Sanremo royalty Arisa has stated on Italian talk show Vieni da mi that she would like to represent Italy at the Eurovision Song Contest.
For fans of the prestigious Italian music festival, Arisa will be a familiar name. She has participated at Sanremo six times in ten years and has won the competition twice. In 2009, she won the Newcomers’ section with the song “Sinceríta”, and in 2014 she won the Big Artists’ section with “Controvento”.
Traditionally, the winner of the Big Artists’ section is given first refusal of the opportunity to represent Italy at Eurovision. In 2014, however, RAI opted for an internal selection process, sending Emma Marrone with “La mia cittá” to Copenhagen.
RAI’s internal selection process was poorly received by fans, after Emma achieved just 21st place at Eurovision – Italy’s worst result since their return to the competition in 2011. In 2015, RAI announced that Sanremo would once again be used to select the Italian entrant, which left Arisa fans disappointed and upset that she would be the only winner of recent years who never got the opportunity to go to Eurovision. Arisa has kept her sense of humour about this, joking: “Heck! I was the wrong year!”
Cacchio! Ho sbagliato anno…?
Posted by Arisa on Wednesday, October 1, 2014
The Eurovision dream has always been slightly out of Arisa’s grasp. In 2017, she was approached by San Marino, who wanted her to represent them at Eurovision in Kyiv. Arisa turned down the offer, claiming that she would have needed to invest €300,000 of her own money to cover the costs. “My record label should have been my sponsor, but the figures were too high for them as well,” she said.
On the 25th of May, Arisa told Caterina Balivo on Vieni da me precisely why she continues to participate in Sanremo: “I have won Sanremo twice and I haven’t been to Eurovision yet. Everyone asks me why I try to do Sanremo every year. Because I want to go to Eurovision.”
The Italian singer seems more determined than ever to represent her country at Eurovision. Arisa most recently competed in Sanremo 2019 with “Mi sento bene”. She finished in 8th place.
What do you think? Will Arisa make a return to Sanremo in 2021? Would you like to see Arisa represent Italy at Eurovision? Let us know below.
Diodato or i am done, probably i will be done cause i don’t think Italy would send him internally, even they send in 2014 and also in 2012 i think (internally )…And maybe Diodato likes ESC
Not now. I want Diodato for 2021.
I thought her San Remo winning song Controvento in 2014 was really good. Why didn’t RAI just select her back then? instead they internally selected Emma who didn’t compete in San Remo that year..was really odd year TBH
Yup, if Controvento were to participate in Eurovision 2014, and the Emma’s Sanremo winning song in 2012, Non è l’inferno, then Italy would’ve been in my top 5 every year since they rejoined.
P.s. I liked L’amore è femmina but I loved Per sempre more.
It says a lot that she’s one of the only people who competes in Sanremo so she can do Eurovision when most Italian acts just do Sanremo because it’s Sanremo, and Eurovision’s a nice side gig they get if they win. The only similar example I can think of is Famous on Operacio Triunfo, and in both cases the poor guys won but got saddled with bad luck afterwards (Arisa won Sanremo but the Eurovision act was internally selected, and Famous won OT but his Eurovision candidate songs were terrible and then they picked Blas Canto when they went internal).
GDP is different from GDP per capita. GDP is how much a country makes a year vs how much a working individual makes annually. Plus the standards of living is slightly different, for example living in Liechtenstein or Monaco is more expensive than living in the UK or Moldova. Just as heads up
good to know, I love her 😀
Unless they were aiming to win so they could use it as a way to promote themselves?
I really hope to see her at the contest one day, but for Italy. She’s so great. I love her Italian version of Amar Pelos Dois.
I love Arisa so much. She has some great music and I’ve loved all her Sanremo entries. Although I loved La Mia Citta, Controvento was also an amazing song and would’ve done really well on the Eurovision stage. I really, really hope she gets the chance to perform someday, not only because she deserves it but because I think she’d easily give Italy another solid top 10 finish.
Just send her next year with Diodato, Italy.
What if next year’s Sanremo winner turns out to feel cheated like Arisa did back in 2014?
I think they would be more likely to understand that it’s a very different situation given what’s happened this year.
Still, from a fan’s point of view, imagine if Sanremo crowns another Soldi and we have to see it miss the contest, imagining how it could have won.
I’ve read on an Italian site that the patron of the Sanremo Theatre talked about the possibility of the festival being postponed to April, if the restrictions related to the pandemic persist until next year. In that case, the obvious choice would be to select Diodato internally. I wouldn’t mind a duo with Arisa though, it could correct 2 injustices at once. But we would need to know if they want to work together, of course.
She wants to do it for San Marino as well and they didn’t except her? Like? She’d be the best result for San Marimo ever for sure.. Like I’m sure they can together comeup with that amount, a bit from San Marino, a bit from her label and a bit from sponsor.
It’s not that they didn’t accept her. She couldn’t accept them.
I love her passion. Hope she gets her chance one day!
I think she earned the right to represent Italy.
San Marino should ask her and find the money instead of asking her to pay 300k which is ridiculous. Did they ask Senhit and valentina as well???
Yes. If I remember correctly then Siegel paid for Valentina’s participation
Is ralph siegel really that rich?
Ralph Siegel had the money to bring Bosnia & Herzegovina back but they turned him down. Yeah, he’s that rich.
I really do think she’ll get there. I liked her 2019 song but yeah, she can do even better.
Controvento is beautiful. Would have loved to see that song at Eurovision