A song so beautiful it gives you chills: Brividi, the winning song performed by Mahmood and Blanco at the 72nd edition of the Sanremo Festival, is a powerful song with poetic lyrics that describe the desire and the fear of loving someone.
Brividi, which already topped the charts in Italy, will be Italy’s competing song at the Eurovision Song Contest in May 2022 in Turin. Expectations are high for the performance of Mahmood and Blanco at the ESC, especially after the international success of Maneskin.
At the Sanremo Festival, Mahmood and Blanco also performed a modern version of Il cielo in una stanza (video), a classic of the Italian genre canzone d’autore written by Gino Paoli and sung by Mina in 1960.
The Sanremo Festival, which was launched in 1951, is Italy’s most important song contest. It catapults the winners to success and qualifies them for the European Song Contest, which, like in the case of Maneskin, the winners of the Sanremo Festival 2021, can be the beginning of an international career that leads to prestigious collaborations, concerts with world-famous artists, fame and money.
MAHMOOD AND BLANCO EXPLAIN THE MEANING OF BRIVIDI
Brividi, which means chills in English, is the first artistic collaboration of Mahmood (29) and Blanco (19), two Italian superstars who met in summer 2021. After having written only the chorus, they finished writing and producing the song together with the producer Michelangelo in September. According to Mahmood, Brividi is not only a song about love. “We focus on the sentence Ti vorrei amare, ma sbaglio sempre (I’d like to love you, but I’m always wrong). It’s the feeling of being wrong after having given so much and the feeling of being afraid not to receive in return what you’ve given.” According to Blanco, Brividi is a personal song. He wrote it for a specific person, while Mahmood had someone else in mind while writing it. “It comes from the discomforts we both had in the last few months,” says the 29-year-old artist.
This year, 24 established artists competed at the Sanremo Festival, wich took place from 1st to 5th February 2022. They performed their song live at the Teatro Ariston accompanied by an orchestra and a conductor. Televoters and journalists voted their favourite songs. The scores were presented every night. Most of the time, Brividi was the competing song with the highest score.
SIMILARITIES BETWEEN MAHMOOD AND MANESKIN
Mahmood, who was born in 1992 and grew up in Milan, auditioned for the TV talent show X Factor Italia in 2012, made the cut, but was eliminated the night of the third show. Seven years later, in January 2019, he won the Sanremo Festival with Soldi. In May 2019, Mahmood rose to international fame when he performed Soldi at the Eurovision Song Contest in Tel Aviv. He placed second and started a successful concert tour through Europe. His following releases Barrio, Rapide, Inuyasha and Klan were smash hits. In 2021, he released his second album Ghettolimpo.
Mahmood’s song Soldi is the second most streamed Eurovision song of all time on Spotify. Zitti e buoni by Maneskin ranks sixth. Even though Mahmood and Maneskin rose to fame thanks to X Factor Italia, the Sanremo Festival and the Eurovision Song Contest, Mahmood stands on a more solid ground: he’s a solo artist and will never have to cope with the breakup of his band, he’s older and more mature, and his career didn’t skyrocket at the age of 21.
Blanco, whose real name is Riccardo Fabbriconi, was born in 2003 and grew up in Brescia in northern Lombardy. He started writing songs at the age of 14. In 2020, he released his first EP Quarantine Paranoid on SoundCloud. The same year, he signed with Universal Music Italia. His singles Notti in Bianco, Ladro di fiori, Paraocchi and Mi fai impazzire (feat. rapper Sfera Ebbasta) featured in the top ten in Italy. Blu Celeste, Blanco’s first album released in September 2021, made it to number one and went platinum.
Blanco joins Mahmood in Turin having just flown in from the US, where he shot an underwear campaign for Calvin Klein (video).
MAHMOOD & BLANCO WIN SANREMO FESTIVAL 2022
Mahmood and Blanco performed their competing song Brividi at the Teatro Ariston in Sanremo accompanied by an orchestra. The first night, Mahmood wore Prada and Swarovski jewels, Blanco wore Valentino.
BRIVIDI BY MAHMOOD AND BLANCO (OFFICIAL VIDEO)
Mahmood & Blanco win the Sanremo Festival and qualify for the Eurovision Song Contest 2022.
MAHMOOD AND BLANCO AT THE EUROVISION SONG CONTEST IN TURIN
MAHMOOD AND BLANCO AT THE SANREMO FESTIVAL 2021
LYRICS OF BRIVIDI BY MAHMOOD AND BLANCO
Ho sognato di volare con te
Su una bici di diamanti
Mi hai detto sei cambiato,
Non vedo più la luce nei tuoi occhi
La tua paura cos’è?
Un mare dove non tocchi mai
Anche se il sesso non è
La via di fuga dal fondo
Dai non scappare da qui
Non lasciarmi così
Nudo con i brividi
A volte non so esprimermi
E ti vorrei amare, ma sbaglio sempre
E ti vorrei rubare un cielo di perle
E pagherei per andar via,
Accetterei anche una bugia
E ti vorrei amare ma sbaglio sempre
E mi vengono i brividi, brividi, brividi
Tu, che mi svegli il mattino
Tu, che sporchi il letto di vino
Tu, che mi mordi la pelle
Con i tuoi occhi da vipera
E tu, sei il contrario di un angelo
E tu, sei come un pugile all’angolo
E tu scappi da qui, mi lasci così
Nudo con i brividi
A volte non so esprimermi
E ti vorrei amare, ma sbaglio sempre
E ti vorrei rubare un cielo di perle
E pagherei per andar via,
Accetterei anche una bugia
E ti vorrei amare ma sbaglio sempre
E mi vengono i brividi, brividi, brividi
Dimmi che non ho ragione
Vivo dentro una prigione
Provo a restarti vicino
Ma scusa se poi mando tutto a puttane
Non so dirti ciò che provo, è un mio limite
Per un ti amo ho mischiato droghe e lacrime
Questo veleno che ci sputiamo ogni giorno
Io non lo voglio più addosso
Lo vedi, sono qui,
Su una bici di diamanti, uno fra tanti
Nudo con i brividi
A volte non so esprimermi
E ti vorrei amare, ma sbaglio sempre
E ti vorrei rubare un cielo di perle
E pagherei per andar via,
Accetterei anche una bugia
E ti vorrei amare, ma sbaglio sempre
E mi vengono i brividi, brividi, brividi
If you liked our article Mahmood & Blanco Win Sanremo Festival, read our latest articles about Mahmood Maneskin (see below).
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Photos: Courtesy of press office RAI
Lyrics: Courtesy of Universal Music Italia
