Tiziano Ferro wants to shuffle the cards and does so with “I'm a great (Deluxe)”.
Not a simple commercial appendage: the original album from October 2025 was not a great success. It was a passage, introspective, centripetal, almost monologuing, this second tranche opens.
The new songs move away from him, become dialogic, bring people you don't expect into the house.
To do this, call friends and colleagues starting with Giorgia, in the previously published one Superstar. A piece that works as it should: well-written pop, two voices who know and respect each other, no one trying to dominate the other. Before the path takes less obvious directions, it's the right front door.
Half happy with Shiva is the second chapter of an association already documented in Kiss of Judas in Shiva's latest album. The piece carries a melancholy aftertaste that has something of a generational crossover, of concrete experience, and it holds up without the graft sounding forced.
XXdono rereads one of the founding songs of Ferro's career without betraying it: Lazza's urban present and Ferro's melodic writing find a balance that doesn't leave one speechless, which is no small thing for an Italian pop classic.
With XXverse the “Perverso” of 2003 changes skin and becomes super funk with Ditonellapiaga. “I'm a lost father, I say what I think” and then straight and bluntly “fuck the fascists”. A bar that in the mouth of Ferro twenty years ago would perhaps have been unthinkable. It is not a posing gesture, it is something more precise and less calculated, and for this reason it is valid.
I dreamed of you with Ariete it was already on the original album, one of the emotionally strongest songs. The voice of Aries does not distort it, it adds that figure of generational belonging that it could not have on its own. In Naples it's the other piece that strikes: Ferro says he has reached rock bottom, that he no longer has remorse. It is the story of a private collapse treated without emphasis, and that chronological precision is worth more than any metaphor.
Unique closes the deluxe and remains the least focused song. The synths have something already heard, the production looks to Coldplay. The text is a dedication to one of his children and has a real specific weight, but the sound quality penalizes it. A song that definitely works on a stadium stage, and the “Stadi 26” tour is upon us.
Keeping as many doors open as possible, even live, is not a flaw. It's a choice.
Well done Tiziano!
TRACK BY TRACK TOLD BY TIZIANO FERRO
“SUPERSTAR”
This song was born from an exchange of text and audio messages between me and Giorgia.
They talked about life, about our lives but not only and about the desire and need that everyone has to feel good.
For me, as always, writing is a necessity and it was in this case too. From our conversations a verse and an aside were born and when I sent them to Giorgia she immediately responded by sending me her part, words that devastated me, I'm honest, because I realized that she had taken my provocation and taken it 5 levels further, digging even deeper. The result is a song that may seem cryptic but which actually has a very clear text, a text that tells the story of the ups and downs of the world of music, the songs, the records, the live shows, the great successes but also the moments of difficulty and the need to have a clear understanding of who we are beyond the stage, the applause and the fame.”
“HAPPY HALF” FEAT. SHIVA
“HAPPY HALF” with Shiva is a collaboration that I care a lot about.
Shiva was a great discovery for me because I have to admit, I didn't know him very well, I knew his name, but not his discography.
He approached me with great passion, great respect, almost in silence and I discovered a boy in touch with himself, with his fragile side, with his sensitivity, with beautiful ideas and with a great desire to do. We started writing and, writing with a person like that, two songs came out: one ended up on his record and the other on mine.
It was nice to collaborate with this guy because I love witnessing what is happening in new Italian music. I love seeing young kids strive to move beyond their little backyard and little recording studio; needing to learn from those who have more experience, because they have listened.
And then I like people who embrace their difficulties and turn them into art and he was this.
As I was saying, we wrote two songs: the one that ended up on his album clearly talks about a broken love and a toxic relationship while “Felici a mezzo” talks about another type of toxicity and codependency, something which in my opinion is rarely talked about and which ruins the lives of many people.
I have to be honest: it's probably my favorite song on this repack.
“XXDONO” feat. LAZZA
Lazza wrote to me when he was still a boy who was starting to make his way in the world of music. He was a fan of mine and we wrote to each other, as often happens now, on Instagram. I was struck not only by his rap style but also by the fact that he was an excellent musician, someone capable of playing Mozart if necessary. When I saw him on stage at Sanremo some time later I was positively amazed by his performance. He was one of the few artists always in note and the piece was beautiful, my favorite piece of that edition.
I wish Lazza, a complete and very strong artist, a very long career and to continue writing songs that can remain, like that “Cenere” which made me discover him, in the hearts and minds of the public.
“XXVERSO” feat. Toe in the sore
This is an ironic song and the lyrics are even more so and I therefore couldn't help but invite a pop artist that I like (young, strong, fresh), a girl who is making her stylistic signature out of irony and a sense of dark humor: Ditonellapiaga.
I love it so much. We found ourselves with her in a second, like two brothers. His voice is beautiful and his ability to describe reality in a raw, cutting and above all comical way drives me crazy.
“TI SAGAI” feat. ARIES
Speaking of collaborations and the new generation, there is an artist who really stole my heart: Ariete.
A very special thing happened with her. I discovered it late, when it had already become a viral phenomenon. I had listened to her songs online without ever having seen her: I only knew this angelic and delicate voice. I couldn't imagine her, nor really understand who she was, also because in her songs she tells a very crude reality, but with an almost naive tenderness and cheekiness.
At a certain point I felt the need to meet her and I discovered an extremely deep girl but also, just like her voice, incredibly sweet. She touched me and it was natural to become attached to her. For this reason I decided to entrust her with a song that was already present on the album, but which had not found the space I would have liked and had never become a single: “Ti Sognai”, a very delicate song that speaks to a mother. I had a specific desire: to understand how those words would be interpreted, understood and pronounced by her. Maybe I needed it too, because singing them has always been complex for me. It is a controversial song, very emotionally intense. Having someone else's point of view and especially hers, helped me really decipher it. And it happened exactly what I hoped for, so I'm deeply grateful.
“IN NAPLES”
I wrote this song on the occasion of my concert three years ago in Naples.
I think that 2023 has been, to date (and I don't want to rant about it), the worst year of my life and in those days in Naples I managed to concentrate everything in one song, this one.
I hadn't written for a long, long time and I think that “A Napoli” was the first song on this album, or rather I think that this album was born, in its language, precisely from this song.
I kept it out of “I AM GREAT” because it would have been difficult for me to include it, I didn't want it to become the central theme of the album. I urgently needed to talk about the solution before the problem and that's why you can listen to it now.
That said, it remains one of the most central songs of “I AM GREAT”.
“UNIQUE”
“Unico” is a very important song for me. I chose to keep it off the main album because it's about my son.
Over time I wrote several songs dedicated to my daughter and I felt that one was still missing for him. I decided not to include it in the album immediately, a bit like what happened with “A Napoli”, but for completely opposite reasons: “A Napoli” is a very painful song, while “Unico” is strong, bright, full of joy.
In this song I imagine my son growing up. It is a song of encouragement and strength. Unlike the first pieces I wrote for my children, born when they were still small and therefore full of hope above all, this one comes at a different time, because today I really begin to understand what kind of person he is becoming.
I glimpse what his life could be, also because in him I see a lot of myself, which is why I can understand both his potential and the obstacles, dangers and difficulties he might encounter along the way.
Through this song I ask him to face everything with grace, without conforming, without trying to resemble others, because only in this way can he be truly unique.
SCORE: 7.00
TO LISTEN NOW
Half Happy – XXverso – I dreamed of you
TO BE SKIPPED IMMEDIATELY
Nothing… maybe Unico doesn't fit
TRACKLIST
1- “SUPERSTAR” feat Giorgia
2- “HAPPY IN THE HALF” feat Shiva
3- “XXDONO” feat Lazza
4- “XXVERSO” feat DITONELLAPIAGA
5- “TI SOGNAI” feat Ariete
6- “UNIQUE”
7- “IN NAPLES”
8- “I'm Great”
9- “I pretend&I push”
10- “Broken Heart”
11- “Unknown Soldier”
12- “I Dreamed of You”
13- “Joy”
14- “What You Wanted”
15- “Love is King”
16- “1-2-3”
17- “Like”
18- “We deserve more”
19- “A heart in your hands”
