Italy ITALY 2025 - Lucio Corsi - Volevo essere un duro

[ESC United Mod Team]

 

[Schlagerman1]

you have no idea of the tour de force that singers do during the week of Sanremo, some sleep a few hours a night between interviews with more than 1400 journalists, from TV, radio and accredited websites, the promotion of the album in their points, the rehearsals and the competition at the Ariston etc.. that in comparison the week of Eurovision is a walk in the park! you have not even the slightest idea of the effort that singers undergo during Sanremo.

Oh I totally understand that it is a real task with San Remo too. Hell, even Melodifestivalen is a big thing to go through, even if you get at least a weeks break or so between performances, you need to work hard with rehearsals and everything prior to the semis and final if you get there. But ESC isn't just ONE WEEK. It is months. We are talking about, from the moment you are selected as the representative of your own nation, you are placed with burden on your shoulders. If you also are a very well known artist in your country or coming from a country that takes the contest quite seriously, it is still a risk for many artists to take. Many have tried and failed at the contest, which may, if you are unlucky, hurt your career. You will be known as the one who failed in ESC, and we have seen many cases of artists (especially British ones) that has to changed their name to have some kind of career outside of the contest or becoming songwriters or producers instead.

Also, what sets ESC apart from either San Remo or Melfest is that it is abroad. It is in a place where you meet thousands of journalists from all over the world, there are millions listening to your songs coming with all kinds of criticism and opinions on what language you sing, what you are wearing, how you dance, if you miss a note and so on. When competing at home, you do know people. You surround with people who you have worked with before, camera crew, hosts and other artists. You can also speak the same language which is also a big advantage. That is not possible, at least to the same extent, in ESC. Sure, you got your delegation that works for you, help you out in all ways possible. But it is still a challenge to get used to what is happening.

That we as fans expect the artists to just "fix things" and they can go straight to ESC is totally wrong. Our contest is wonderful and we love it with a passion and care for it. But we must remember, it isn't the only thing happening in the world. Just look at ourselves. I don't know what goes on in your life, but I am sure you have been in some hard moments. Losing someone dear, maybe a relationship that turned to ashes or maybe just going through a rough time mentally. Sure, we try to get to work and live our life as good as possible. But it is hard and maybe you are not able to do it straight away. Maybe the timing is just off and you feel that this isn't what you want, for whatever reason.

What I meant with my posts, this and the last ones, is not to criticize anyone. I am just writing this to bring an extra dimension to the discussion. That ESC is an extremely big chance to push your music out to the world. But it is also filled with risks, both mentally and for your career. So if Olly, or for that matter any artist from any participating nation say no to go to ESC, for whatever reason, it is totally fine.

 

[EscGeek]

Maybe you're right. But to me 2025 is pretty a weak year. I just listened a recap of all released songs, 20, and to be honest, with exception of a couple of songs, I don't see anything above Italy.
We also know more or less what is coming from Serbia, Croatia, Iceland. Portugal and Danmark.
I don't see masterpieces in any of them.
With eventually Sweden, GB Germany France Georgia Netherlands. San Marino and Switzerland having all better option, which i doubt, Italy would be a top 10 again.

I was referring to my own personal rankings (since the comeback Italy was only twice in my bottom 50%), but i know it can be confusing as Italy is the only country of the "Big 3 that always do extremely well" whose high placings i mostly agree with. Ukraine fell off drastically after 2014 and i only loved them twice since then and Sweden struggles to get into my top 10 but it can be all over the place.

I think it is not only about interest. It has to with what feels right for you.
Not all artists are suited for the pressure and stress that brings with competing in ESC. Not only do you have to be good at 6-9 minutes during this week (3 mins for juries in final, 3-6 mins for televoters semi and final), you have to take lots of interviews, social gatherings, meeting other artists and delegations, say your opinion about things and such. To many, it is a walk in the park, but it isn't for everyone. The best example is Agnete who competed for Norway in 2016, who had very strong social anxiety, only had a few one-to-one interviews prior to the contest. The contest pulled a lot of strength for her and that is one of the most probable reasons why Norway failed to qualify that year, not only her emotional state, but also bringing the impression of being rather anonymous for the fans that loved her song (I personally didn't, but many did at the time).
Charlotte Perrelli toured all throughout Europe prior to 2008 but just when she came to Belgrade, she got to know that her husband had cheated on her, a devastating news that made her almost physically sick, which made her appearance in Belgrade look a lot worse than it would have done.

It isn't just to stand on the stage and look happy. It is so much more involved. I don't know Olly, many Italians could potentially answer that instead of me, but if you are a sensible soul which may need to adapt things to have a healthy life, then you should think through if you really want to compete in the contest or not. Whether he choose, I hope he feels happy with his choice and if he says no now, he might happen to win San Remo some other time, maybe when he is much more ready for ESC and might take his chances then.

I absolutely agree with you and thank you for the titbits about Charlotte and Agnette. I learned something today

 

[njdevils94]

Elodie sounded off on Domenica In after a journalist was criticizing Giorgia and can't blame her one bit.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1891142093168431484

I can't remember an edition where female soloists but really women as a whole were marked down as poorly and unfairly (particularly the younger females) as this one. It was absolutely brutal

Giorgia in 6th and Sarah Toscano (17th as a debutanet and a rough first night wasn't too bad) the exceptions. Here are there are placements below

6. Giorgia
12. Elodie
13. Noemi
17. Sarah Toscano
19. Rose Villain
20. Joan Thiele
21. Francesca Michielin
24. Serena Brancale
26. Gaia
27. Clara
29. Marcella Bella

I love Sanremo but anyone that think there isn't a problem are fooling themselves. Last year feels like it was very much a one off in terms of results.

 

[jatojo]

I love Sanremo but anyone that think there isn't a problem are fooling themselves. Last year feels like it was very much a one off in terms of results.

I do think that certain female entries were stronger last year than this year. In any case, if it's true what some say that many televoters are young women with male idols, then what can you do?

 

[sucof]

enough with this useless controversy, no one was attacked! What should we think of the female presenter who on Sunday afternoon for the special on the festival on rai 1 insisted on having olly undress live???? BASTA!
Imagine if carlo conti had done the same with elodie
It bothers me how Elodie and other politically aligned people use their popularity only to create sterile polemics.

 

[Preuss]

Elodie’s never gonna do Sanremo again, is she? :/

 

[gigi_copp3]

Olly posted an Instagram story saying to "stay tuned at 18:00" (CET)

 

[njdevils94]

enough with this useless controversy, no one was attacked! What should we think of the female presenter who on Sunday afternoon for the special on the festival on rai 1 insisted on having olly undress live???? BASTA!
Imagine if carlo conti had done the same with elodie
It bothers me how Elodie and other politically aligned people use their popularity only to create sterile polemics.

You are completely deflecting now away from the topic. I never said attack otharass but criticize and I don't even agree with statement of the video above but posted it merely for context. What is true though in what Elodie said is there is a huge bias towards males in Sanremo.

 

[sucof]

You are completely deflecting now away from the topic. I never said attack otharass but criticize and I don't even agree with statement of the video above but posted it merely for context. What is true though in what Elodie said is there is a huge bias towards males in Sanremo.

convince all the girls not to vote for their male idol, force them to vote for elodie or giorgia

 

[Paco Roca]

We can make several assumptions about Olly and I think they are more or less correct. They do not conflict with each other. However, one thought has taken root in me since the victory... It took me time to process it.

Given that Olly has charisma, that he had the most Sanremo song (a heartbreaking ballad that talks about love) and also a beautiful vocal timbre mixed with the good ability to move from low to high tones, he was pushed towards victory. He was clearly pumped up by his manager until he was immediately a clear contender for victory. And it was helped by inserting him in the third evening. If we complete the picture with Olly's fandom, currently an idol of the young, Sanremo was clear that he would win without too much difficulty. Ironically, the press room tried to stem the gap but failed. Lucio Corsi stopped at 0.4% of detachment.

Why hasn't Olly been confirmed yet? Just because of the concerts? So as not to burn him out? To plan his ESC moves? No. For me, an internal fight at the top of the festival. I think many would prefer to send Lucio Corsi because he has a talent and an ability more suited to the European stage.

Olly's manager has understood that the boy could suffer from the ESC and see the great success in sold out that he is experiencing now crumble. The manager also wants to exploit the boy's success by squeezing him with profitable concerts. I risk that next year a new Mr. X arrives and Olly goes out of fashion is high.

Olly for me is one of those horses that are powerful and win right away while Lucio Corsi is one of those horses that in the extension will reach higher goals. Olly is therefore the best choice for Sanremo and has gained prestige by winning it. He is a national product. Lucio Corsi on the other hand was born to cross borders and aim for other goals. He is more international.

Regarding the usual diatribe of women being hindered, when women didn't win it was because they didn't have songs up to par. When artists like Anna Oxa came on stage in their prime they won completely. I think that the gap between women and men is also due to the culture of the Italian male who is seen as a suitor, more accustomed to being noticed. And probably also by the classic Belcanto scheme which has its roots in Italian compositions and leads bop to be undervalued. Abroad, however, kweens proliferate and in many nations they are the only ones who unfairly win. Why doesn't anyone talk about this dehumanization of the male figure? Personally, in music as in every environment for me, meritocracy must always and only win.

 

[njdevils94]

convince all the girls not to vote for their male idol, force them to vote for elodie or giorgia

It isn't just the public. Its the press and radio jury too. Fedez could easily have won if he wasn't voted down by the juries. Would've made a great well written modern entry. Definitely my favorite from the Top 5.

The Giorgia failing to at least make the super final is truly baffling seeing how well she did in the first 3 nights and winning both juries on the 5th night.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1891155028183835030

 

[sucof]

 

[jatojo]

What prize did Giorgia receive halfway through the presentation of the points at the end? (Sorry if somebody already answered this.)

 

[njdevils94]

What prize did Giorgia receive halfway through the presentation of the points at the end? (Sorry if somebody already answered this.)

She won the TIM Award for Most Voted Artist on TIM media platforms alongside cover night of course for her duet of Skyfall with Annalisa.

 

[Ajeje Brazorf]

It isn't just the public. Its the press and radio jury too. Fedez could easily have won if he wasn't voted down by the juries. Would've made a great well written modern entry. Definitely my favorite from the Top 5.

The Giorgia failing to at least make the super final is truly baffling seeing how well she did in the first 3 nights and winning both juries on the 5th night.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1891155028183835030

Giorgia wasn't voted enough by the televoters to make the top 5. She was First, FIRST, with the Press and First, FIRST, with the Radio, TV, web jury. Unfortunate, but you cannot witchhunt every Italian out there just to vote for who you want. They will always vote for who they want.

So, what do we do now? Should we make a rule in order to have a mandatory presence on the podium for at least a female artist even if their songs didn't convince the audiences? Should we make two separate Sanremo's one for men and one for women to preserve "equality on personal tastes"? Should we make an all women Sanremo in order for one of our female artists to win? Or should we just accept sometimes life doesn't go the way we planned? Yeah, it sucks. But that's how it is...

If televote decided five male artists deserved the first five places, well there is nothing anybody can do. Were they the most voted? Yes. So they deserved their ranking. The end.

 

[njdevils94]

Giorgia wasn't voted enough by the televoters to make the top 5. She was First, FIRST, with the Press and First, FIRST, with the Radio, TV, web jury. Unfortunate, but you cannot witchhunt every Italian out there just to vote for who you want. They will always vote for who they want.

So, what do we do now? Should we make a rule in order to have a mandatory presence on the podium for at least a female artist even if their songs didn't convince the audiences? Should we make two separate Sanremo's one for men and one for women to preserve "equality on personal tastes"? Should we make an all women Sanremo in order for one of our female artists to win? Or should we just accept sometimes life doesn't go the way we planned? Yeah, it sucks. But that's how it is...

If televote decided five male artists deserved the first five places, well there is nothing nobody can do. Were they the most voted? Yes. So they deserved their ranking. The end.

There is no witch hunt. I wasn't blaming anybody for Giorgia's score in particular. Just puzzled that she didn't make the final. On the other hand but the complete ignoring of women in this edition I do think is a problem. As I said the juries aren't required to vote for anybody and I would never expect them too but year after year at least one of these uninspiring male ballads get to the super final ahead of something more ambitious and modern.

Yeah, it sucks but that's how it is isn't good enough when you look at the data of who has placed high at Sanremo over the last 10 years.

 

[sucof]

Giorgia wasn't voted enough by the televoters to make the top 5. She was First, FIRST, with the Press and First, FIRST, with the Radio, TV, web jury. Unfortunate, but you cannot witchhunt every Italian out there just to vote for who you want. They will always vote for who they want.

So, what do we do now? Should we make a rule in order to have a mandatory presence on the podium for at least a female artist even if their songs didn't convince the audiences? Should we make two separate Sanremo's one for men and one for women to preserve "equality on personal tastes"? Should we make an all women Sanremo in order for one of our female artists to win? Or should we just accept sometimes life doesn't go the way we planned? Yeah, it sucks. But that's how it is...

If televote decided five male artists deserved the first five places, well there is nothing anybody can do. Were they the most voted? Yes. So they deserved their ranking. The end.

BRAVISSIMA!!!!

 

[sucof]

There is no witch hunt. I wasn't blaming anybody for Giorgia's score in particular. Just puzzled that she didn't make the final. On the other hand but the complete ignoring of women in this edition I do think is a problem. As I said the juries aren't required to vote for anybody and I would never expect them too but year after year at least one of these uninspiring male ballads get to the super final ahead of something more ambitious and modern.

Yeah, it sucks but that's how it is isn't good enough when you look at the data of who has placed high at Sanremo over the last 10 years.

you are whipping up a controversy that doesn't exist, this was the popular vote. Stop.

 

[njdevils94]

you are whipping up a controversy that doesn't exist, this was the popular vote. Stop.

Not trying to whip up a controversy. I'm just telling the hard truth. Its not just 5 men in the Top 5 or Giorgia missing out on the super final. There was only one female soloist in the top 10 full stop.

Italy has a huge male bias problem when it comes to Sanremo. Not just one category of voting and this isn't just about this year or the past few. I get you are perfectly fine the trend continuing for the next 20 years but I'm not so I'm going to say something and show data to back it up.

Over the past decade only 8 solo women have placed top 5 at the festival compared to 38! solo men and then you have 4 groups (be it a band or trio)

For all the applause to Amadeus and I think he deserves plenty of it only 3 female soloists placed in the Top 5 in his five year stint from 2020-24 (2 in his final year). Angelina winning last year with Annalisa in 3rd and Elisa runner-up in 2022. That's it. 2 mixed in 2021 (Måneskin and Francesca + Fedez).

Conti had that same amount in his final two years from his first stint (2015-17) and this is where I will defend him. The people blaming this year's results just on Conti I think need to look at the deeper trend and picture.

Trash Italiano on Instagram: "La tabella che in queste ore sta facendo il giro del web e sta facendo discutere (soprattutto gli utenti degli altri Paesi). #Sanremo2025"

106K likes, 2,702 comments - trash_italiano on February 16, 2025: "La tabella che in queste ore sta facendo il giro del web e sta facendo discutere (soprattutto gli utenti degli altri Paesi). #Sanremo2025".

www.instagram.com

 

[Ajeje Brazorf]

There is no witch hunt. I wasn't blaming anybody for Giorgia's score in particular. Just puzzled that she didn't make the final. On the other hand but the complete ignoring of women in this edition I do think is a problem. As I said the juries aren't required to vote for anybody and I would never expect them too but year after year at least one of these uninspiring male ballads get to the super final ahead of something more ambitious and modern.

Yeah, it sucks but that's how it is isn't good enough when you look at the data of who has placed high at Sanremo over the last 10 years.

So, what do you expect us to do? Give us some solutions? How can you solve this? Let's hear it. Strange: nobody can solve this because there isn't a single thing to solve. As I said, people here votes who they want. Think you can change that?

But let's talk about the songs... Is It really true that songs sung by females this year were better? I don't think so.

So let's focus on female acts in Sanremo. Here's what I think about every single one of them:

The only two songs that catch my attention were Giorgia's one, but mainly because of her voice, not for the lyrics or for the music, and Joan Thiele's one, a really really good song sang by one of the most unknown artists in the lineup before Sanremo. She probably knew she wasn't the main favourite, but I think this edition of the Festival can really boost her career. So I'm happy for her. Spoiler, before I continue: Joan's song was the best presented by a women in Sanremo this year. By far.

The others were nothing really incredible. Let's start with Elodie: she could have been a strong favourite if only she had a good song. Guys, come on: she didn't have a good song, and I say this because I know Sanremo, not because I'm mysogynist. I've said this from day one and I said the same about Irama song aswell, and Irama is not a female. But let's move on...

Francesca song was actually cute and I would have loved to see her score better, but I expected the ranking she achieved: she has gone out of the radar for a bit and apart for some diehard fans, she is not a strong competitor on the televoting side anymore, I'm afraid.

Well, but we had not one, not two, but three bops, am I right Rose, Clara and Gaia? Yeaaaaah. Slay Kweens. Too bad their songs are 1000% worse than the bops Angelina and Annalisa presented last year which, whoops, granted them the podium. I kinda enjoyed them, but was pretty much clear to me that they lacked something to be possible competitors.

Then we had Noemi, and Noemi always comes midtable in Sanremo no matter what: the only time she actually reached a podium was in an all female podium editions with probably the best song of her entire discography.

We had Sarah who actually can't be sad with her ranking because vocally she was really shaky.

We had Serena Brancale with a catchy song which by the way never had chances from day one.

And then we have Marcella. Should I really explain to you why this song came last? Its meaning Is loathed by everyone who is not a misandric neo feminist, that's why it came last: and I think the majority of men and women agree on this one.

That said, let's compare them with the 5 acts that reached the superfinal.
Three were songwriting stuff, and pretty cool songwriting stuff. Corsi was the biggest surprise as I said, because nobody knew him before. But I'm writing here without any doubt: "Volevo essere un duro" is probably the song we'll remember the most from this Sanremo edition. The song is really really good, both lyrically and musically. It was praised by everyone and it was probably a locked in finalist from day 1. Brunori's song is an old school ballad that reminds De Gregori and Battiato, works perfectly for older generations and has and appeal even for youngsters because of Brunori himself. Cristicchi did what Cristicchi does better: he always wins part of the audience with emotions in Sanremo, has never failed to do so, he didn't fail this year.
Than we have Fedez and, I mean, can really anyone complain about him being in the top 5? Production wise everything about his entry worked: lyrics, music, lights, his performance, even the use of the autotune. One of the best songs he ever made.
Finally, Olly. It was the safest bet before Sanremo and he...won. He has a huge fanbase who follows him everywhere and he actually delievered a great performance of a not so great song. But It was a clear podium finisher from the beginning.