The 70th edition of Sanremo ended with the triumph of Antonio Diodato. The Apulian singer-songwriter defeated the strong competition with the moving ballad “Fai rumore”, also awarded with the Critics’ Prize.
The closing of the show, however, left us with a big question, relative to the artist’s willingness to represent Italy at Eurovision.
The confirmation that he will sing for his country at the upcoming edition of the European music contest came early and immediately.
During the press conference held straight after his victory, Diodato gave a big YES to a journalist who asked him if he was going to fly the Italian flag in Rotterdam. He said that he would be very happy to represent Italy at Eurovision.
When asked if he would do Eurovision, Diodato responded, “First thing — when’s Eurovision? May 16th? Am I busy? No. I think I’m going!”
He also talked about the importance of Eurovision as a way to taking Italian music to the world. Diodato explained:
“I’m glad I can bring Italian music around, as well as my own music. I think we have to work as a team, Italian music has an importance, it has to be helped at an international level, we have to go back to being exporters of music. Eurovision seems to me to be an excellent opportunity.”
But a change to the song will be needed. The Sanremo version of “Fai rumore” is 3:36, so Diodato will need to release a shorter version, edited down to the three-minute Eurovision song time limit.
Who is Sanremo 2020 winner Antonio Diodato?
Born 30 August 1981 in Aosta, Antonio Diodato is a singer-songwriter who rosed to fame after placing second in the Newcomer’s section of Sanremo 2014 with the song “Babilonia”.
In 2018 he competed in the main category of the Festival with “Adesso”, featuring trumpeter Roy Paci. They reached eighth place.
Diodato has released four albums: “E forse sono pazzo” in 2013, “A ritrovar bellezza” in 2014, “Cosa siamo diventati” in 2017 and “Che vita meravigliosa” in 2020.
Do you like “Fai rumore”? Can Diodato give Italy Eurovision victory? Share your thoughts below!
Cristian: there seem to be a lot of bad translations of this song floating around the internet. Can you please post an English version of the lyrics that you find the best. Thanks!
https://lyricstranslate.com/it/fai-rumore-make-noise.html-0
I translated it pretty quickly, anyone feel free to point out mistakes or things like that
Alberto Urso second in the televoting…
Insane
appealing song
This song its sooo boring. Its so plastic, that they always have, but they never wins. And i hope they never do
Difficult to understand the voting system for Sanremo – Francesco won almost 40% of the televote and Diodato only won around 24%. As far as I’m aware the press jury decided the outcome. Anyway, delighted with Francesco’s gorgeous song and his usual charismatic performance and best of luck to Diodato in Eurovision.
Demoscopic jury: (33%)
1. Francesco Gabbani
2. Diodato
3. Pinguini Tattici Nucleari
Televote: (34%)
1. Francesco Gabbani
2. Pinguini Tattici Nucleari
3. Diodato
Press: (33%)
1. Diodato
2. Francesco Gabbani
3. Pinguini Tattici Nucleari
People complain about the press vote (that works like just any jury vote), but I think the biggest problems in Sanremo voting are the fact the televote only appears in the last night and the existence of the mysterious demoscopic poll. In theory, the public has more power than in most national selections, since the demoscopic is supposed to be composed by members of the general audience. But who are they? How were they chosen? You can direct a certain kind of result depending on who’s on the demoscopic jury.
The rules aren’t always the same each year, for whatever reason – the biggest problem for me this year was the orchestra vote on Thursday. It was 25% of the overall result from positions 4 – 23, and they weren’t even voting on the song! Or were they? I actually have no idea.
I even like the idea of the orchestra having a say, because they’ll pay more attention to some details than the audience or the press. But cover night should be a celebration, not part of the judgement.
Yeah, I love the idea of orchestra voting – who better to know and appreciate music? I read recently that in 2010, when their favourite didn’t go through to the top 3, they booed and threw their sheet music to the floor – so I love that passion. That was Malika Ayane’s “Ricominco da qui” by the way, well worth YouTubing. Even this year, sure, let them vote – but Thursday’s results should have been just for fun, not counting toward the actual result. I think that’s how it was in previous years.
I like it, it reminds me of Norah Jones. 🙂 And I believe it was the first time the orchestra had a say. Or at least the first in a long time.
I read somewhere that the orchestra vote didn’t account for the overall rankings of all the acts as it seem they voted based on how well they did with Covers Night.
If that was the case, it makes a whole a lot of sense now knowing that their votes didn’t count. It wouldn’t be fair for the performers.
Being random or not, it’s a terrible idea. It gives 300 people the power of a jury, without accountability and with the possibility they carry the habits of the televote by pushing for those who are more famous and not necessarily had the best song and/or performance.
Sweden tried that last year by sepating voting into age groups. I don’t know if they’re doing it again. The truth is that there’s no perfect system. You can go with the simple (100% televote or 50/50 televote/jury) and hope for the best or try to solve some problems by creating new ones. We keep asking for great national finals, but maybe it’s way better to a broadcaster when there aren’t much options, so most people will get happy with the result. See Latvia: not a great selection, but there’s virtually no drama about Samanta winning. Czech Republic? Drama! Italy?… Read more »
I totally agree and you listed all my favorite selections. But I fear this kind of backlash maybe will push more countries to internal selections.
The demoscopic jury is chosen by a survey company. 300 people who are chosen because from the survey questions we understand that they listen to a lot of music, people of all ages.
An app is sent to them and they vote through their phone
Thanks! From that it looks like Francesco should have won….Also, is it fair that the press represent a third of the vote?!
Probably not, because wouldn’t they vote for whoever they think will be the best news story rather than on the merits of the song? Are they music critics or just general journalists? Again, I have no idea. The mysteries of Sanremo.
I read that the press vote consists of everybody who has a credential to cover the festival. But who knows how many of them are actually people involved in music/cultural journalism. I don’t think anyone would vote for the best story (Diodato wasn’t a best story than Pinguini or Francesco staying undefeated), but personal relations could be an influence. A grumpy answer during a press conference and…
Well, juries usually respond for 50% of the voting in most national finals, so a third wouldn’t be much. The problem is that the previous nights also count (an Italian commenter tried to explain how much the previous night weight but Mathematics it’s not a strenght of mine) and both the press and the demoscopic (300 “music fans” selected all around Italy) vote on them. This time, the orchestra also voted (and they vote in the cover night, which is a totally different game). While the televote only participated in the final. So, yes, the televote has much lower weight… Read more »
All very interesting, but a huge lack of clarity. Surprised as Sanremo is such an institution in Italy that more questions aren’t asked about the voting system. It seems to lack transparency and over the past few days many Italians appeared to be confused as to how the results are calculated. I’m Irish and am surprised more questions aren’t asked about it…..!
It’s very confusing indeed. Even worst: this was my third time watching it and the rules kept changing (though the superfinal was basically the same thing). I imagine many Italians complain about it (most of them only after their favorite loses, it’s true), but RAI doesn’t seem to care while the festival keeps being a huge success for them.
Thanks for all that – my third time watching it also (well, as much of it as I could!). Would love to see the voting system analysed and discussed more.
Maybe Wiwibloggs could take the dry season to have posts discussing voting systems. It could be fun. And it would be also interesting to discuss them without being too close to actual results.
Yes, I agree, there needs to be some forum to discuss this. Results may influence how participants progress in their music careers so can also have more serious consequences – this is where transparency in the voting system is so important.
I feel like i am the only one who thinks that this sounds just ”basic” italian ballad.
No, I feel the same way. It’s a typical Italian canzona, most of San Remo sounds the same for the last 30 years. Fai rumore could easily be the winner of San Remo 1978 or 1996.
It should do well, both with the juries and has its fan audience as well who loves Italian ballads.
Winner I’m not sure, to early to tell at this point.
Personally not my style, but can’t deny that this is good song and singer is experienced. Problem is that it’s kinda forgettable, so the wow factor could be added by well crafted and memorable staging, song has potential for that. Good luck!
I’m gutted that Gabbani didn’t win, as his song was truly special. But make no mistake, this a great song in its own right. An emotive ballad delivering pure quality. This will do very well.
I share your pain!
The song is quite boring and unoriginal. I’m not impressed.
in recent years we have tried them all without ever getting anything …. so it is right to go back to our origins of the real melodic song ….. to win elodie would have been like bringing back mahmood..and for what purpose? we would not have won the same …. and Sanremo which is the Mother of Eurovision was not created for special effects and pleasure in northern Europe with scenography but was created for pleasure in Italy unfortunately ..
Italy, once agan, brought us QUA.LI.TY
Do I like it? No, it’s my least favorite song so far, but I recognize its quality
To me, Italian music it’s at its best when it’s contemporary and modern, hence why Soldi is high up there as my favorite Italian entry EVER. Fai rumore is a little more classic and traditional, very Italy 2013.
Can I just say, I kinda like the design of the Sanremo stage this year. The default look it had between performances, which could be overwhelming at first to look at. From the changing LED displays to complement the acts, to the inclusive spaces reserved for the orchestra. Everything looks brightly lit .
And yey for no moving front row seats (looking at you Sanremo 2019).
It can do really well, Juries will love it and I definitely prefer this to Amar Pelos Dois haha and even that won
Nothing revoltionary here and some will Say they are bored but it Works for me … like to listen to it on a sunday morning, relax.
I agree with you! I wanted the pinguini to represent Italy because in Eurovision, we are always Ringo Starr
cmq forza Diodato, e fai rumooooooooreeee… siiiiii
in recent years we have tried them all without ever getting anything …. so it is right to go back to our origins of the real melodic song ….. to win elodie would have been like bringing back mahmood..and for what purpose? we would not have won the same …. and Sanremo which is the Mother of Eurovision was not created for special effects and pleasure in northern Europe with scenography but was created for pleasure in Italy unfortunately …
I am interested to know which performance your favourite was.
Tibor, those are my favorites as well. Except for Rencore, although he is good, I didn’t quite vibe with him, preferred Junior Cally. “No grazie” I have listened on repeat 😛
All in all, great show and I’m thankful for Sanremo, ’cause I can always find there interesting artists.
Yesterday night I was disappointed of his victory, but I must admit that it’s a beautiful song and a flawless performance. I just regret that we Italians know from which stack we could choose our Eurovisipn act and, in my opinion, this was not the best card we could play.
We sent the flight, gabbani, mahmood and he always won the opposite style! Let’s put our hearts in peace, whatever we Italians send to Eurovision in that year is never musically good!
Hearing this beautiful song again and it felts emotional, sad and raw all together.
It’s a Sanremo winning song so I expect televoting points from a lot countries for Italy as usual. Western and South Europe will feel and vote for this. Culture factor. The question is how Scandinavia, Anglosaxons or Soviets will respond to this. I’m not sure.
in Scandinavia they vote among themselves and go for special effects …. but the vers music is different
in Scandinavia they vote among themselves and go for special effects …. but real music is different
As a Scandinavian I think this is likely to do well here, we did appreciate Il Volo and Salvador Sobral so we can sure appreciate Diodato as well. The juries are the only concern. The people selected for these juries often are radio hosts and failed singers who does not write their own music. They do not typically vote for something like Fai Rumore, but rather english radio friendly pop songs with western sounds. The public however will get on board, I have no doubt Italy will be in our top 10 scoreboards when it comes to televoting. Maybe not… Read more »
Oh wow! I was scared for a second that Italy would go the easy route with a replaceable pop-girl with a written by a committee radio hit when I saw Elodie and Elettra in the competition, but this is a pleasant surprise, always staying true to their singer-songwriter tradition. Maybe this isn’t a winning song but I’ve got the feeling Italy will be my favourite for the fourth time in a row. Good luck, Diodato!
Bearing in mind this was the best song among the worst, it’s not that bad of a choice. Maybe Italy will start sending good songs in the future for once? Could this be a first step towards the right direction? There were better songs to be honest, but I expected worse… I guess that’s the best I could get.
Another quality entry from Italy, Top 10 for sure and maybe top 5, but for me it does not reach the level of “Soldi”…
Boring . And I don’t buy your brainwashing
Me too !
It will do well. It’s Italy, they always do well!
I wanted Italy to try new after Soldi was a revelation but this one is good too. It’s Italy playing it safe and sending another classy classic ballad but it works. Really good!
I feel like in the past decade since Italy returned, they’ve never really sent the same song twice, at least as far as I recall.
Indeed. They never repeat themselves
I mean they always send classy entries, you know what you gonna get with them. It’s predictable. But it works!
yeah, but it’s also something different from the past three entries. Elodie was my favourite, but she would have been Mahmood 2.0. I guess that’s the beauty in the Italian entries: it’s always changing the direction.
I said it for the first time when I saw her this is 2nd Mahmood, why? But last night she put her own personality into performance and she was fabulous <3
Yes, it’s Diodato and it means exactly “given by God”
Off topic, but Kemama is getting a revamp.
It needs one!
Haven’t heard any of the other Italian entries, but this win is very much deserved. Goosebumps all over for me…
The Italians have given us some of the best songs of the last decade and I’ve been regularly blown away but I’m left disappointed tonight. Sonically I would have been more drawn to Elodie or Levante FTW although by midnight it was clear we weren’t getting that so I went to bed. Upon waking up to this winner, melodically the song is strong but for me is not as good as Soldi, Occidentali’s Karma or L’essenziale. Lyrically this is no non mi avete fatto niente. I still like it and it’s still the best song selected so far by some… Read more »
in recent years we have tried them all without ever getting anything …. so it is right to go back to our origins of the real melodic song ….. to win elodie would have been like bringing back mahmood..and for what purpose? we would not have won the same …. and Sanremo which is the Mother of Eurovision was not created for special effects and pleasure in northern Europe with scenography but was created for pleasure in Italy unfortunately .
Ngl, I was expecting something less conventional from Italy, especially with Soldi being last year’s choice and a lot of 2020’s songs so far being a little unusual. I’m not blown away by this song.
Sanremo 2020 theme song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=63&v=kraxKXa5GyU&feature=emb_title
What a beautiful song this is! I feel really connected with this one 🙂
It’s a traditional ballad without any purpose to show an alternative sound, but the sincerity and emotion which this song brings makes this for me a good quality song with top 10-potential.
I really like it as a song! But I can’t predict how it will do in Eurovision. Good luck!
What a great news! 🙂 Seems like Italy may keep their spot in my personal top 10 once again. 🙂
It was mostly a good day, with Australia, Latvia and Italy all picking one of their best songs.
imma admit something right now. I’ve been really harsh on this bcos I was upset about Andromeda placing so low, but I decided to put it on repeat, and its actually beautiful. I take back all negative comments I have made. For me, this got lost in the other Sanremo entries when I listened to them, but now I am so affected by the emotion in this song. I will probably vote for this.
Same! In the Sanremo field, I have many other favourites, but in terms of Eurovision this song stands out as very beautiful and of great quality! I cannot see it finishing outside of the top 10.
even if it wasn’t good, it would finish in top 10 haha. it’s Italy. but at least with Diodato, a top 10 will be deserved.
There is quality here and I quite like the song. I get why the Italians voted for it but it’s not screaming Eurovision winner to me.
That is a very good point. but as an Italian I have to be honest and state that Sanremo is more important than Eurovision to us. so we actually do not choose thinking about Eurovision. some day, things will align and we may win Eurovision again, but until then we are going to share what we like and do a good show, and hopefully people will like =)
I personally really love this song, he was one of my three favourites, so I’m very glad that he has the trophy and also will go represent Italy at Eurovision!:)
Bravo Italy! Once more you offer authenticity, real Italian flavour, your language, a personal piece, a great voice and performer and a goose bump ballad. My top so far…
1. Italy
2. Spain
3. Albania
4. Czech Repiblic
5. Australia
6. Latvia
We have the exact same ranking 🙂 nice!
It’s very shouty at the end!
ow the fandom is really shady towards him, I guess it’s a good sign since they are clueless as per usual. The same goes for the Czech entry.
Spain 8/10
Latvia 7/10
Italy 6/10
Czech Republic 5/10
Australia 3/10
Albania 2/10
Correct, it means “Given by God”
Actually the third place in my list, but no strong like Italy in the past two years.
This was probably the weakest Sanremo in many years and the winner is no exception unfortunately. It’s a pleasant middle-of-the-road typical italian song that would probably escape my attention if it wasn’t a Sanremo winner. I’m sorry, but this is the first time since their comeback that I don’t really care about Italy’s result.
The part that frustrates me is that Italians placed this third in the superfinal, which proves that the televote really doesn’t matter much anymore.
If they want the superfinal to matter than they need to make it a clean slate and make previous points not count and let the televote have the complete executive decision.
The results would have never changed even if the televote winner was a landslide.
All previous points were cancelled after they announced the top three. Then it became jury 33%, “stampa” 33%, televote 34%. I’m perfectly okay with televote not having total power, I want the best song to win, not the most popular. Ideally, they’d be the same, but if they’re not I don’t feel some big injustice has been done.
Fai rumore which according to my app translates to ‘Make noise’ certainly is making waves. People seem to love it or hate it. It is a grower which augers badly for a song that goes direct to the final. It does have a stadium quality to it with a rousing symphonic interlude towards the end. When the singer delivers the song he’s quite rapt in his own experience of the song which actually does give it more power. If staged well, subtly and earnestly, it could be top 10.
maybe if we add the dwarves and dancers to the Italian performance, the fireworks and some gays can seem Swedish and maybe you like it
Eurovision fans are hilarious. You hate the hype around Sweden. But you shamelessly try to hype Italy every year. Lol
So true. And they hype this. I am like WTF?
Exactly! The song is so bad
LOL, look who’s talking, Angelika who likes “I am gay” and “Wild”!
Of course we will hype something which is objectively good!
We can not compare the usual musical and melodical quality and authenticity of the Italian entries to the usual poppy anonymous and globalised entries in Melodie.
Sweden is one of the biggest importers, if not the most dominant for the mainstream pop music. There is a lot of Swedish songwriters who has done songs for American artists. Basically, Sweden is a huge part of that scene, which makes it authentic for them. It’s just simply more widespread.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/music/how-stockholm-became-a-dominant-force-in-global-popmusic/article37541953/
People wants to hype this song. But it is really the weakest song for Italy since they returned.
I agree.
He is not charismatic as Mahmood. And after 24 songs, really the fans will remember this ?? Don’t be ridiculous!
I like any song in Italian so it’s good….but it’s not great.
It’s lacking some ooompf that other Italian Eurovision entries have had in these past few years. (2017,2018,2019).
I fear this could get lost.
I wish Italy well though.
I am loving the passion in this song and the man certainly has a set of chops on him. I also like the sentiment in the song. All round, this is a very solid effort. I am not Usually a massive fan of soppy ballads, but this one is actually pretty good.
I love it . It feels raw and honest
Just listened to it and I got bored half way through not a good sign but I’m open for it to grow on me. Just doesn’t do it yet