He always sang love songs but never opened his heart to the public. Until now.
Sanremo 2017 contestant Michele Bravi — the 22-year-old winner on the seventh series of The X Factor in Italy — shared his inner feelings in a sincere interview with Vanity Fair Italia out on January 17.
“It happened that I fell in love. For the first time I got the feeling that a piece of my life was adhering to another person” — the candour of his words is touching.
The singer goes into detail: “It was a very particular relationship with a film director, a guy actually different from me. It lasted two years, but considering what happened between us… maybe just a bunch of days”.
His statement immediately hit the web in Italy, a country that only gave same-sex unions the green light last year.
Michele also explained why the relationship came to an end so soon. “At the beginning, when two people meet, they are fully content, everything else stays out. But if you widen your view, you see boundaries that need to be respected”.
He takes some of the blame: “For sure, during the last year I’ve been very self-referential and focused on the music — this caused me problems. First love is perfect, everything is amazing, but you miss the rules of the game and when you learn them, often it’s too late”.
Straight, gay or bisexual? Bravi speaks very frankly.
“I wouldn’t use labels, they belong to older generations and descend from a way of thinking that I consider outmoded and a bit discriminatory. I prefer to speak of fluid relationships”.
“My fans, when I told them my new album will talk about a love story, did not ask me if I was referring to a boy or a girl. Today, in the language of love on the web, we use sentences like: You are my person”. (Does your mind go straight to Grey’s Anatomy?)
Although many Italian celebrities still fear coming out, Michele is taking it in his stride.
“I don’t really need to come out because no young person is surprised that I fell in love with a guy, and I think none of my peers would stand back if they happen to have a feeling for a person of the same sex”.
The green-eyed artist has a clear idea about social networks and their influence on our lives.
“I noticed that my generation is really different when it comes to relationships: we are alive if we are part of an algorithm. If you are not always logged in, you are cut off from everything. Too much virtual communication makes you feel alone and love today is more an answer to a need. There is more research of emotionality, rather than sex for its own sake. Saturday’s good lay affects you less and less”. No shame at all.
“If people engage more on an emotional level, relationships become complex and also fluid: sexuality stops to be a choice when the choice becomes a feeling. I met a person who made me emotional, the fact he was a boy is totally irrelevant: in the future it could happen also with a girl”. We hope you will find your person asap, Michele!
Sanremo 2017
Michele Bravi will participate in the upcoming Sanremo Music Festival with “Il diario degli errori”. Sadly, we won’t be able to hear the song until the first performance on the stage, as required by sanremese tradition.
But Michele comes to our aid, describing — for the first time and in his own words — what he will sing: “It’s the perfect song for my voice’s tone and colours, but above all because it tells my true story: it’s the diary of my professional and personal mistakes, the ones you make the first time you fall in love”.
“In the chorus I sing ‘At least you stay out of the diary of my mistakes’, because it’s assumed that the diary is already closed and another chance has come…But the pages with mistakes remain, you cannot tear them out, and when the list becomes too long it’s hard to reach a happy ending”.
What do you think? Would you like to see Michele Bravi representing Italy at the Eurovision Song Contest in Kiev? Share your thoughts below!
I should point out that while Michele’s revelation might make me more inclined to ask him out on a date, it actually makes no difference to his song or musical performance whatsoever. This article would probably be more appropriately be posted on Pink News rather than Wiwibloggs.
What Sergio said.
We all knew – but mess at him pulling this tactical coming out right before Sanremo!
“I wouldn’t use labels, they belong to older generations and descend from a way of thinking that I consider outmoded and a bit discriminatory. I prefer to speak of fluid relationships”. Ok, that may sound beautiful and so, but it seems to me very utopic and irresponsible. We, LGTBI people need to stand out and make ourselves visible if we want our sexual orientation and gender identity to gain a respect that nowadays they don’t have in many places and by many people. Specially in countries like Italy, not known by its tolerance to sexual diversity. I mean, it’s a… Read more »
His words are philosophical. In that way, we have something in common. He belongs to the future I would like to see rather than the one that is actually being created.