sanremo 2024: my top 26!

hello, friends!

as it would have been very surprising for me to not  write any reviews for this year’s sanremo music festival songs, i, of course, decided to compile a ranking for it. even though i still doubt any person reading this likes italian music as much as me, i hope this will, as always, be at least (somewhat) entertaining.

though, you might be asking: why a top 26? were there not thirty songs this year? (this number was overwhelming to me, by the way! i am starting to miss editions like 2010, which only had ten songs (though, in 2010, they were, arguably, not the best (though i did like fabrizio moro’s song that year) and giuseppe povia was still participating those days and that is something i do not miss). the reason is, knowing me, pretty obvious: i am a human being who cares about others and does not support genocide and i, therefore, chose not to review three songs by musicians who i feel do not deserve to have anything said about their music (il volo, who are giorgia meloni supporters (though, i feel me not reviewing their song is a missed opportunity, because their song was called “capolavoro” (“masterpiece”) and i could have written such a good sarcastic negative review about it because it was terrible) and mahmood (though, i did really love that one very low-quality meme of that one guy trying to (badly) sing his entry that was circulating around italian social media in february!) and angelina mango (yes, the winner… (the song seems to be doing really well commercially, though, even one of my local radio stations plays it!) who participated in the eurovision song contest in 2019 and will participate this year respectively, even though there were and are bds campaigns urging participants and spectators to boycott both (i also, generally, cannot stand fans of the contest and the contest itself due to its “apolitical” and “neutral” nature and would not watch it even if israel was to be banned and its partnership with morroccanoil was to end, but that is a rant for another day!)). i also chose two songs to take the number one spot because i am indecisive and this was a really good edition of the festival. enjoy!

also, if you hate giorgia meloni and the fdi as much as me, i beg you, please, please, please do not watch this festival on rai (the italian state broadcaster)’s website if you are in the ebu. these people are evil and there are other places where you can watch the festival without supporting them!

26. la siæd la sad - “autodistruttivo”

i have been glad to have heard of neither machine gun kelly’s nor any other, to me, irrelevant celebrity’s endeavours in pop punk music since 2021 and have been glad to not have heard anything similar recently… yet, here we go again! i understand why a lot of people praised this song’s lyrics and can say that i quite liked them as well (i understand how escaping abuse may lead individuals into worse situations than those they were escaping from and am glad this is being talked about), but the music of this song and the execution of its performance (there was so much going on…) really drew my attention away from them and, in my opinion, spoiled the song’s message. i feel that the three vocalists’ voices do not fit well together (fiks’ raspy voice, especially, stands out much more than it should, i feel) and this especially reflects in this song since the verses are sang not in unison, but in alternation.

this, however, is far from the worst i have heard. what really solidified this song’s place in this ranking is is the fact that i watch duets and covers night.

(i also do not care whether theø previously being in a hardcore punk band or not makes this “real punk” or not, let alone whether this qualifies as punk rock or not: i feel that anyone truly anti-establishment would not be performing in an event broadcast by italian state media)

25. bnkr44 - “governo punk”

i have very similar opinions on this song as well, though i like its lyrics much less (though, the lyrical masterpieces (this is sarcasm) that are “stamattina io mi lavo i denti con gin” (“this morning, i brush my teeth with gin”) and “ti pettini i capelli con una calibra .9” (“you comb your hair with a .9 caliber”) will not be leaving my head anytime in the near future and i feel that “soon un nomade in un attico chic” (“i am a nomad in a chic penthouse”) sums up them and la sad pretty well). their performance at duets and covers night was really memorable, though and i hope they are enjoying the revenue they get from constant airplay on the one radio station in puglia i frequently hear this song play on.

(i also never knew that madison avenue’s song “don’t call me baby”, which plays on radio stations here, samples the song they sang, “ma quale idea”. the things i learn each day!)

24. emma marrone - “apnea”

even though the beginning sounded promising and i like some of emma’s other music, this song and, especially, its chorus, are genuinely painful for me to listen to.

23. geolier - “il p’me, tu p’te”

this was the public’s favourite and also the second-placing song. lots of people were arguing about the festival being biased and whether geolier should have won it or not (i do not exactly agree with this because, even though the public absolutely loved his entry, i cannot say the juries, who also make up a significant part of those deciding on the results, did, though i, honestly, do not care about results at all). this song is also, currently, doing really well in the italian charts (alongside “tuta gold”, mahmood’s song, which i am not reviewing), as has most of geolier’s other music over the years.

personally, i do not like this song because the only part of it that i really liked were the long, drawn-out phrases at the beginning of the chorus: generally, it sounds monotonous to me, but that might be appealing to others! however, geolier’s public image and popularity in italy makes me uncomfortable: his entire career is built on him being neapolitan and singing in neapolitan. while there is nothing wrong with this, in combination with his use of hip-hop culture and fashion and the fact that, in italy, he is, arguably, much more popular than any black rapper, his career, to me, is very much a reflection of italy’s racist society. as a non-italian, i actually found it very funny when people were blaming his non-victory and negative audience response to him winning duets and covers night on him being neapolitan!

22. alessandra amoroso - “fino a qui”

this is, to me, an average sanremo song (the specific guitar drones as an accompaniment, the very prominent drums and the specific drum roll introducing the chorus made me think that), even though i really love the rising, chromatic “cadere, cadere, cadere” phrase she sings near the end a lot (though, the fact that it is an ascending phrase is a bit funny to me because, as i remember from marco masini’s entry from sanremo 2017, “cadere” means “to fall”). however, i feel that its live performance weakened it severely.

21. irama - “tu no”

even though irama is a very strong performer and i have found some of his older music quite nice, hearing monotonous lewis capaldi-like ballads again and seeing people appreciate them so much (i hold nothing against lewis capaldi or anyone who sings like him, just a lot of british pop music which i listened to three or four years ago sounded exactly like this song and i am getting a bit tired of it!) makes me worry for the future of the italian music industry.

20. sangiovanni - “finiscimi”

this was really disappointing to me because i loved sangiovanni’s entry from sanremo 2022 so much! (he, by the way, sang it during duets and covers night in both italian and spanish (weirdly enough, spanish people really liked “farfalle” as well) with aitana and it was very badly performed, which also disappointed me, though i did not expect much because the version in which it was performed already exists and there was, therefore, not much for me to look forward too). neither the instrumentation, nor the vocals in this song are interesting to me. the song sounds monotonous and lacks energy. do better next time!

19. negramaro - “ricominciamo tutto”

this is another song which has very prominent drums and a guitar playing drones as an accompaniment (and is also getting a lot of radio airplay in italy, it seems!). however, even though i am placing it higher than “fino a qui” because, unlike the previous song, i did actually remember it after the festival, my grandma remarked that the lead vocalist, to her, sounded like he was dying during the performance and i agree with her.

(i also do not know what to say about the spoken word parts in this song. i actually feel they fit very well into it and i love their distorted, telephone-like quality, but they also, funnily enough, kind of remind me of limp bizkit’s cover of “behind blue eyes”)

18. francesco renga e nek - “pazzo di te”

i cannot say i was disappointed in this (i was not expecting much from either of these people, even though francesco’s song from sanremo 2021 was pretty good!) and actually expected worse. this is very much listenable and has very nice-sounding string parts and a very dramatic bridge, though the bells occasionally sound unneccessary.

17. loredana bertè - “pazza”

i am not a big fan of most newer rock music, so i did not really find much to appreciate in this song (except for loredana’s very memorable outfits, as always). i am glad that others may have enjoyed it: i have heard it play on one of the radio stations of the italian-language swiss public broadcaster and it won the mia martini critics’ award!

16. mr. rain - “due altalene”

why are there so many slow ballads this year? of course, they have their fans, but i am not one of them. however, i actually like this song’s choruses a lot: the acoustic guitar and piano sound wonderfully nostalgic (which suits this song’s lyrics very well: this song is, as far as i understand, remembering a past friendship and relationship and i know people who connected to them a lot, which i personally did not because i have not gone through this experience yet) and there is an amazing contrast between the first verse, where the piano only appears every time matia sings (there definitely is a music technology term to describe this, which i am not aware of. sounds like some sort of gate!) and the second, very open one. the bridge also sounds great! i will also have to give “most memorable staging” to this one: i love how the swing set from the song (“due altalene” means “two swings”) was actually brought on stage.

15. ricchi e poveri - “ma non tutta la vita”

this song, i feel, is greatly appealing to its target audience: this sounds exactly like some of the chanson music my grandma listens to, but much more interesting and house-music-like (in the chorus and the bridge! i love the synthesisers, the guitar (or mandolin?) strumming in the second verse and last repetition of the chorus and the very dramatic drums! i found the bow costume they wore on the first night hilarious as well. though, it is a bit of a shame that this song’s performance was weak and not very energetic, though, what would one expect from two performers in their seventies?

14. fiorella mannoia - “mariposa”

fiorella is an amazing person and i wish i could appreciate her music more, but i found this song annoying and did not really like how her voice sounded in it. however, my grandma loved it!

(i loved her performance at duets and covers night so much, though… i miss sanremo 2017!)

13. rose villain - “click boom”

i like this song much more than most people (i do not know whether the public responded worse to this or to “made in italy” last year!). i quite like the contrast between the spoken chorus and sang verses and like the synthesisers in the chorus and the song’s strong beat. however, yes, i do agree: the buildup to the chorus is a bit disappointing, even though i initially found the chorus quite rhythmic and catchy.

12. gazelle - “tutto qui”

there is not much about this i can say (though, i love the drums and the very dramatic drum-string interlude in the second verse and the electric guitar), though it is a very warm and pleasant song!

11. bigmama - “la rabbia non mi basta”

this song has also been getting a lot of airplay in italy, it seems and, while i do love the house music influences in its instrumentation (the drums sound very nice and i like the bridges!) and its dark tone, i am a bit tired of it!

10. il tre - “fragili”

i admit, i only knew il tre before this festival from his song “lettera a mio padre”, which, lyrically, talks about the importance of guido’s father to him because ermal meta also has a song called “lettera a mio padre” (which, in my opinion, is amazing) which, very contrastingly, talks about ermal’s fear of becoming like his father and overcoming it, as his father was an abuser and i found it slightly funny that both songs popped up once i tried to search up either of them. this song has a lovely chorus, an amazing bridge (i love when instrumentation builds up dramatically too and this song does that well) and great drums! however, even though i can say guido is a decent rapper, i do not like his singing voice a lot (i also do not like the one synthesiser that appears in the chorus) and i have heard this song so much on various radio stations since the festival that i am kind of exhausted of listening to it!

9. fred de palma - “il cielo non ci vuole”

this is, in my opinion, not bad ar all for a last-placing entry! while i am not the biggest fan of the monotonous-sounding verses (though, the 

drum machine and synthesisers used in the whole song appeal to me a lot, as someone who used to love house music and i love how there is a switch to the usual piano and string sanremo instrumentation in the bridge. i feel, however, that the song ends too abruptly and the (also very abrupt) link to the bridge feels very randomly placed), the chorus is very catchy.

8. the kolors - “un ragazzo, una ragazza”

i mean, we got what we expected from them! this, like “italodisco” (which is the only italian song i really remember from last year) is very catchy (though, i do not like the chorus very much), has great synthesiser parts (and the occasional violin, which i really like the inclusion of, because it reminds me of disco music which, i mean, is exactly what this is) and makes me think of the summer holidays. what else could one ask for from the kolors? though, their new electronic style is still something that i cannot get used to, because, for example, “frida” from sanremo 2018 was very, very different from it.

i enjoyed their duets and covers night performance a lot too, mainly because i recognised all of the songs (and yes, “gloria” is, indeed, originally an umberto tozzi song and laura branigan’s version of it is a cover. if you are surprised by this, wait until you find out “self control” is not hers either!)

7. maninni - “spettacolare”

this was actually great, which surprises me because i, usually, do not like slow songs like this one. perhaps this is because of the fact that every second ermal meta fan i know was voting for this? anyways, while there is nothing particularly interesting in this song, maninni is a great and very strong performer and there is nothing in it that disturbs me in any way. though, while i do appreciate this song’s message of life always having its negative moments, its lyrics are nothing special to me and i, personally, feel it was undeserving of the award for best lyrics on social issues. like, “casa mia” was right there!

(also, thank you, maninni, for performing my absolute favourite and sadly, still relevant sanremo song at duets and covers night with my favourite singer! this was great!)

6. diodato - “ti muovi”

“fai rumore” won the first year i was ever aware of what sanremo even was, so diodato’s music, even though it mostly consists of slow ballads, since then has always made me feel really pleasant and this is not an exception in any way. i love the instrumental break and the melodies the violins and the brass generally play throughout the whole song (the instrumentation fits so well together and creates such a warm atmosphere and i love that!) and the chorus is wonderful. diodato’s voice, in my opinion, suits this song very well. and, of course, i love songs that end with most of the accompaniment ceasing their parts, leaving only some that fade out and this song does that. well done, diodato! i still do not like your song from 2018, though!

5. alfa - “vai!”

woohoo! this song has always sounded very german to me: the acoustic guitar accompaniment, the backing vocals, the clapping, the melody, even the way andrea just generally looks reminds me of germany! i love a lot about this song: it builds up very well and its chorus, which contains material from the verses and that i like a lot, is very nice and catchy!

4. clara - “diamanti grezzi”

i am greatly enjoying the music coming out of the drum and bass/house music revival right now and i really like the fact that there is a sanremo song talking inspiration from that. i love the contrast between the (very catchy and dark) chorus with the house music synthesisers and drum breaks and the love ballad-like verses with prominent strings (which also appear in and fit very well into the chorus too). this is amazing! well done!

3. santi francesi - “amore in bocca”

while i initially did not like this song, how dramatic it is, the drums and synthesisers and how emotional it sounds when performed live really changed my mind!

(i also love this band’s name: “santi francesi” is “french saints” in italian. the band has this name because its members have the surnames de santis and francese!)

2. annalisa - “sinceramente”

i loved this ever since it was first performed: this is a very catchy and repetitive song (quandoquandoquando…) with a very nice bridge (i love how well the chorus fit with that crescendo!) and reminds me a lot of modern 1980s-style music. annalisa fits this song extremely well as a performer and, as always, sounded amazingly strong! while the lyrics of it are surely… memorable in a way and sound, as some correctly pointed out, like lana del rey (i hate her, by the way) lyrics (“sto facendo un passo avanti e uno indietro/di nuovo sotto un treno” (“i take one step forward and one step back/under a train again”) illustrates this pretty well, i think), we can ignore that: this is great!

joint 1st place: ghali - “casa mia” and dargen d’amico - “onda alta”

i heard ghali’s song immediately after it was first released and i was unimpressed (though, i did think the guitar solo sounded nice and i still think that). however, after reading its lyrics and seeing all that unfolded after this year’s festival, i began to appreciate it more and more, especially lyrically, now cherish the fact that it was performed this year.

“casa mia” means “my home” and is about the genocide in palestine. it is an incredible song lyrically: it shares the theme of collective responsibility (the repeating verse where ghali sings about the sky being too green and the sky being too blue reflects this really powerfully (i think a lot about how fortunate i am to be living the life i am living right now, even though it is not the best, a lot too) and, i mean, “ai miei figli cosa diró?” (“what will i tell my children?”) is a question most of us have asked ourselves in the past five months too) with the song i will discuss next and talks a lot about displacement (“casa mia o casa tua/che differenza c’è/non c’è” (“my home or your home/what difference is there/there is none?” is the song’s main message and, to me, really shows why we should care and how all forms of oppression are interconnected) and also about the horrifying number of people that have been ignoring these horrors (my favourite lyric in the song is about this: “ma come fate a dire che qui è tutto normale/per tracciare un confine con linee immaginarie bombardate un ospedale/per un pezzo di terra o per un pezzo di pane/non c'è mai pace” (“but how can you say it is all normal/to draw a border with imaginary lines and to bomb a hospital with them/for land or for a piece of bread/there is never peace”). this is relevant and really, really powerful and this impacted many: i have seen people compare this song to “pensa” or “non mi avete fatto niente” and i love those two songs and, perhaps, there is an italian teenager listening to this somewhere who will go on to become radicalised just like me after i heard “non mi avete fatto niente” four years ago. to all those who were motivated to do something by this song, i shake your hand and i will have to shake my own hand too because it is because of this song that i ever talked to my grandma about the genocide.

what was, perhaps, more powerful on the italian press was ghali’s call to stop all genocide and because of this i remind all people, even though it is really good that we, as humans, are inclined to pay attention to negative things because we want to fix them, to also see a positive side to things. yes, this call was edited out by rai, whose ceo sent a pro-israel message after the show: but who even wants to interact with rai anymore? this is italian state media, which none of us should have been supported anyways since 2022! protests were held at their regional headquarters and i have met no one who was against them (oh, to be throwing eggs at rai in turin…) expect for the italian police (but who does not have a burning hate for the police nowadays?). not even those working for rai agree with andrea febo or italy’s israeli ambassador, who also criticised “casa mia”! and i am sure that, even though it was edited out, that we remember it well: fourteen million people saw it and, thanks to it, many italian newspapers finally said “genocide” for the first time. as much horrible things as may happen, there will always be publicity and people who are against them. remember that!

(i also loved ghali’s performance at duets and covers night!)

i do need to talk about “onda alta” too. it also has a heavy theme of collective responsibility (“sta arrivando, sta arrivando l'onda alta/stiamo fermi, non si parla e non si salta“ (the big wave, it is coming, it is coming/yet we stay still and say nothing”), which it connects to dargen’s own status as a celebrity (“come faccio volere una vita in incognito/se parlo solo di me?” (“how can i want a life in incognito/if i only talk about myself?”) and is about the refugee crisis (i love the lyric “abbiamo cambiato idee/abbiamo cambiato leader/ma la madre e le altre donne/non hatto niente da ridere” (“we have changed ideas/we have changed leaders/yet the mother and the other women (representing, well, those who have been around for longer than us) have nothing to laugh about”) and the dramatic music that accompanies it). it is also great musically: i love the choral part at the beginning (and the fact that the choir at the ariston were all wearing sunglasses like dargen who, by the way, dressed amazingly for the entire festival!) and the house influences in the song (i had recently heard of a statistic where house music becomes more popular when communities are more desperate and this reminded me of it a lot) and, of course, the bridge.

i hope, if you got to the end of this, this, at least, brought you some enjoyment.