Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

As Mahmood has been announced as one of the co-hosts for the Sanremo 2025 fourth night this is as good as any excuse to have a some Friday night nostalgia and a closer look to his Sanremo participation history that is quite remarkable indeed. 2016 Placed 4th in Newcomer's with Dimentica  (behind certain Francesco Gabbani and Ermal Meta) 2018 Winner of Sanremo Giovani with Gioventú bruciata (won Critic's award) 2019 Winner of Sanremo with Soldi  (won awards for best performance and was voted the best by other artists) 2020 Author for Elodie's Andromeda (7th) 2021 Guest appearance           Author for Francesca Michielin & Fedez's Chiamami per nome (2nd)          Author for Noemi's Glicine (14th) 2022 Winner of Sanremo with Brividi together with Blanco          Author for Noemi's Ti amo non lo so dire (15th) 2023 Guest appearance 2024 Placed 6th with Tuta gold but had the biggest hit of the fe...

  It's August which means the Italian summer holiday season is reaching its peak and the fight for the tormentone of the year is fierce. Here are some and with a nostalgia trip to summer of yeasteryear with Sabrina and the iconic boobstastic video! Rocco Hunt, Eletters Lamborghini & Lola Indigo - Caramello Carl Brave, Noemi - Hula hoop Emanuele Aloia - Cartagine Sabrina - Boys 

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. Sanremo 2912 was won by Emma Marrone and Non è l'inferno (after top-3 new voting, after first voting she was only 3rd behind Arisa and Noemi who won the first round), bur Rai had decided to pick up the one for Eurovision for reasons they know only themselves - or maybe among those who and their labels that were willing to do it - and they chose Nina Zilli. Her Sanremo song Per sempre , that placed 7th was first announced the one for Baku 2012, but was later changed to L'amore è femmina from her new album, and re-recorded with partly English lyrics and co-written with the usual Eurovision songwriters from Sweden and US. That caused quite some controversy and there are still fans bitter Rai didn't stick to Per sempre . Oh w...

  The heat is one, the summer's here and here's also another dose of Italian summer hits. Enjoy! Takagi & Ketra / Giusy Ferreri - Shimmy shimmy Rocco Hunt / Ana Mena - Un bacio all'improvviso Nek - Un'estate normale Noemi / Carl Brave - Makunba

Two nights down, three to go and tonight's the usual covers night. This year however the Big artists are not performing Sanremo classics with guests but they were free to choose basicly any Italian classic, and whether to have guest stars along them or not. And yes, the performance has weight on the final result, voted by the choir and orchestra in Teatro Ariston. Something I have never and never will understand. Is this the moment you pay if you have been bitchy at the rehearsals or viceversa? In reference to Domenico Modugno's last place in Eurovision 1966 with fabulous Dio, come ti amo (sung last night by Gigliola Cinquetti, btw) simply because he was bitchy and diva in the rehearsals as the legends tells..... The full ranking of the past two nights, voted by Demoscopic jury stands as: 1. Ermal Meta, 2. Annalisa, 3. Irama, 4. Malika Ayanae, 5. Noemi, - in short all the most traditional Sanremo songs all in top by real big Big names - 6. Fasma, 7. Francesca Michielin & Fe...

  Not much to tell about ladies fashion as besides Michelle, dressed by Trussardi for the occasion, there were only Eva among newcomers and Noemi among Big plus surprise guest Virginia Raffaele. Michelle looked stunning in pink but Virginia took home the prize for the best look. One can only admire when someone is so pretty, elegant, good in everything and even funny as hell! Noemi had a very low decoltée and may have had a boobgate happening and Eva... well.... No comment! Men were mostly in black so not much to tell really. Shiny material dominated the Newcomers but also Gazzé. Mudimbi looked stunning in his Carlo Pignatelli and Lo Stato Sociale continued with a very casual look. Lead singers t-shirt had Voglio le coccole (I want cuddles) written in it last night. And guess what? Their stylist is the same as Fancesco Gabbani's last year, Alessandrini. And not only, the 83-year-old dancing granny is compared to last yeear's gorilla. Could it be their do the trick?...

Fabrizio Moro (41) returns to Sanremo for the 5th time. In 2000 he tried his luck in the newcomers with much of a success, but he came back in 2007 and won it with Pensa . The year after he was 3rd among Big with Eppure mi hai cambiato la vita . Last time he was in 2010 but didn't go that far. In between he has written Sanremo entries for Noemi ( Sono solo parole ) and for Valerio Scanu ( Finalmente piove ). This year he is back with Portami via (Take me away) Born and raised in Roman suburbs (just like Eros Ramazzotti) provides him an endless insiration for his songs. He has also tires the Latin market singing in Spanish, like Situaciones de la vida and Linda como eres . He has also written songs for other artists like Fiorella Mannoia , Emma , Elodie and  last year's Samreo winners  Stadio .  His 9th studio album Pace will be released after the festival. 

Laura Pausini debuted as show hostess with Paola Cortellesi, an imitator and comedian, last night on Rai1. And she handled it surprisingly well, a highly entertaining show with Marco Mengoni , Noemi and Andrea Bocelli among guests. On top of that she did several of her songs , medleys, talked a bit dirty, changed outfits. And it was striking how Eurovision/Swedish friendly the show was for an Italian prime time production: first of all Mengoni was there, A medley included Gente di mare , Jalisse was named (and Fiumi di parole sung but with different lyrics by Paola), Andrea Bocelli sat down the piano and played and sung a bit of Pippi Longstocking , Laura's act for Innamorata was all yellow-blue.... they did ABBA medley ! And more; there was Raul Bova, they did The Superemes ! Marco Mengoni and Paola Cortellesi did touching monologue against bullism with Guerriero . Teary eyes all over. That was entertainment at its perfection.  They show was also a rating success being t...

And more Sanremo video today. It's time for Noemi's La borsa di una donna. Would this work in Eurovision or is too text based?

Sanremo number 66 has started and Carlo Conti can have a long sigh of relief. The viewing figures are out and the festival scored an average of 11,135.000 viewers and 49,98% share! That equals last year's first night even though there a bit fewer watchers (11,767.000) but better share (49,34%) The first part of the show was watched in average by 12,515.000 (49,2%) while the second part by 5,906.000 (52,30%). The most watched act was duo Caccamo & Iurato with 15,580.000 viewers followed by Dear Jack and Arisa with over 14 million, Noemi. Fragola and Stadio with over 13 million. Bluvertigo and Ruggeri scored over 12 million while Hunt got just a bit over 10 and last Fornaciari less than 10 million but then Hunt and Fornaciari were the last two to perform late late...... The show was also marked by the fight for the equal rights, even if no one mentioned it aloud. The Rainbow stripes were part of the performance of five artists (Noemi, Arisa, Ruggeri, Bluvertigo, Fornaciar...

Tension is high. Sanremo festival has taken over the Italian media and for one week politics, immigrants and all the problems are forgotten and it's all about music and gossip because Sanremo è Sanremo!  Carlo Conti will be hosting from Teatro Ariston in Sanremo number 66 with Madalina Ghenea, Virginia Raffaele and Gabriel Garko. This festival Sanremo is going to be the most LGBTQ friendly ever with the ongoing discussion in Italy for equal rights. Laura Pausini has been fronting the argument for 20 years, and do we need to mention Elton John? On top of that there's an initiative to have all artists wearing soemthing Rainbow, let's see how that will work. It seems Arisa and Patty Pravo have already engaged into the project. As long as we won't see a dress like Lydia all is fine.... On top of that there's a rumour one of the artists is pregnant. Could it be Arisa? That would explain her sudden chance of heart concersing Eurovision perfectly..... Ten Big s...

Sanremo's 66th festival kicks off next Tuesday but the betting is on, and it seems we have clear favorites. It's worth remembering most every year there is a big favorite and quite often they also do win like it was Il Volo's case last year. As soon as the names were out they emerged as the top favorites to beat, and now more Sicilians are at it: Giovanni Caccamo & Deborah Iurato with their Via da qui . They are young and fresh, both from the same Sicilian town and both already winners: Caccamo won the Sanremo Newcomers last year (and co-write the 3rd placed song by Malika Ayane in the Big category, Iurato instead is the winner of Amici reality talent show in 2014. They are followed by more reality related artists: Lorenzo Fragola (who's entry already exists also in English and in case of a win we might have not only Spain but also Italy opting for a full English song... but let's not run too fast! ) is the winner of X Factor 2014. Noemi, also known from X ...

Sanremo songs haven't even been heard - except by selected journalists - but the betting is in full swing and the speculation who will win the festival (and go to Eurovision 2016!) heats up. As said the selected journalists were invited as usual by Carlo Conti to pre-listen the songs so they can have a better idea when writing about them when the festival starts. No cell phones or anything allowed, of course, and also this year everyone's been good and followed the rules. They are allowed to write their impressions and of course they did and based on this fans and Italians in general have formed already some opinions and expectations.  Quite a few are saying Lorenzo Fragola will walk it. But in the betting the new duo by Amici winner Deborah Iurato and Sanremo newcomers winner last year, Giovanni Caccamo takes the prize. Both from Sicily, as is Mr Strawberry Lorenzo as well btw. It is also said Fragola has his song ready for Eurovision and in English. Caccamo is eager for ...

The rumour mill for possible Sanremo 2016 Big artists is in full swing and Carlo Conti told the press today there will be 20 instead of 18 Big artists, and 8 newcomers. The newcomers or Nuove proposte will be selected and announced tomorrow night in a live show on Raiuno at 21.20 CET. Twelve artists will fight for the six places, and the two names from AreaSanremo selection will be also announced so by the end of the evening we have already all the eight newcomer arists and also their songs out. As always the songs by the Big won't be heard until they are being performed for the first time onstage in Teatro Ariston in Sanremo. Let's see the most talked about names. Conti already made a wish to see both of his co-hostesss last year Emma and Arisa back, and it seems at least Arisa is game. It also rumored she's dropped the song she was already proposed and accepted and is now looking for something poppier, and perhaps more Eurovision friendly? We know she's dyi...