Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

Italy took its well deserved third victory - finally! - at the Eurovision song contest 2021. Over the years several other Italian entries would have been worthy winners. In this series I will go through all of them from the worst ranking to the winner s. Marco Mengoni (32) won Sanremo and went on to the Eurovision with his winning entry L'essenziale and finished sadly only 7th out of 39, but all considered that was just the beginning of something huge coming up. That year Sanremo tried the two song for each artist method and the faith had it L'essenziale was the first song to be performed, and also the last. The other one was Bellissimo , eliminated in favor of this one. He had been up and coming since winning X Factor and even already placing 3rd in Sanremo but that festival showed a new Mengoni and when he performed Luigi Tenco's Ciao amore ciao on the cover night it sealed his faith.  Since then he has become a real superstar with a very loyal fanbase, an endless str...

Francesco Gabbani's hot Eurovision winning candidate Occidentali's Karma is still gathering an average of nearly 900.000 daily views on Vevo and has entered already the all time Italian music videos top-10 (besides being the already the most watched Eurovision video ever in overal) with over 99 million views when writing this on Sunday midday April 23. At this rate he will be the number one by midsummer but as the average views will surely be more during Eurovision and right after it, it will most propably happen sooner.... :-) But how have the other Italian entries featured in this chart? Here are their positions when writing this: #9 Occidentali's Karma - Francesco Gabbani 99.020.953 (daily average 879.250) #11 Grande amore - Il Volo  86.970.984 (64.929) #19 L'Essenziale - Marco Mengoni 48.200.124 (32,655) #64 Nessun grado di separazione - Francesco Michielin 25.594.696 (11.756) Marco Mengoni has two videos with more views than L'Essenz...

Marco Mengoni hasn't really stopped since winning Sanremo and representing Italy in the Eurovision song contest in spring 2013. It's been a non stop touring, recording, promoting, touring ever since with albums he has released: Pronto a correre (March 2013), Parole in circolo (January 2015), Le cose che non ho (December 2015), Marco Mengoni Live (November 2016). Three major tours lasting months and months each. Promotion abroad and the first European tour. No wonder he's now ready to take some time off..... This blogger wishes him good holidays and a lot of adventures to give him material for some amazing music in the future! Can't wait for that but take your time! "Yes, I go on a leave. I need a little time to clear my head, my stomach, my soul, my brain. I want to wait, but don't wait for me. I mean I do not have expectations. What should come, will come. A book? Maybe it's too early, I would not be able to enter into the abyss of an emotio...

One would have thought Marco Mengoni would like to take some time off after releasing two albums last year, scoring countless hits, touring Italy with two sold out tours and all the rest but no. In October  comes a new album that follows the multiplatinum success of Parole in circolo and Le cose che non ho (the 5th and 8th most sold albums in Italy in 2015). The new leg of his tour #MengoniLive2016  starts on November 12 with ten dates in Italy and then continues to Lugano (CH), Frankfurt (D), Brussels (B), Amsterdam (NL), Paris (F), Luxembourg, Zurich (CH), Köln (D), Wien (A) and Warzaw (PL) on December 20, 2016. 

Marco Mengoni releases today his new Spanish single Invencible ( Invincibile ) for the Spanish speaking market. Later this month he is to release Liberando palabras , the Spanish version of his multi platinum selling Parole in circolo album.  He has already released EP #prontoacorrerespain in 2014 and single Incomparable (L'Essenziale) Meanwhile in Italy his latest album Le cose che non ho has sold double platinum (and over 6,7 million Spotifys), as has the first single Ti ho voluto bene veramente . It also has over 22 million views on VEVO. 

The national Italian Ombudsman for Children and Adolescents, Vincenzo Spadafora awards Marco Mengoni in the presence of the President of the Senate, Pietro Grasso, next Monday, June 22, at 11 am, in Palazzo Madama, the home of the Italian Senate in Rome. Marco Mengoni is honored for his way of communicating with teenagers  "Mengoni is a symbol and a point of reference for many kids and he uses his popularity in the social networks in a very responsible manner but also professional respect and sympathy, human and social charge of his songs are among the reasons for this award. According an independent study by BlogMeter he is the one who creates most positive feeling , besides being popular and most able to involve his fans online. Thanks to this, his fans follow, trust and believe in him and what he says. He battles against discrimination in any form in his speech and songs, in his work. He gives teenagers dignity, respect and courage. Words are stronger than weapons sometime...

Namely in Sicily, Monsignor Staglianò, Bishop of Noto has become a Youtube sensation after using Marco Mengoni's latest single Essere umani (Being human) and his Eurovision entry L'Essenziale (Essential) as well as Noemi's Vuoto a perdere (Emptiness to lose) and Mengoni's Guerriero (Warrior) to reach the young people and explain them facts of life. Or the emptiness of it today. And indeed the lyrics are very fitting when taking out of the song context. Noemi's song goes:  "Sono un'altra da me stessa, sono un vuoto a perdere.  Sono diventata grande senza neanche accorgermene" "I am different from myself, I'm emptiness to lose.  I have become grown up without even realizing it." The bishop insisted on emptiness of life and warned young people to find themselves bypassing the fashions of the hypermarket, where people only look at you if you have the money and not the heart. and Mengoni's L'Essenziale : "Mentre...

Marco Mengoni is going strong over 12 months after the release of #prontoacorrere , his latest album. Already a fifth single has been released, this time La valle dei re . This follow Sanremo 2013 winner and Italy's Eurovision 2013 entry L'Essenziale (#1) that is now having a new life as Incomparable in the latin market and scoring #14 in Italy. The second single was the title track Pronto a correre (#7), followed by Non passerai (#10) and Non me ne accorgo (#16). He's still running.....

Marco Mengoni is set to conquer the Latin market and he has released also a video for Incomparable , that has a totally different look from the original L'essenziale . The song is already entered the Italian classics songbook sung by everyone, including Marco Epicoco in Ti lascio una canzone , the very contest that gave us Michele Perniola ....

Or should I say incomparable? The Spanish version of L'Essenziale, Incomparable was released in iTunes Italy today and already peaked at number one. The same song is also already in top-30 in Spain when writing this and apparently going up, up, up....

Here it is finally, the start of Marco Mengoni'ss Latin market invasion. His Sanremo 2013 winner and Italy's Top-10 Eurovision song L'Essenziale (already 21 million views on Youtube, btw) finally in its Spanish version, Incomparable . For now it's only available in digital form and on Mujeres y hombres y viceversa compilation album. Meanwhile he is working on the full Spanish version of his multiplatinum #prontoacorrere album and also on new tracks to his next Italian album....  He's ready to follow other Italian singers who have made it in the Latin American and Spanish market, from Eros Ramazzotti to Laura Pausini , Nek and Tiziano Ferro just to name a few.... And he will be followed by Emma Marrone as soon she's got the Eurovision 2014 out of the way..... Tonight at 9pm CET a special show dedicated on Marco and his fans is aired on Stileradio . Fans all over the world are taking part, be sure to join in as well. Here .   UPDATE: Incomparable deb...

Lithuania joined Eurovision 20 years ago and this year they are having some rather grand and long running selection. Two heats have kicked out some of the singers already (among them Eurovision veteran Sasha Song against all odds). The artists haven't performed their eventual entries yet but Eurovision classics. In the next two shows further two singers will leave the race. After that, January 18, it's time for real entries (two per each artist) and once again one will leave the show. This goes on until we have only four singers with 8 songs left, when they drop one of the songs. In the grand final we will then have four singers and four songs.... on February 15, 2014. Complicated? Maybe more so on paper than in real life... Generally well working idea to make them sing Eurovision songs as these people can sing (unlike the Azeri horror we have been following the past a couple of years...) and most versions are pretty good.  Vaidas Baumila impressed many international v...

Marco Mengoni's year has been a real journey, and this "viaggio" will be featured in a DVD that will be released on November 12, 2013. The journey starts by winning Sanremo 2013, followed by over 100.000 copies sold of the single L'Essenziale , over 90.000 of the album #prontoacorrere and leading up the magnificent concert held in Sicily, in Taormina's Teatro Antico during the triumphant L'Essenziale Tour. And the cover image of the DVD matches very nicely the Greek cultural heritage of the theatre; it's a mosaic of photos sent by his fans, their faces. Looks fantastic! #prontoacorrereilviaggio will be shown for the first time in cinemas all over Italy on November 6, 2013 at 20.30.

Marco Mengoni, besides being touring with sold out concerts in Italy, has had time to go to Paris and shoot a very beautiful video for his third single off the album #prontoacorrere , this blogger's favorite Non passerai . He presented the clip in TG1 telling that in the video he wanders around the streets of Paris with a box in his head and takes photos with smiling people. "Smile is something very important this year. This year has been all smiles for me, I just can't stop smiling! ".  The video suits the songs very nicely and continues the series of wonderfully shot videos after L'essenziale and Pronto a correre . Watch this smiley interview here .

Marco Mengoni's success in Italy has no end. The multiplatinum selling album #prontoacorrere stays firmly in top-10 (being at #7 after 21 weeks in the charts when writing this), while the title track Pronto a correre has been one of the hits of summer 2013 (still at #16 in the downloads after 16 weeks), the tour that continues until October has been a sold out success everywhere and more dates have been added in bigger cities to accomodate all the fans... On top of that he's about to take off to Los Angeles and start conquering the Latin market. He has also picked up several awards and even more nominations, made Italy proud in Eurovision, won the Sanremo festival.....  The winning song and his Eurovision entry L'essenzial e is the most sold/downloaded song in Italy between 31.12.2012-30.6.2013! The album is 6th most sold/downloaded at the same period.  His fans - Esercito - has always been a very active one, but another milestone has been reached: 500.000 likes ...

There's no doubt what is the hottest thing in Italy this season. Marco Mengoni. His tour continues from sold out triumph to another, his esercito of fans following him everywhere, waiting for him outside hotel and theaters screaming like it was Beatles all over again.... Mengonimania indeed! His Eurovision entry has become a real sing-a-long song as everyone sings along, leaving him at times to only stand and watch visibly moved.... like here in Padua. After Eurovision L'Essenziale has charted in iTunes in 30+ countries and the album #prontoacorrere in 12. Slovenia, Malta, Spain, Hungary and Greece seems to have taken to their hearts the most. Tomorrow the tour will be in Rome.  Here are the current iTunes positions for L'Essenziale: #5 Malta #9 Spain #10 Hungary #11 Greece #13 Slovenia #22 Italy #25 Luxembourg #32 Malta  #41 Netherlands #41 Switzerland #45 Italy #46 Austria #52 Sweden #53 Denmark #54 Spain  #62 Germany #70 Belgium #90 Norway #120 Aus...

Next we have the biggest pre-contest name, a living legend.... Internationally that is. Locally the biggest star comes from Italy where Marco Mengoni is the hottest thing on earth right now and his army of fans, esercito is ferocius and determined that he will do well. UNITED KINGDOM - Bonnie Tyler - Believe in me Next and second to last on stage is Bonnie Tyler. She apparently had a lot of technical problems with soundcheck and even a wrong backing track! It can only get better now. She has her backing group on stage with her, all with instruments to give it a real concert feel. She's also using the catwalk towards the end and guess what? It is raised in true Tina Turner style! I really want her to do well but can she win, make Europeans believe in her remains to be seen. ITALY - Marco Mengoni - L'Essenziale Save the best for last. Essential indeed. It seems Italy has no staging, no backdrop but the basic blue, Mengoni does nothing but stands by the microphone a...

This is fantastic! If Marco Mengoni will perform this smiley and overjoyed version of his entry L'Essenziale in Malmö 2013 Eurovision  and is looking at the camera this loving way he will surely give something to think about to the other contestants and send the superfavorites to do some soul searching! Fabulous! Italy is in game! (Note, it starts around 6 minutes!)

Marco Mengoni, still busy in Italy instead of Malmö for his concerts and appearances has stated that he will represent the country that is synonymous for the elegance, Italy. Therefor he will be very elegant in Malmö 2013 for his country. Good. Not sure if this blogger appreciated the look he was sporting last this week for his concerts. But with good news come also bad news: apparently Marco is suffering some throat problems popping antibiotics for weeks now and it's not getting any better....  Let's hope for the best! Meanwhile watch him perform Pronto a correre in the Voice of Italy here . Watch some Youtubes from his concert in Milan on wednesday night here . He surely knows how to work the audience! Can't wait for his first rehearsal on Sunday!

Marco Mengoni was in video chat this afternoon with RaiUno's TG1 and among other things revealed his next single will be the title track, Pronto a correre , from his new album. He said it was logical choice to have an up tempo song to follow a ballad.  And guess what? it's written by Take That's Mark Owen and there's also the English demo version, Put the light on . he also confessed being a big fan of The Beatles and surprisingly thinks he sshares a lot with Edith Piaf in character! People in the chat asked mainly about the coming tour, and complimented him for the multiplatinum single and the album that was certified gold just today. The questions about Eurovision like when the 3 minute version will be released where passed quickly. After various TV-programmes he has been lately, as well as signing records all across Italy he will now concentrate on rehearsing the tour....  Hopefully he remembers he should be in Amsterdam this weekend and in Malmö 2013 in a mo...