Tonight, after four intense nights, the grand final of Sanremo 2020 will be held. The contest will decide the 70th winner of the prestigious Italian song contest — but it will also determine who will represent Italy at Eurovision 2020. But who should get that ticket to Rotterdam? The Wiwi Jury — our in-house panel of music unprofessionals — has listened to all 24 23 competing songs and ranked their favourites.
Luis
1. Elodie – “Andromeda”
Slick, smooth, superb! “Andromeda” is a breath of fresh air which succeeds in blending unequivocally classic Italian elements with current beats. It’s all backed by a convincing singer with a portentous stage presence. This song is so ready for the outer world and it could easily become a Europe-wide hit should it reach Eurovision. Elodie brings a great example of why Sanremo has been able to get to the 70th edition: her song is elegant and expensive, but daring and modern at the same time.
2. Achille Lauro – “Me ne frego”
3. Pinguini Tattici Nucleari – “Ringo Starr”
4. Rita Pavone – “Niente (Resilienza 74)
5. Anastasio – “Rosso di rabia”
Åri
1. Francesco Gabbani – “Viceversa”
Gabbani consistently produces quality. I’ve been a fan of the man for a while now, and this is just one more golden star in his long alley of masterpieces. A hoarse voice, powerful alternative rock vibes… it’s brilliant. I’ll be delighted if he makes it to Eurovision a second time and gets his revenge. I don’t think the song is a Eurovision winner, but it’s more than capable of being my number one of ESC 2020. The thing is… Gabbani is such a fantastic performer I feel like he could pull off performing any song, so maybe I’m biased. I love the way he twirls his hand and the way he looks around the room while singing. He owns the stage!
2. Pinguini Tattici Nucleari – “Ringo Starr”
3. Elettra Lamborghini – “Musica (e il resto scompare)”
4. Raphael Gualazzi – “Carioca”
5. Anastasio – “Rosso di rabbia”
Robyn
1. Achille Lauro – “Me ne frego”
There’s something that can be said for someone who can command the stage while wearing just a nude leotard. Achille Lauro delivers swagger, attitude and — most importantly — there’s a good song in there. “Me ne frego” takes a fascist-era slogan and recontextualises it. He doesn’t care what society throws at him, nor indeed what comes his way with his love life. It’s a bold, intense performance and while the sing-speaking style wouldn’t win over many Eurovision juries, Achille delivers an unforgettable performance.
2. Elodie – “Andromeda”
3. Levante – “Tikibombom”
4. Rita Pavone – “Niente (Resilienza 74)”
5. Le Vibrazioni – “Dov’è”
Barnabas
1. Rita Pavone – “Niente (Resilienza 74)”
I’m aware that she (and probably none of my top picks) is not in the books to win Sanremo, but man, this lady rocks! She delivered the heaviest song of the festival with such energy and a spot-on singing that puts many youngsters to shame! And those high notes… She reached all of them! And if someone’s wondering, Rock Grandma is Italian!
2. Michele Zarrillo – “Nell’estasi o nel fango”
3. Pinguini Tattici Nucleari – “Ringo Starr”
4. Anastasio – “Rosso di rabbia”
5. Junior Cally – “No grazie”
Cristian
1. Elodie – “Andromeda”
The songs of Sanremo must be metabolized, and this year I haven’t had time to do it yet. So I’m not 100% sure about my ranking, which could change completely between now and Saturday. I’m Italian, therefore my top five is a mix between what I enjoyed in the competition, and what I think could make us look good at Eurovision. That’s why my first choice is Elodie. I would like us to continue to show the most modern and also experimental part of our music scene, without losing the passion and pathos of the Italian singing style. Mahmood is a guarantee and Elodie manages to give “Andromeda” her personal touch. It would be nice to go back competing with a woman.
2. Rancore – “Eden”
3. Diodato – “Fai rumore”
4. Francesco Gabbani – “Viceversa”
5. Raphael Gualazzi – “Carioca”
Jonathan
1. Levante – “Tikibombom”
As always with Sanremo, this is a hard decision to make. In the end, although Elodie has my favourite studio cut of the bunch, Sanremo (like Eurovision) is a contest centred around live performances, and there were a couple of those that stood out and connected with me more – notably, Levante’s song. “Tikibombom” is a dark pop track with an infectious drum beat that Levante brings to life on stage. Her ability to convey the emotion of the song while still playing around with the performance draws the audience in and keeps them hooked from start to finish.
2. Rancore – “Eden”
3. Elodie – “Andromeda”
4. Rita Pavone – “Niente (Resilienza 74)”
5. Pinguini Tattici Nucleari – “Ringo Starr”
Florian
1. Elodie – “Andromeda”
There’s a very striving element that complements this song in its composition: Mahmood’s contribution to the song. Along with Dardust, the pair created a pop song that appeals both to professionals and listeners all over Europe. It’s modern and ready to be a worthy follow-up to last year’s “Soldi” — and it might become another streaming hit for the country.
2. Rancore – “Eden”
3. Junior Cally – “No grazie”
4. Giordana Angi – “Come mia madre”
5. Levante – “Tikibombom”
Pablo
1. Rancore – “Eden”
On such a quickfire round of music, you need to be stark, bold and make a statement, and in this group, Rancore excelled. I’ve been obsessed with this kind of bold, manly hard pop sound lately, and he has ticked all the boxes to be in this genre. Aggressive, strong, and decidedly the most urban song to likely ever be in the National Final season, “Eden” has all the ingredients needed to work in Eurovision: memorability, pathos and an amazing live. It all may change up and down as days go, but on the battle of first impressions, I got my winner.
2. Elodie – “Andromeda”
3. Junior Cally – “No grazie”
4. Elettra Lamborghini – “Musica (e il resto scompare)”
5. Achille Lauro – “Me ne frego”
Tom
1. Achille Lauro – “Me ne frego”
My winner is “Me ne Frego” but I don’t think we should worry about buying our flights to Italy in 2021. I really do love the banging ’80s style music combined with his uber confidence, bordering on arrogance. Like him or hate him, the man’s got swag. Yes, I understand he is speak-singing but I still think he needs to tighten it up a bit. That being said, there won’t be anything else like this in Rotterdam and it definitely will stick out.
2. Elodie – “Andromeda”
3. Francesco Gabbani – “Viceversa”
4. Rita Pavone – “Niente (Resilienza 74)”
5. Levante – “Tikibombom”
What do you think? Who are your Sanremo favourites? Who should represent Italy at Eurovision 2020? Tell us your thoughts below!
Not a lot of love for Diodato from Wiwi Jury 🙁
My top 5:
1- Elodie
2- Rancore
3- Elettra Lamborghini
4- Levante
5- Francesco Gabbani
I want to like Achille Lauro but it is hard for me to connect with a song about not caring when he sings it in a style of not caring. And it sounds like he’s singing one not all the way through.
Interesting that hardly any of y’all chose Diodato. And he is one of the ones favored to win.
Really agree with Ari’s views of Francesco Gabbani. I have been a fan also since Eurovision 2017 and love his diverse range of songs. His performance last night was wonderful and proves how he can capture an audience. Beautiful song and great performance – but then, I am biased too! Good luck from Ireland tonight Francesco – you deserve to win.
I love Cristian’s top 5 <3 TASTE
I was kinda indifferent to "Fai Rumore" because I didn't pay much attention in the first listen. But listening to it again today, I'm totally hooked. Won't mind if it wins.
My top 5 1. Me Ne Frego – so in love with it omg. Very memorable and catchy. loooooove 2. Andromeda – I guess it’s the safest option of this selection. I’m a sucker for Mahmood music and this has all the vibes (obv being written by him). I liked it from the first listen, but it has definitely grown on me A LOT more. 3. Eden – so intense. Amazing. 4. Fai Rumore – so much passion and easy to sing along to. 5. Rosso di rabbia – frick so much passion and rage in his voice. Loved it… Read more »
I can’t choose between Diodato, Rancore, Gabbani and Achille Lauro. They all deserve to win. I also enjoy Levante and Marco Masini.
My personal top 3 – as Italian – is: Rancore, Diodato and Elodie.
I’m rooting for PTN, but I think it’d take a lot for Italy to disappoint me with any of the big contenders this year.
My top 5:
1. Pinguini Tattici Nucleari
2. Elodie
3. Raphael Gualazzi
4. Diodato
5. Levante
I’m with Robyn and Tom. Achille’s “Me ne frego” is the best act here. The others are just more of the same. Everything sound sooo similar I wouldn’t be able to tell if the singers or the songs were swap. Italian entry is always overrated but I don’t see any of them close to winning (last “Soldi” was there and deserved, but not this year). Maybe Le Vibrazione could reach the top 5 because of the sign language.
Achille won’t win and given his personality I prefer so. So there’s nothing to see here.
I personally think Elodie will win and could be winner material. I am slightly unsure why Levante hasn’t been given more credit, I think she would be a contender to win ESC.
I am rooting for Elodie based on likelihood, but Levante has the best song for me
Rita Rita Rita !!! The best ?
I think we’re in deep s*it this time. Our most ESC-friendly song is Andromeda but Elodie fell too low in the ranking to catch up imho. They should make a separate ranking for Eurovision, or straight out a brand new contest. Rai seriously can’t be bothered with Eurovision, huh, they never change.
ESC-friendly?
Italy’s highest places this decade came from Sanremo winning songs (specially them being strong with televoting at Esc)
Yep, exactly as I said. Esc-friendly. I spend the sanremo week in fear that some very old fashioned Italian-style song could end up winning and crushing our chances at the expense of other entries more suitable for Eurovision. we’ve been lucky till now, but it can’t just happen every time (especially last year, and we didn’t even know Ultimo was eventually going to refuse to go to Eurovision at the time. It was a 5 night long nightmare) My personal nightmares this year are Le Vibrazioni, Pelù (they probably didn’t accept to participate but, you know) and honestly Gabbani. There,… Read more »
I don’t get the old-fashioned thing. To me it is more timeless or classy. Thats the word I would use.
Also Italy has the highest televoting in all history with Grande Amore. The biggest ESC winner in recent memory is Amar Pelos Dois. Fairytale also smash and it wasn’t the most modern or current song. Last year Spirit in the sky won televoting.
Voting changes this year really suck. No public input until last night? Italy will place high again, only because they send a high quality song that will at least get jury support.
Tf are you saying, we only get points by the televote every single time, juries completely ignore us. Try again
Your understanding of english isn’t the best. Not your fault, its a terrible language, but the one we are stuck with here is US. My point was Italy gets jury recognition because they always send a high quality song, maybe not top points but enough to finish high most years. My criticism is of the voting system where press/demiscopic get more overall say in determining the winner than the public televote. And, despite that Italy will still do well because of the overall quality of the songs.
Va’ a cagher va
Your understanding of Eurovision isn’t the best. It’s not your fault, you’re ‘murican.
Last year was the first time in a minute that Italy did really well with the juries.
They were first with jury in 2011, by a large margin. But, were only 11th in televote giving them second overall. Italy has been top 10 in jury vote 7 of 10 years since their return. I would call that doing pretty well with the jury.
I have the exact same top 5 as Cristian
I loveeee Elodie but i really dont get the hype for Andromeda, its quite generic isnt it?
Her song is good but it is not the clear best one as some fans are pretending. There are some other great songs
The problem with Andromeda is it loses its edge and bite in the chorus and does feel a bit generic, but for eurovision that’s maybe not a bad thing. If it gets to Rotterdam think it will do well but cant see it as winner.
My top 5 has 2 acts that are doing very well (Diodato and Pinguini), 2 that will have to fight hard against the odds (Elodie and Anastasio) and 1 that sadly has no chance at all (Levante).
I really like the song from Rancore I really hope that he goes to Eurovision his song is gonna go far I think. I’m so in love with his song and he has a perfect live performance in my opinion 🙂
No way they dont select Andromeda. What a hit, will win eurovision for sure
cristian top 3… an italian with TASTE <3
yep, those a three best options for ESC
Happy to see Barnabas throwing some love at Rita and Michele Zarrillo, who is my favourite. Hope they will surprise and do well (win?)
Elodie is my standout. Listening to her song as I type this
Achille Lauro all the way
My top 5: 1. RANCORE Memorable song. Strong lyrics and amazing live. 10/10 2. ANASTASIO Another really good song with strong emotions. 9,5/10 3. PINGUINI TATTICI NUCLEARI Really catchy songs. From the results so far, they would be the best choice for Eurovision. Btw. The main singer is so charming. 8,5/10 4. ELODIE What a banger. Maybe the best song for Eurovision from all 24. She’s just too good. 8,5/10 5. LEVANTE Catchy and beautiful song. She’s also really pretty. 8/10 As you can see, my top 2 consist of rappers. And I don’t even like rap 😀 only these… Read more »
Criminally underrated, really.
Thanks Pablo for appreciating Rancore!
He’s just so underrated it makes me sad…
Rap is rarely the genre I go for in ESC, but Rancore is easily in my top 5 here. Maybe even my winner. And the competition is tough.
1. Pinguini
2. Achille Lauro
3. Francesco Gabbani
4. Elodie
…If I’m being honest though, those are the only four I enjoy enough to listen to on a regular basis
Wooooooooow….I can listen to a song and not think it’s bad, without wanting to listen to it all the time over and over.
Y’all are being so oversensitive it’s not like I said that all the other songs are awful except for those four. I never said that!
I have a remedy for you: Stop taking this seriously. If certain idiots have nothing better to do than to downvote comments, it says more about them. It’s a useless feature anyway.
1) Anastasio
1) Junior Cally
3) Rita
While I think this voting system is bananas, a part of me likes the unpredictability.
Cristian serving taste as expected!
They are all so so good, yet at the same time neither stands out