The Wiwi Jury — our in-house team of music unprofessionals — is reviewing and rating the 40 competing songs in Eurovision 2022. Next we review Italy, who have chosen Mahmood & BLANCO with “Brividi”.
Did the song give us shivers? Read on to find out!
Mahmood & BLANCO – “Brividi” (Italy Eurovision 2022)
Review: Mahmood & BLANCO – “Brividi”
Tom: The hosts are going big and attempting to win it again. My word they could do it! “Brividi” is such a beautiful song. I love the chemistry between the pair and their voices complement each other wonderfully. The harmonies are on point – I feel their raw emotion – and I understand what they are saying without even knowing the language. Live, it’s even stronger, and as long as they don’t mess around with the staging, Italy could be finding another venue to host next year. Simply stunning.
Score: 9.5
Sebastian: Mahmood has returned to Eurovision to conquer again! Collaborating with one of the biggest young artists of 2021 in BLANCO is the perfect move and it has has produced a heartfelt ballad that fuses their distinctive styles effortlessly. Whether you understand Italian or not, the emotion Mahmood and BLANCO convey to each other on stage and through the song transcends language. This is arresting from beginning to end, and truly left me with shivers.
Score: 7
William: Let’s face it: Everything sounds better in Italian. Mahmood & BLANCO glide through “Brividi” without any obvious effort, keeping the range of raw emotions — from anger and pain to longing and regret — somehow feeling polished. The bridge, which pairs BLANCO’s staccato exertions with Mahmood’s more languid tones, is among the most powerful musical moments of the contest. The ambiguity of sexuality, connection and intention doesn’t limit the potential audience. Instead it makes this a truly universal love story that gives everyone an access point.
Score: 8.5
Angus: Mahmood & BLANCO are a class act. “Brividi” oozes quality and it is easy to see how it did so well at Sanremo. At Eurovision though, the restraint the song has been constructed with feels like a limiting factor. The revamp has elevated its chances to be sure, and as a host entry this feels like the most competitive offering in a decade, but it feels like its missing a certain sparkle.
Score: 6
Robyn: There’s a simple perfection to “Brividi”. The song has been crafted to play to the strengths of both Mahmood and BLANCO, vocally letting each stand out in his own way and also drawing them together for those shiver-inducing moments in the chorus. It echoes the theme of the lyrics, two people struggling with their relationship. The pair proved in Sanremo that they can serve magnificence live. No matter what the grand final result is, with Mahmood and BLANCO performing in front of a home crowd, it’s sure to be magical.
Score: 9.5
Italy Eurovision 2022 ranking
In the Eurovision 2022 Wiwi Jury, we have 18 jurors but only have room for five reviews. The remaining scores are below:
|
Antranig: 5 Cinan: 9 Deban: 7 Jonathan: 6.5 Josh: 9 Lucy: 8.5 Luis: 9 |
Natalie: 5.5 Oliver: 4 Pablo: 9 Renske: 8.5 Ron: 8 Suzanne: 7 |
We have removed the highest and lowest scores prior to calculating the average. This is to remove outliers and potential bias. We have removed a low of 4 and a high of 9.5.
Wiwi Jury verdict: 7.69/10
What do you think of Italy’s Eurovision 2022 entry? Share your own score and review for Mahmood & BLANCO’s “Brividi” below!
9.5/10
I must admit the first time I heard it, I was off put, as I was expecting (wishing) something groundbreaking, after Mahmoud’s entry in 2019 and Maneskin victory. But once I got into it, I never let it go and it became an obsession. The melody is just perfection in its soul classicism. Mahmood brings in some hiphop current vocals stylings, giving it a bit more edge. The lyrics are so poetic but current and straight beautiful even if one does not understand Italian. I just wish that both sing on key (in Sanremo it was shaky at times) and… Read more »
Sorry, even though Blanco is very cute I must say that song is dull and they sound like cats mating under the window in February. I couldn’t make myself listen to it till end and I tried. Melody is non-rememberable. Maneskin was great last year and deserved their win, this is pure marketing
It is your opinion. But calling it pure marketing is very laughable and actually quite dull, just to try downplaying it. When actually in Eurovision there are plenty of pure marketing products sung in English, where art is missing. This song has been recognised for its quality from the press/music experts in Sanremo, not by an irrelevant ‘ano’ user.
This ‘Ano’ expert is actually a classical musician, thank you. And TV experts also judge by their preferance. And yes my personal opinion is that this song is not good enough to be a winner, nor in top 5. Also my opinion is that many countries as Malta did not send their best contestants (judge ruled, judges can be bought). Why my opinion hurt you and some other people is not my problem… But be calm about the fact that people can have different opinions and tastes
Strange, 80% of songs in Eurovision, past and present, is pure marketing. Any country not speaking in english presenting a song in english is pure marketing. And you spot the marketing only on Brividi. Very strange comment.
This text is about Italian song, so I commented Brividi ofc. Personally, Italian and Spanish marketing teams did a great job, better marketing than songs. But that’s the part of the game I guess. Marketing and politics at its hardest we see in pushing Ukrainian song. Nothing strange here. Strange is you arguing with people who have different taste in songs that you.
8/10 Mahmood & Blanco’s first performance at Sanremo was just incredible, I think everyone who watched was mesmerised by their emotion. I do really like this song, it’s beautiful!, however i’m not always a huge fan of ballads/slower songs so it took a few listens to really understand Brividi. This is for sure a potential winner!
For me there’s an evocation of Gente Di Mare. Two completely different voices coming together, magically.
9.5/10 for me
9.5 for me
53 million views on YouTube and 75 million streams on Spotify. Nothing more to say your honor ?
When you look at Blanco’s streaming history, you see it is typical of everything he does. He probably has more streams in the past five years as all the rest of the ESC participants combined.
He can’t have streams in the past five years. He started doing music in 2020/2021
With a good, gay staging they can be top 5. But no winners.
Gay staging? Do they have to make our on the stage? Or actually having sex? Ireland brought two dancers dancing together in a very gay way, but the Irish singer was not in the top 5.
Italy, Poland and UK are bringing quality songs for this year 🙂
8,5/10 Another very solid entry from Italy! I wish more countries would follow Italy´s example and send decent music to Eurovision.
A trap-twinged, yet tender ballad sung by two very popular urban singers (a eurovision returnee and Italy’s most popular teen literally now, singing at each other?), that captures some sort of affection and honesty yet rawness and grit?
Italy’s changing more than just the Eurovision game. Never before seen.
Arbt you exaggerating a bit now, it is indeed nice and well produced. I love it, but it is not something new or that fresh. It is basically a typical Italian ballad. It is however true that San Remo attracts the best Italian artists. And that is not the case in the rest of Europe.
I think the lack of promotion is what make people forget its excellence. It’s been months listening to Spain, Sweden, Ukraine, UK, Polonia and others over and over and over again till absolute boredom.
I think Mahmood has been doing solo promotion tours iduring these days n Belgium, Netherlands, Switzerland, Spain as well
Not promotion. It’s his own record tour around Europe in which he sings Brividi among his own songs.
This is my personal winner. This song moves me the most out of all of them. I cry every time I hear it. It’s all in the musical details: The unresolved harmonies throughout, the beautifully expressive melodies, the counter-melodies in the strings, the scotch-snap rhythms, the stabbing triplet rhythms exchanged between the singers in frustration, the lilting rhythms that hint at a repressed longing, using the same lilt rhythms on “Brividi” three times before falling down onto a beautiful chord with a ninth, the quiet duet moment in unison that splits into harmony in lifted thirds… I could even go… Read more »
I feel we had more disagreements than agreements this year, but in the end you gave good reviews for all of my top 5, including a song that I imagine puzzles your more classic tasted ears (“In Corpore Sano”) and another one I wouldn’t think you would like but as I just checked got 6th place on your ranking (“Stefania”). Not bad at all. 🙂
How beautifuly described ??
Finally a comment that captures perfectly the song. Unfortunately not all Eurofans are wise and intelligent as you. Unfortunately there are those who like dance only and would like the false Shakira or false Beyoncé to win each year with a silly dance song produced by some swedish producer.
When it’s all said and done, there’s no way that this doesn’t finish in the top three at Eurovision. It is the benchmark. It is the undeniable level of quality that you have to beat in order to win Eurovision this year. There are a couple of things to get out of the way. Firstly, the Eurovision revamp has done one good thing and one bad thing for the song. It’s weaker without the original opening. Those first few notes brought the goosebumps. Going with the Mahmood acapella does save a little bit of time, but it definitely loses something.… Read more »
Rating: 8.5/10.0
Beautiful song but Mahmood’s voice doesn’t sound well on this song, Blanco’s is awesome. I didn’t see any chemistry in San Remo so they really need to step up their game on the Eurovision stage but maybe RAI doesn’t care and they don’t want to win again? In any case, I don’t think this song is a contender for the first place (not even with juries), nevertheless I think it will do great (Top 10) and break the curse of hosts that previous countries had since 2017.
One of the best Italian entries; Hope that it would finish in top 3 ? It’s true that there are more ballad songs for this year but this one is the best one and Poland’s song comes second
7.5 for me
When I first heard this at Sanremo, it was nothing special and I couldn’t believe it won, let alone was a favourite to win Eurovision. It’s grown on me since, but I still think this is overrated. Mahmood is a talented artist and I loved Soldi, but Brividi is not connecting with me as much as it is with others. I would be disappointed if this wins. 6/10
Brividi is my number 1. I really love this song! However, I am concerned about the staging as in the revamp they cut out the last part where Blanco is pulling Mahmood‘s jacket. That was an important part in this song. So I really hope they have come up with something similar to that somewhere else in the song. My other concern is that Mahmood is currently on tour and I really hope he will be back in time for the rehearsals and will be able to focus on Eurovision as his tour dates collide with Eurovision.
This used to be in my top 10, but when the shorter (ESC) version of the song was released I felt that it sounded rushed. I really liked the longer version and I can’t help but think of it whenever I hear the ESC version. Now brividi is out of my top 10, but still in my top 15.
I have a hard time imagining this as a winner, still don’t get how this won San Remo, big names help I guess. A classic ballad sung by the guy who got the 2nd place in 2019 in Eurovision, oh wow what a risk! Too easy. And some people are still Italy ecstatic with that lol without talking about the level of pretentiousness of some people here, insane. Anyway among the male ballads of this year I prefer largely Uk and Poland. Brividi sent by Malta, San Marino, Slovenia or others and everybody would say non qualified, but it’s Italy… Read more »
“but it’s Italy so here we go the same comedy each years”… And each year Italy scores high, so all seems to indicate it’s not just “comedy”! 😉
(Also, neither Poland or the UK have entered ballads this year).
Poland and Uk are not ballads?! Call that as you want but I still prefer them to Brividi.
It is, a well played comedy by some specific eurofans, Italy got the love they deserved more or less, and really too much sometimes and since 11 years and so what? This self centrism is really insane, so let Italy compete alone each years as it’s the only country who seem existing in this fandom.
Envy is the real reason behind your comments. It would be nice to know from which hell of a country you are from. Just to know. Maybe it explains your continuous bitterness against Italy which lasts from ages.
We have been listening to Spain, Sweden, Ukraine, Norway, Serbia and a lot more over and over and over again these last two months, it’s exhausting! and people have forgotten how amazing this song is because their lack of promotion in ESC related events.
More than 53 million views on YouTube and almost 80 streams on Spotify speak for theirselves.
This is the only song I’m really excited to see again on stage and feel thay ‘first times’ magic. Brividi, shivers, escalofríos ?
12. Italy – Mahmood and Blanco – Brividi – 7.5/10 – ultra-professionalism is on display here, a lesson in how to present an engaging ballad. The two characters bounce off each other very well and there is a memorably engaging chorus. Mahmood and Blanco provide exquisite vocal gymnastics and delicious harmonies throughout. Throw in the unexpected drama towards the end and we have a captivating storyline. There is an enticing nostalgic and melancholic quality throughout. It doesn’t quite get to the very top of my list because of the slightly predictable production. It is nonetheless an expertly constructed effort.
To screech like chalk on board is ‘exquisite vocal gymnastics’??
What are you reading m’lord? Just words, words, words.
How reminiscent of the comments Switzerland 21 was getting, and yet it came 3rd,hmmmm!
I know my opinion is going to be very unpopular but for me this is an ‘artificial’ song designed to move a gay audience. There is nothing authentic or ‘fresh’.
Usually when reviewing a song sung by a duet people refer to ‘chemistry’ between the singers (in here there is 0 chemistry), this Blanco guy tries a bit harder than Mahmood who sings as if he was alone onstage.
Problem with Blanco is that he tries to convey emotion as silent movies actors did: by exaggerating the movements.
This song is a complete fake. But only my opinion.
Mahmood is not singing to or about Blanco. Blanco is not singing to or about Mahmood.
I like the song , but for some reason I don’t really like mahmood’s vocal tone on this one. I like blanco’s parts better. That said , the emotion is evident and the it’s memorable. This will do quite well , and probably the best host nation result in the past 6 years.
A 8.5/10
This song, for me, is a clear toilet break. If they place it 12th or so in the running order, perfect and thanks
they will be 9th in the running order
How pathetic
I don’t know why but I m getting winner vibes from this song
You might have caught the flu.
There were better options in Sanremo than this, but no one could stop the unbearable hype Mahmood and Blanche caused.
For almost three months, you have been crying about your discomfort about this song and downplaying it. Get over i!. The song will have been streamed 80 MILLIONS times on Spotify, before it will be performed on the Euroviosion stage. And there is nothing that can change it. Even if you cry night and day.
The gangman style or whatever has billions of views and it does not mean it is a masterpiece in the history of music.
The history of Sanremo festival speaks for itself. So your comparison doesn’t make sense at all. Also I don’t really understand why people feel so threatened by a song in Italian, which clearly has a smaller audience and target, when the majority of the songs competing in Eurovision are in English and can literally reach all world.
Also how can someone be so desperate and delusional to let everybody know that will go to the toilet when this song will be performed? Honestly, who cares about your bladder problems!
The same is valid for you. You can write millions of comments against Mahmood and Blanco but that doesn’t help you to look like an intelligent person.
This song is 10 times better than Italy’s entry in 2017; it was a little bit generic entry
I’m not quite in this ship as the majority but I do still like it a lot. I don’t think it deserves to win though. Not in the actual state at leats. It’s lacking any staging which is no bad at all. Some songs simply don’t need it. But when it comes to Eurovision you need every single detail to be on point and I think they need something more than singing to each other to win. I mean, the song itself sounds okay to me (not better than “Soldi”, though), the couple have very interesting voices and looks and… Read more »
Interesting ranking but Denmark would probably not qualify for the final 🙂
So boring. If it wasn’t for the name Italy being attached to it we would be talking about the bottom 5 in the final/did not qualifier…
darling, in Italian they say: ‘Quando la persona è niente, l’offesa è zero’
No matter what happens in Turin, “Brividi” is already a bonafide hit and few entries of 2022 sound as current and charts-friendly. The live performance grabs me right away. I love how Mahmood and Blanco combine on the stage, from the vocal harmonies to their rough but gentle interactions. Another interesting thing is that this is a rare romantic male duet, while its lyrics could be sung by a solo performer. Which means that we can interpret it as if they were singing to each other or about different people. Clever and effective. 9.25/10
I think it’s possible to tell from the Italian words that Mahmood is singing to a man, and Blanco is not. You need to pay close attention, though.
Why do you say that? I would love to know if the song always meant to be a duet, because the more I read the lyrics, the more I think this can work in multiple ways. They could be singing to each other about their relationship or to each other about separated experiences (and in this case, when they sing together, it’s because different relationships brought then to the same emotional place). But they could even be 2 people singing about the same person. Or 2 sides of one person singing about just one relationship. Usually, a duet is more… Read more »
It’s very subtle but as an Italian I have the same impression, mostly because Mahmood is gay and Blanco is not. Also in the Blanco’s part he sings “occhi da vipera” (viper’s eyes) and that’s something you’d only say about a woman, not a man. So my take on this is that they’re talking about 2 different relationships, not to each other
Not sure about the Italian colloquial terms (I’ll take your word on that), but in English ”snake’s / viper’s eyes” can be gender-neutral. I personally like to separate an artist with their art. I mean, if a male artist who is gay sings a gender-neutral romantic song on his own, I’ll probably assume it’s about a guy, but if he’s paired with a woman in a duet, I’ll tag along that their ”characters” in that song are in love. I mean, they probably did want to leave it ambiguous, otherwise they wouldn’t be looking at each other’s eyes so much… Read more »
If the expression is normally associated to women, than you and Jonas have a strong point. I was listening to the song yesterday and paying attention to who sings what and I noticed that the conflict in Mahmood’s relationship seems to be more passive-aggressive, while in Blanco’s there’s actual active confrontation.
It’s interesting how the 2 fan favorite romantic ballads are relatable in different ways. “Brividi” allows multiple interpretations and different kinds of connection to the material, while “Hold Me Closer” goest direct to the point and tells a story that many people have lived.
I’ll disappoint you with the explanation, because it’s way less scientific than it may sound 😀 It’s more like a way of separating more the entries and avoid some ties. And then I usually go for very subjective reasons. For example, I gave 9.5 to the Netherlands and Serbia, 9.25 to Italy, Lithuania and Ukraine. I love all 5 of them, but I think Serbia has a more original and smart song, while the Dutch one touches me more. And sometimes the 0.25 is also used when I don’t know if I’ll give, let’s say a 6.5 or a 7.… Read more »
When I first tried to give actual ratings to songs, I went with a .1 system and it just got overwhelming. Kudos to you for making such a system work!
Oh, the .1 system would kill me, it’s already hard to atribute points to songs. It’s much more comfortable to separate them on tiers. Now can you imagine giving grades to songs also in the national finals as Colin does? I would go mad. 😀
I feel like once you get the system up and running like he has, with past references, it’s probably a lot easier to use.
But geez, getting to that point is some work. XD
I am happy to say more about my rating system (and I am happy to hear more about yours). Indeed, it gets much easier once you have it already done many times. The comparison helps a lot. The most complicated part (for me) is balancing the subjective and the objective aspects. If something is well produced, well sung, and it gives me the feels, it’s much easier to give it a 9 or a 10. Things get more convoluted when I have to rate something that I feel like I’ll want to listen to a lot despite of its evident… Read more »
I agree that the most difficult part is to find a balance between being objective without letting your subjectivity behind. Spain and Norway are good examples to me. Subjectively they don’t do much for me. I’m not into the sexy bops and I don’t think the space wolves are particularly amusing. But they do a good job on what they’re trying to do. So I try to give them points for what’s objectively good, but they have a ceiling that only songs I love and connect with can surpass.
Idk why Mahood is overrated again, I didn’t like Soldi and I don’t like Brividi, is boring.
If this song is boring, Netherlands and Greece also have boring songs
Beautiful song !! My number 1
I have a hard time imagining a better winner than this. It’s pure class, emotional, well performed, … and Italy is probably the only country that has sent nothing but their A-game to Eurovision for more than 10 years now. They deserve a two-in-a-row.
Do you know the meaning of “overrated”? It doesn’t mean “everyone likes the Italian entry but I don’t like it”. It means that there is overall fandom hype but disappointing results, or the other way around. There has often been fandom hype over Italy and over the past 10 years they’ve placed eight times in the top 10, five times in the top 5, twice runner-ups and once winners. It means they’ve delivered. Italy is literally the last country you could qualify as “overrated”, that’s just factually inaccurate. You’re just stating personal opinions like they are facts, but they’re not.… Read more »
Thanks for sharing. Now what are we supposed to do with this information? No one cares about what song you know or don’t know, lol.
Lol Maneskin are probably one of the most important band in Europe now (and they have a big fandom also in the USA). They know Ryan Tedder, Miley Cyrus, Iggy Pop…how could you say that they are overrated and they won only thanks to the stage?
I totally agree with Bella. Italy sends every year quality and it’s a FACT. If you don’t like it, it’s ok anyway.
That Ronela’s Sekret is better scored by Wiwi Jury than Italys beautiful song is…hilarious tbh. You guys are sth else haha
YAWN!! Biggest snore-fest of the year.
Thanks for all the down votes. This song reminds me of the story of the Emperor’s New Clothes. People cannot see (because it is Italy) that it is one of the dullest songs this year. If San Marino sent this song, it would be in most people’s bottom 5
But you like Sweden’s mediocre song, right???
Italy, Greece or Portugal have such beautiful songs. I hope one of them wins.
Mahmoud second place with Soldi, so most likely 5th or 6th place with Brividi.
I hope Italy would finish in top 3; because the song is really good
My second this year 9.75/10. Bravo, Italia!
10/10
I love Mahmood as an artist, but the song itself I don’t know, it’s not a winner material, in my opinion
My Number One at the Moment.
Im just loving Brividi.
10/10
Brividi does exactly what the title says. Goosebumps all over my body every time I listen to it. One of the best music productions of the year, Mahmood and Blanco sound amazing, the inclusion of the rap part was great. If a host entry can break the curse of bottom5, it’s obviously this one.
Rating: 9/10 (10th)
It is my second favorite this year. And we know they can deliver live. The song is a kind of classic Italian ballad. This might be the thing that might sink it a little bit. But I love it. It will do very well – possibly win. Actually I like it tons more than soldi. Mahmoud looke nervous the and did not deliver it so well. This time I think he will and Blanco is stunning.
I can’t imagine this song finishing below top 3. There is so much authenticity, chemistry and beauty. I would be so happy if Italy wins again, they were my favorites last year too.
I won’t belabor how great this song is when I definitely am not the only one singing its praises…but I wouldn’t mind at all if it won.
I remember you saying Ukraine should win you should make your mind up
Angus hits the nail on the head- it lacks sparkle….. it’s dry……. if there was such a thing- it might be healthy for you because it’s ‘gluten free and low sugar’ but it sure isn’t as tasty. Yes these two will get votes because some might consider them ‘eye candy’- but it’s simply not memorable. Where’s the party? Not in this song, yet another ‘lighters in the air at a concert’ feel good track.
Sorry, but thinking an artist will get points only because of their looks because you don’t like the song is so arrogant.
Let’s be honest here- you cannot tell me that public votes are only based on the song- you may not be one of them but there are plenty out there that do it. Its not right , but It’s naive to think otherwise.
That’s exactly how I feel about some of the solo female songs this year – not memorable musically, only for eye candy. Guess it depends on what flavor candy you like.