Jova inaugurated 2025 with “The human body Vol. 1” and closed it with “Niuiorcherubini”.
An album born without strategy, modeled in six days of New York sessions that resemble a feverish laboratory more than a planned production. An “upbeat” album, almost an instinctive gesture to escape the external noise and rediscover a primary form of making music.
A cuddle for his soul, for his love of music.
The thirteen tracks flow like sound notes: sketches that become songs, intuitions that transform into structures only when necessary. Jovanotti indulges in his passions without attempting any mediation, with the freedom and risks of those who decide to record for the pure pleasure of doing so.
From a lyrical point of view there is no preconceived narrative. The fierce optimism that runs through the lyrics remains controversial, and not all of it stands up to the test of the cynicism of the times. But its function is clear: not to escape from reality, but to build a small gap – temporary, of course – through which to breathe. It is a romance of resistance, not of consolation.
This LP wasn't planned. Overwhelmed by the news of wars and by a feeling of helplessness compared to human madness, I thought I'd immerse myself in something that I love and that makes me feel in the flow of life. This thing I love is music, which doesn't stop wars and doesn't solve emergencies, but music is what I do, and I dedicate myself body and soul to it, entrusting my emotions to it.
I love music, above all I love hearing it being born: the recording studio, the instruments, the microphones, the words that become melodies, rhythm, songs.
On a musical level, “Niuiorcherubini” is cool! A surprisingly solid living organism.
Recorded live on analogue tape, the album captures an energy that cannot be simulated: imperfections welcomed as living material, rhythmic micro-shifts, off-mic laughter that enter the tracks like details of an imperfect but pulsating painting. The band assembled for these sessions — a collective that crosses salsa, soul, Afrobeat, tropicalism and funk — brings a dynamism that rarely appears in Jovanotti's recent work. Each musician adds a different texture, and the result is a sound mosaic in which cultures intertwine without captions.
Lorenzo directs the group with the lightness of someone who doesn't have to prove anything: a “ringleader” who prefers to favor the flow rather than impose a form. Thus the album becomes a travel diary in real time, an implicit tribute to the New York that shaped his imagination, rather than an explicit story of the city. Here we don't sing about New York: we play with New York which is the breath of the world.
The quote from the legendary Dallamericaruso in the title is not nostalgia, but a lateral reference to an ancient idea of a traveling and permeable record. Each track is an autonomous episode that maintains the warmth of the first take. Not everything is in focus — and that's okay. The album's strength lies precisely in its controlled irregularity.
“Niuiorcherubini” is an hour of music that pulsates, sweats, has fun and doesn't ask for permission. A record that doesn't pretend to change anything, but manages to restore a dimension of contagious vitality. One can discuss the naivety and redundancy of some thematic choices, but musically the album has a luminous coherence and craftsmanship that deserve attention.
“Niuiorcherubini” is Jova's formula for happiness, his ray of sunshine. Then you may like it or not… but let yourself be radiated by his positivity… it certainly won't hurt you!
TRACK BY TRACK
1. Without ifs or buts Salsa Version – feat. Spanish Harlem Orchestra
An explosion of “hard sauce”, from Spanish Harlem to the best slopes in the world: pure energy for body and heart.
2. To my friends – feat. Red Baraat
A Punjabi-gypsy-groove that unites India, the Mediterranean and Brooklyn in a hypnotic embrace.
3. The music of the soul – feat. JP Bimeni
Classic soul, happiness in the sense of eudaemonia: the harmony between life and one's inner demon.
4. Pura Vida
Groove funk and contagious joy: pure vibration, pure energy, pure life.
5. Maybe
A song born on a rainy day: melancholic and luminous, between absence and hope.
6. Without gravity – feat. Felipe Hostins, Gil Oliveira, Ronaldo Andrade
Afrobeat and Brazil in a Jovanotti embrace: summer rhythm even in winter.
7. I Only Know That Life – feat. Felipe Hostins, Gil Oliveira, Ronaldo AndradeHomage to the “forró” and the “piseiro” of the Brazilian northeast, with accordion, triangle and zabumba: we dance until dawn (and from dawn onwards)
8. It makes me happy – feat. Caito Sanchez, Binky Griptite, Morgan Wiley
Hypnotic and intimate soul, in the wake of Bill Withers. A favorite of Jova and his New York band.
9. Resistant
A spontaneous hymn born from a riff and a specific phrase: “I have something to say, listen to me”.
10. A miracle – feat. Chicha Libre
Meeting with the tropicalist scene of Brooklyn's Barbès: Latin psychedelia and mystical joy.
11. I fall upwards – feat. Chicha Libre
A cumbia vallenato that crosses Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela and arrives in New York with a smile.
12. Shiva Jam – feat. Chicha Libre
A funk mantra dedicated to the god who creates and destroys by dancing: pure freestyle, pure rhythmic trance.
13. Mucho más que dos – feat. Spanish Harlem Orchestra
Spanish adaptation of Senza se e senza but, sung with some pronunciation errors and a lot of truth.
SCORE: 8.00
TO LISTEN NOW
The music of the soul – Pura Vida – Maybe
TO BE SKIPPED IMMEDIATELY
Nothing. An hour of great music. You either love or hate this album in no uncertain terms!
