is a moment for me to tell you that with you, every place is home

The award for the biggest crowd-pleaser goes to Mr. Rain, who plays the Povia card by dragging a choir of winged children onto the stage, the “Mitici Angioletti” from Zelo Buon Persico. With “Supereroi”, the singer from Brescia weaves a red thread between the ultra-topical theme of mental health and childhood imagery, securing himself a comfortable spot on social media, streaming and radio, as well as the lowest step of the podium in a top 5 that (inexplicably) is entirely male. The chorus, with its hook lifted from Lady Gaga's “Bad Romance”, sticks in your head, in all its mediocrity, from the very first listen, and will end up being hummed even by those friends who insist “Sanremo sucks”. (Giulia Quaranta)

Score: 5

OLLY – “Polvere”

Io che ho molta fantasia vedo mare, mare, mare

Among the younger acts, he at least knows how to hold the stage and sing, and indeed he fares better than the rest. He puts in plenty of energy and plenty of smiles, stays humble to the end, and his song — a lively Pop X-style electro-pop number for the first night — manages to shake things up amid the torpor of Sanremo's endless evenings. Granted, the lyrics don't exactly shine and we risk forgetting them by next Monday. The orchestral arrangement smothers some of the liveliness with what you might call a nod to Coldplay's “Viva La Vida”. Try again, Olly. (Antonio Silvestri)

Score: 5

PAOLA E CHIARA – “Furore”

In questa notte di sole furore, furore

The Iezzi sisters marked, for better or worse, the childhood and adolescence of anyone now in their thirties or forties. In some cases, even their erotic dreams (do you remember “Kamasutra”?). Rightly forgotten for twenty years, they return as camp icons, bringing a bit of rhythm and self-deprecating humor to the stage. Wrapped tightly in gloriously garish outfits, moving with all the agility of a sloth with arthritis, they sing a dance track from another era not particularly well, backed by good-looking dancers and adorned with countless glitter. Paola leads her sister, who at times seems on the verge of giving it all up and returning to obscurity, but in the end they're clearly having fun and land on a chorus that has already struck a chord with the LGBTQ+ community. It all sounds better on Spotify, but that doesn't count. A guilty pleasure for millennials. (Antonio Silvestri)

Score: 5

ROSA CHEMICAL – “Made In Italy”

Che sono perverso e non mi giudichi se metterò il rossetto in ufficio lunedì

Incredible but true: he managed to pull off the feat of adapting his music to a live broadcast on Rai 1 while keeping all of its irresistible energy intact. He provokes without ever hurting anyone, in a fun, breezy way, with lyrics that wink and jab: it's all calculated, but for once you can just play along. Part kitsch village fair, part radio-friendly rap, it's a song with a sticky chorus and the funniest bridge of this edition, a burst of gibberish that culminates in a hilarious “Hey, sexy lady!”. He shows up on stage dressed like a cross between Malgioglio and Achille Lauro, seems genuinely happy to be there, and thankfully doesn't put on any intellectual airs. What he can't quite pull off with his singing, he makes up for with the performance. He twerks and kisses Fedez, tongue and all, sending social media into a frenzy and irritating Ferragni. I've already hit the heart button on Spotify — have you? (Antonio Silvestri)

Score: 7.5

SETHU – “Cause perse”

Triste vedere niente cambia col tempo

e io sto da solo con il cuore a metà

Sethu delivers a nostalgic pop-punk number sung in italics and backed by an extremely stylish whistled hook in the chorus, winking at both millennials and Gen Z alike. It's no coincidence that the singer from Savona sits, age-wise, almost exactly halfway between the two generations. He ends up near the bottom of the ranking more because of his haircut than because of the song itself, but at least we can say “Cause perse” tries to add something to an otherwise extremely dull festival lineup. (Giulia Quaranta)

Score: 6

SHARI – Egoista

From the couch I watched in silence as my life fell apart in front of me

Twenty-year-old Shari, backed by the production of manager Salmo, brings a pop-rap track with a vaguely soul-tinged feel to the Ariston stage. “Egoista” tells, with bittersweet momentum, of the desire to have someone by her side, someone to love, idealize and hurt. It's a song that reeks of déjà-vu and Sanremo Giovani from its very first note but, in a not particularly brilliant edition like this one, a singer with decent technique already counts as a stroke of luck. The usual italicized diction then does the rest, with open vowels closed and closed vowels opened, Gen Z style, ruining everything. (Giulia Quaranta)

Score: 6

TANANAI – “Tango”

Eravamo da me, abbiamo messo i Police

Era bello finché ha bussato la police

Alberto Cotta Ramusino, aka Tananai, returns to the stage that launched him, despite the last-place finish of his “Sesso occasionale”, a song that won over the public in 2022 with a record-breaking late surge. Sly, hard to pin down, this time Tananai gets back in the game with a “difficult” love song, whose protagonists are a young Ukrainian couple torn apart by the bombs of war. It's a choice that in some ways echoes Tananai's latest heart-wrenching ballad, “Abissale”, amplifying its weight with socially engaged lyrics. As usual, the vocal delivery sits somewhere between spaced-out and cheesy in a way that works: take it or leave it. Fifth place is excessive, but he too benefits from the semi-disaster of this year's newcomers at the Festival. (Giuliano Delli Paoli)

Score: 5.5

ULTIMO – “Alba”

Amo l’alba perché è come fosse solo mia

Mi rilassa respirare l’aria pure tua

Also among the top favorites for the final win, the young Roman singer-songwriter appears at the Festival for the third time, after winning the “Nuove proposte” section in 2018 with “Il ballo delle incertezze” and the much-debated second place in 2019 with “I tuoi particolari”.

“Alba” departs from Ultimo's usual output, in the past mostly devoted to inward-looking analysis and thoughts sparked by his own personal nature. It's a track that opens up toward a collective vision of the strength and fragility that define human beings. The result is commendable, even if it shows no hint of modernity, and is certainly among the most intense and high-quality entries on offer this year. As always, Ultimo tackles the song with a gradual interpretive build, leading into a confidently commanded finale thanks to his powerful voice, unleashed in complete freedom. Overall, there's a faint sense that something is missing, perhaps a more gripping chorus, but we'll take it. Given the five acts that fought it out for the final win in the closing tiebreak, it might have deserved a place on the podium. Maturity. (Cristiano Orlando)

Score: 6.5

WILL – “Stupido”

Volevo tutto il pianeta stringerlo in una mano

Volevo fare il poeta, ora l’essere umano

Will comes from Sanremo Giovani, where he took part with the song “Le cose più importanti”. And it's utterly endearing, this twenty-three-year-old from the Veneto region showing up among the “Big” artists with the usual song about a love story gone wrong, one that would have sounded dated even fifteen years ago. A shame, because Will seems to handle the dynamics of the sound with ease, and his vocal tone is soft and rounded, but it all feels wasted, once again, at the mercy of the same old banality, the same fake childish rap, and the same aimless lyrics, all seasoned with the same wannabe-tough Milanese diction. (Giulia Quaranta)

Score: 3

Final ranking and awards

1. Marco Mengoni – Due vite

2. Lazza – Cenere

3. Mr. Rain – Supereroi

4. Ultimo – Alba

5. Tananai – Tango

6. Giorgia – Parole dette male

7. Madame – Il bene nel male

8. Rosa Chemical – Made in Italy

9. Elodie – Due

10. Colapesce Dimartino – Splash

11. Modà – Lasciami

12. Gianluca Grignani – Quando ti manca il fiato

13. Coma_Cose – L'addio

14. Ariete – Mare di guai

15. LDA – Se poi domani

16. Articolo 31 – Un bel viaggio

17. Paola & Chiara – Furore

18. Leo Gassmann – Terzo cuore

19. Mara Sattei – Duemilaminuti

20. Colla Zio – Non mi va

21. I Cugini di Campagna – Lettera 22

22. Gianmaria – Mostro

23. Levante – Vivo

24. Olly – Polvere

25. Anna Oxa – Sali (Canto dell'anima)

26. Will – Stupido

27. Shari – Egoista

28. Sethu – Cause perse

Critics' Award “Mia Martini”: Colapesce Dimartino – Splash

Press Room Award “Lucio Dalla”: Colapesce Dimartino – Splash

Best Lyrics Award “Sergio Bardotti”: Coma_Cose – L'addio

“Giancarlo Bigazzi” Award for Best Musical Composition: Marco Mengoni – Due vite

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