Megan Thee Stallion was among the big winners at the American Music Awards 2021. The “Savage” rapper took home three gongs, including Favourite Trending Song, beating out reigning Eurovision champions Måneskin.
However, that was a mere blip in what proved to be an otherwise fantastic night for the foursome — that’s Damiano, Victoria, Ethan and Thomas.
Måneskin perform “Beggin” at the AMAs 2021
The Italians took to the Microsoft Theater stage in Los Angeles for a live performance of their viral hit “Beggin”. They eschewed their usual glam rock attire in favour of matching tuxedos. Their James Bond realness left everyone shaken, not stirred, including rising star Olivia Rodrigo who posed with them on the red carpet.
SI RAGA È SUCCESSO OLIVIA RODRIGO E I MANESKIN SÌ SONO INCONTRATI E HANNO FATTO UNA FOTO, ITALIANI VINCIAMO ANCHE OGGI #AMAs #amas2021 pic.twitter.com/wZrh6NqRZM
— davide ? (@MIRR0RBVLL) November 22, 2021
As always, the band delivered an energetic performance of the song first made famous by The Four Seasons. Damiano’s drawn-out a cappella intro predictably sent the crowd wild. Billboard branded them “total rock stars”, while BBC mistakenly claimed that they were the first Eurovision winners to perform at the AMAs – 1988 victor Céline Dion has sung at the event on more than one occasion.
Another British outlet, The Independent, zoned in on fans’ apparent growing dissatisfaction with “Beggin'” being pushed to the fore ahead of original Måneskin songs like their Eurovision winning number “Zitti E Buoni” or “I WANNA BE YOUR SLAVE”. The newspaper quoted a selection of tweets from disgruntled viewers. One social media wrote: “Everyone and their mother has done a cover of ‘Beggin’, why are Maneskin at the AMAs doing the same? ‘Zitti e Buoni’ was freaking amazing do that I’m beggin”. However, while both these songs have charted across Europe, “Beggin'” remains their only US hit to date.
Måneskin going strong with 2017 cover of “Beggin’”
Måneskin’s success with “Beggin’” started quite some time ago. The band first performed the song in 2017 while they were competing on the eleventh season of X Factor Italia. They never released it as a single, but it managed to hit #39 on the Italian Singles Chart anyway and a year later FIMI certified it as a gold record.
Following Eurovision, the song found new life on TikTok, which helped push it up the charts elsewhere. In July the cover hit number 1 on the Spotify Global charts.
Beggin’ has spent 20 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US and is currently in spot 17 — having peaked at 13.
Its success in the United States may stem partly from the fact it has American roots. “Beggin’” was popularised in 1967 by the American Franki Valli and his band The Four Seasons. The song was subsequently reworked by the likes of French DJ Pilooski and Norwegian hip-hop group Madcon. Musical theatre buffs may recognise the song from the Broadway musical Jersey Boys, which is about the Four Seasons.
What do you think of Måneskin’s AMA 2021 performance? Are you tired of “Beggin'”? Let us know in the comments.
Loved, loved, loved them . . Their tuxedos, their energy, body movements so sexy, touch of Goth perfect . . Damiano’s face likened to a Roman God . .
It’s so weird seeing them in tuxedos haha I love them
They will win the next one, hopefully with a song of their. They deserve it
Totally loved them, I was so sad they didn’t win:((
Let’s be real. They were a refreshing change of pace in a sea of forgettable hip hop crap.
I love how in the video title they spelled it as Mäneskin :’D
Off-topic: There are rumours circulating about Monaco to return in 2023
“Monaco is looking at returning to the Eurovision Song Contest in 2023 according to reports in the L’Observateur de Monaco.
L’Observateur de Monaco reports that the state budget for Monaco in 2022 includes an allocation of 100,000 Euros to “initiate the application of the Principality to the Eurovision 2023 competition “.
Måneskin should totally sing the next James Bond theme! They would easily deliver a brilliant class song like previous Rock artists did for the franchise [Jack White, Chris Cornell, Garbage, Sheryl Crow & Duran Duran]
Jack could even be considered a Eurovision winner too… the law does, at least.
Ha! Worth noting that 2 ESC participants have sung a Bond theme (Matt Monro & Lulu)
Man, I seriously forgot about that. There are some WILD mash-ups out there on YouTube. 😀
Thanks for reminding me!
Fun fact, they were wearing these outfits as a shot at a far right homophobic senator in Italy that made a big scene about their typically androgynous glam looks at the MTV EMAs. Damiano responded that next time they would wear suits and “paPillon,” a play on the word for bowtie and the senator’s name.
why am i not surprised it was pillon… he’s a national laughing stock here lmao
I think it was an honor to the four seasons that sang it originally and wore similar outfits
it’s probably a combo of both. My guess is that they already planned to wear the suits to reference the Four Seasons, and then added the bowties as a joke in regards to Pillon
I hope that’s not actually true, because the thought of him having any influence on them at all is sad.
they have influence over him, not the other way around. måneskin arent the ones crying about what someone chooses to wear or how they express themselves
Ignoring him would have been better. What this moron thinks should not matter to them – now we’re talking about him, giving him attention.
I’m sorry, but this “don’t give attention, ignore your bullies” routine never works. It’s not like this senator will have less power or less of a platform to speak if they don’t respond. There needs to be pushback on bigotry and mockery works wonders. Let the world see paPillon for who he is, a dinosaur.
Attention is what got Donald Trump to the White House. The world saw him for who he was… and it didn’t matter.
No, people normalizing Trump got him there. I haven’t forgotten Jimmy Fallon ruffling Trump’s hair or SNL allowing him to host.
This recent episode with Pillon and Måneskin is in the wake of the defeat of the DDL Zan in Italy. That’s why we can’t pretend that bigots like Pillon will do no harm if we look the other way.
I think both things are true. It’s just about what battles to pick. Some are worth it, some aren’t.
Just to add, Damiano and the rest of the band have been fighting the likes of Simone Pillon all along. By wearing whatever they like and giving others the courage to do the same, they are fighting homophobia and narrow-mindedness as a whole. Not for a moment am I asking them to stop that. That, to me, is more important and consequential than giving power to one little cretin.
Hopefully at least someone here can agree with me.
Sounds like that’s equivalent of giving the finger to someone like Ted Cruz here! I like Damiano’s moxy!
They were amazing as always. The winning song was nothing special. They are the real winners. Fresh and beautiful stars even in tuxedos.
I mean it’s a good cover but they definitely have better songs.
The American music industry in my opinion is quite mediocre in recent years so maybe that’s why it’s so successful and not one of their other English songs.
I would say that the band are responsible for half of the success, with Bob Gaudio and Peggy Farina being responsible for the other half.
i mean the american music industry from like 2007-2016 used to be mostly swedish produced pop songs, i like the change in pace personally and the increase in originality
Isn’t it all just different flavours of blandness, generally speaking?