Interview – sangiovanni, «Everything is fine thanks»: Vicenza, Alfa and time for oneself

sangiovanni returns on November 13th with «Tutto bene grazie», his new album written with Alessandro La Cava and produced by CELO and Pietro Posani.

The title takes the most automatic response that exists and treats it as a sentence to be pronounced seriously, divided into three chapters: the whole of life, the good of passions and friends, thanks for those who remained by his side.

Anticipated by I looked for you (happiness) and ok goodnightthe album was presented to the press. With him we talked about the province and personal success, the time he took for himself, Alfa, Vicenza and a Sanremo which, for now, he isn’t thinking about.

house is the focus track of the album. A real statement?

It is a piece that I dedicated to my city, Vicenza. It is a city that has given me so much and through this song I decided to give back some of what it gave me.
I hope it enhances the province and our city, because it’s really good here, and I also hope that whoever feels it will make it their own and dedicate it in turn to their city, to the place they come from.

Then there is all messed up.

It’s the most experimental piece on the album, with sounds that are certainly more distant from the rest of the album, but I like it a lot because it talks about letting go, enjoying the moments.
The last sentence, «I want to go on tour to rock the after party», comes from a dialogue with Pachymy vocal coach, during a lesson.
We talked about the concerts and what we experienced together, and he told me that he couldn’t wait to go on tour with me, not so much for the concerts themselves but to enjoy that moment and celebrate it afterwards. We lived everything very quickly, even on previous tours, and I never stopped to enjoy those moments. I would like that one day, when I go back to playing live, there would also be space to celebrate those feelings together with people.

I also like to say it’s my mom’s favorite song. It’s a bit unusual, because it’s an air that’s distant from your generation, yet it struck you too, and I carry this within me. When we write certain pieces we always think that they won’t reach everyone.
Instead it’s nice that even those of a different age can understand them.

from tomorrow instead it is the only featuring on the album.

There is Alpha. We sang it together at his last Forum and it was an incredible emotion.
He and I are friends outside of music, and with such a personal album I didn’t want just any feat: among my colleagues he is the person who has been closest to me in this period, so I wanted to dedicate a space to him.
He added his experience to it and it became a complete piece.

At a certain point you stopped, you took your time, you did your analysis, and you can hear it in the songs. How did you work on this path and how much did it enter into the songs? And how much did it matter to have a family and a team around you who put up with you and support you, at a time when we see many kids taking a step back without being able to come back?

I was very lucky to have my family, my friends and also my work team close to me. I was able to take my time and make this choice without any pressure or expectations. I just tried to improve myself, to grow. I knew it could be the right choice, and the people around me felt it too: they always supported and welcomed it.
I picked up things that I had left behind in my personal growth, and the nice thing about this album is that now I’ve managed to catch up. My growth as a person goes hand in hand with my artistic growth and I can also express it in music.
Before, it often didn’t happen, because my career was going faster than I was able to go in understanding myself.

This album allowed me to grow a lot. Obviously I followed a path, and music helped me there too: writing out of necessity, through the steps I was experiencing, helped me understand things about my personal life.
That’s when I said to myself that maybe it was time to let everyone hear it. I realized I was really ready when music was no longer a duty, on the contrary, it was something that made me feel good. I’ve been lucky, and I believe that taking time is a privilege that everyone deserves in some way.
It happens to everyone, and in life perhaps it is exactly what is needed: to stop for a moment, slow down, reflect.

The cover is very simple. Is your dog there?

Yes, he’s my dog.

Communication on social media is also very essential, low profile. Does it reflect your balance now?

For the visual part we worked trying to maintain sincerity and truth. I like that the photos and videos are simple, true, that they represent moments of everyday life. It allows me to show what really makes me feel good and to let people into my life more. I like that my friends are in the videos: we often live our days as usual, we take a video camera and film them, and those shots become our videos, our story.
It’s nice that people can enter into my daily life, into my simplicity. I try to do things in a frank and sincere manner.

Is Sanremo in your plans?

My press office says no. (laughs) I don’t really think about it. An album of mine hasn’t been released for three years, so now the main objective is to present it well, make people hear it and in the near future play it live. Sanremo is a beautiful context, a showcase that I respect a lot, but I’m not thinking about it now.

You grew up together with Alessandro La Cava and today he is one of the most requested authors. How has your relationship changed over time?

Ale entered my journey when I started writing and has been part of several songs throughout my career. For a period we were distant, we took different paths, always with the awareness that there was a beautiful chemistry between us, and we maintained our friendship. When I moved away from music I reflected and realized that with him I could give my best version, that I really felt at home. When we write together we have no filters, a connection is created that I have felt few times in my life, and in any case in this environment. So I called him, we met for dinner after a long time and I told him: let’s make this record together.
I wanted to tell about me, but also about him and our connection. In this album there is a lot of him, of my friends, of the whole movement that was created between us. He’s like a brother now.

Is house is all messed up they close in a somewhat truncated way. Is it a deliberate choice or was it born like this in the studio?

In all messed up the last sentence was born almost in freestyle. We were singing into the microphone, I ended it like that because I said to myself «well, bye», I was leaving the studio because we had to go, and it stayed there. There was no second thought, and perhaps that goes for home too. Very often we try to do things sincerely, without thinking too much, because otherwise we lose some of the magic.

Let’s talk about the last song I wantedthe one that closes the album. There’s something about it I would like of Cremonini?

We took some inspiration from that song. He is a singer-songwriter that I respect, and I find that his career has always been evolving: there is so much to learn, he is an artist that I study very willingly. Furthermore, we met at the stadium not long ago and we had a nice dialogue, a nice discussion. I listened to some of his album and I like it, I find it very honest and also a little free. It would be nice to retrace what he did and maybe create something together. In my family he is one of the artists we love most, my brother listens to him often and I will go to see many of his concerts. He’s been in our house for a long time, and I liked the idea of ​​getting something from him.

THE TRACKLIST

1. identity
2. ok goodnight
3. from tomorrow (feat. Alfa)
4. the truth
5. home
6. how are you – skit
7. I told you
8. I looked for you (happiness)
9. all busted
10. alone (★)
11. failed
12. I wanted

THE VIDEO

WEB & SOCIAL:

@sangiovanni

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