On Saturday night, Mahmood & Blanco won the grand final of Sanremo 2022. And in the wee small hours of Sunday morning, the pair confirmed they would also represent Italy at Eurovision 2022 with their song “Brividi”.
The confirmation was made at the Sanremo winner’s press conference. After being awarded the leoncino statue, the duo were whisked away to the Sanremo media centre where they faced the eager media.
Mahmood and Blanco confirmed that they were happy to also represent Italy at Eurovision 2022. The pair said it was doubly special to be representing their country on home soil.
Voliamo a Torino su una bici di diamanti con @Mahmood_Music & #Blanco ??
— Eurovision Rai (@EurovisionRai) February 6, 2022
? Save the date: 10-12-14 Maggio 2022#TheSoundOfBeauty #Eurovision2022 #ESCita #ESC2022 #Eurovision @Eurovision pic.twitter.com/ukddz3BJ3P
Broadcaster Rai also confirmed the news on their official Eurovision Twitter account.
However, the pair haven’t decided if the song will be kept entirely in Italian, saying “We still have to think about it: what interests us for now is to bring our music abroad.” Blanco’s preference is to keep the song in Italian. The decision will be confirmed at a later date.
A smoother road to Eurovision than the drama of 2019
This will be a return to Eurovision for Mahmood. He previously represented Italy in 2019 with the song “Soldi”. However, the process of saying yes to Eurovision 2019 was not as smooth as this year.
After winning Sanremo 2019, Mahmood had enthusiastically confirmed his intention to also go to Eurovision. However, he later backtracked and said he’d need to look at the proposal in more detail before deciding.
This inspired a fan-led campaign to get Mahmood to say “sì” to Eurovision. The hashtag #Mahmood4Eurovision was the number one trending topic in Italy, and an online petition was launched.
After a tense couple of days, Mahmood confirmed he would indeed be taking the ticket to Tel Aviv. There, the went on to place second in the contest.
Rai now requires Sanremo entrants to confirm in advance if they are prepared to also go on to Eurovision. In the event that the Sanremo winner does not wish to go to Eurovision, Rai will instead choose one of the other Sanremo acts.
This will be Blanco’s first time at Eurovision. The 18-year-old is one of Italy’s youngest ever Eurovision acts.
The Sanremo super final results have also been confirmed. Mahmood & Blanco received 51.8% of the total vote, Elisa received 26.3% while Gianni Morandi received 21.9%. Last year Måneskin won with 40.68% of the total vote.
What do you think? Can Mahmood & Blanco give Italy a consecutive Eurovision win? Should “Brividi” include some English lyrics? Sound off in the comments section below!
Staging is going to be critical. The song has its moments of brilliance but also a bit of cringe. That can be fixed though. Can’t wait to see what they come up with. As is, it would struggle to make top 10.
The cringy parts is when Mahmood serves us bum notes. So no staging is gonna save that
..What a noise ..a dirge !, seems to go on for hours. I couldn’t even get to the end of it.
Imagine being a homophobic Eurovision fan. :L
The level of repression is comedic with some people here in these comments. Angered by two men singing a love song awww. Spread love not hate kids.
Will Italy win ESC 2022, lol no. But it very well might score in the top 10. Good selection.
I’ve a bit of an issue with the overtly gay overtones in the video but I’m coming from a very different angle (a gay one), Mahmood is on record as saying he is a catholic but won’t commit when it comes to his sexuality. Everyone know that ESC has a huge gay following so is a just courting the gay vote? S**t or get off the pot Mahmood, you might get a lot more respect from people.
I like the song but the hype’s overwhelming. I mean, it’ll definitely do well (I can see it easily in the top 10, even top 5) at ESC but there’s already better songs in other NFs
Maneskin: Prepare for trouble
Mahmood & Blanco: And make it double
Italy is going for their second consecutive win.
This is a beautiful song, and by far the best of the 9 songs we’ve got so far. I can easily see Italy win again with this one.
When I first listened to Mahmood’s ‘Moonlight Popolare’ i thought he could win ESC with a rapper-featured track. Blanco’s part in ‘Brividi’ is not rap, but the song has a great potential to win!
I mean, I think he could’ve won with Soldi back in the day. He’s so talented!
Out of topic… Blanco looks scary as hell when he smiles. A perfect face to play Joker.
OMG I thought I was the only one who thought that lmao!
He’s crazy!! Go watch his music videos, I love him
It’s not a bad song but all this hype is a bit too much. It’s still too early … yes , it will do well but I don’t think it will win.
I’m really surprised by the amount of negativity here – is this site full of really salty Tannanai fans or something?
No, just people that are grounded and don’t overhype an average ballad that if it weren’t sung by Mahmood or Blanco or represented some other country (ex. Spain, Montenegro, Moldova etc.) wouldn’t be praised that much.
no, just realists realising Italy won’t win for a second year..
What I like about this song is the fact that it is a gay song without screaming “hey we sing a gay song”… But i dont particularly like the song itself, though.
And I dont like the lyrics. I dont like lyrics that use too many metaphors and “poetry” (a bunch of words put together that sound nice). I compare it with Estonia 2015 Goodbye to yesterday that had exactly the same theme with understandable and touching lyrics.
I think it’s not a gay song. Someone said Blanco sings referring to woman and Mahmood sings referring to man, so the song is about universal love that hurts, but no way audience will interpret it other as gay song with them two singing to each other unless they add some English lines.
Congrats to Mahmood and Blanco 🙂 I really struggle with the distortion in this one, but the bones are good. Hopefully live in Turin it’s kept mostly to ‘pure’ vocals, or the distortion feels less ear-achey.
Mahmood sings out of tune at times hence the distortions
I’ve listened to the song and read the lyrics. It’s a good song but not an Esc winner. It’s gonna be in my top 10 list. Maybe I should listen to it more and see if I like it more.
// Bella from Sweden
so many downvotes lol calm down people your jealously is showing. you know we’re coming hard for that double
“Brividi” is a masterpiece!
There’s no need to change it with parts of English lyrics, hell no!! It’s just perfect as it is right now!! Greets from the Netherlands
Italy will at 99,9 % no put any lyrics in English.
If this truly was the best, well good luck. I don’t think this translates to anyone that well that it could reach any highs.
Why does almost every comment have downvotes? You people need to calm down. This song is beyond good.
I think Italy is starting to get to the point of Sweden where it doesn’t matter what they do anymore, they’re so successful people expect an instant winner every year.
As it matters, as an Italian, I understand very well that winning is a combination of many factors, that are so unpredictable, and actually it is silly to aim at it. It is a great, desirable bonus, of course. But I am happy that year after year the winners of Sanremo, for a reason or another, tend to be good quality, or have some appeal (that sometimes escapes me, but yet…). So no, Italy will never be like Sweden, because the format that selects the participants is completely different and it is not Eurovision oriented. Italy has a thriving musical… Read more »
The song itself is not as strong as “Soldi”. Anyway, I can imagine the Italians going very high in May for being innovative and innovativeness is usually welcome and appreciated at ESC. Why innovative? Most ESC-viewers will perceive this entry as a love story between two men, something we haven’t seen at ESC yet.
This isn’t even good, what on earth Italy?!
Since we know last year all of the 25 accepted the invitation to go to ESC, how many artists did this year? Is it known?
I respect the song, however I don’t think it’s a winner, maybe a Top 5, but unlike other host entries this WILL for sure avoid bottom 5.
Really like Mahmood but I don’t like the song. For sure it can score high unlike all other host countries but I doubt it can do the double.
Fair comment. One can dislike the song without being so rude.
If Spain sent something like this with 2 relatively unknown artists everyone would say how it’s generic Spanish ballad.
No, I see many people who don’t know mahmood and blanco loving it as well. I definitely don’t think it’s a generic ballad and definitely not a *Spanish* generic ballad:)
Spain would’ve been my #1 right now if they had selected Rayden, but he never stood a chance.
Exactly and the vocals sounds average. They are singing flat…
They are form Italy, so They have to be height in the rankinking…
English and French have traditionally been the official languages of Eurovision. Everybody who sends a song in a language other than those should be disqualified.
Oh gosh! I would be more on the opposite, to favour the cultural diversity. Each one with his owb language with optional english subtitles that can be activated on the tv set, like in a DVD or Bluray.
who are you hahaha
You should ask the EBU to apologise for ruining your Eurovision experience with all of those songs in foreign languages. Please let us know how you get on;)
People like you are like poison to Eurovision.
Is this a joke? ’cause I didn’t get it ._.
At least it’s a Karen and not a Shaniqua :/
This song is seriously going for Gold. It has everything. Congratulations Italy.
Random downvoters are so sick. I believe wiwiblogs should remove the voting buttons. It would be much better.
Another strong song from the big 5 and I would not expect anything less from Italy. This is going to perform well with the juries and fans.
Hopefully this will also break the curse of the host country.
It seems the haters downvoters recently woke up. Go to bed again, you were sleeping with naked asss and you are bitter and nervous.
extremely overrated
Overrated? I don’t think so. Over hyped? Definitely, but it deserves some of it nevertheless.
What a difference three years can make. The Italians have embraced Mahmood, that’s for sure. It must be quite emotional for him. Three years ago it was a controversial win thanks to the jury, this year he’s the people’s favorite by far. I don’t know if this song can really win in May, to me it sounds like the draft version of what could be a great ballad, but apparently there is something about it, with these record streaming numbers and the huge televote difference.
Same here. Goosebumps and tears.
I’m happy that the song is going to Eurovision in some form, because it touches me. An English version would need a lot of work so as not to mess with the feelings of inhibition and commonality. I am happy that commenters on the other post spent the night going over these themes, because I didn’t want to be the one to expose that the song isn’t actually a direct love song between the singers – but you know that now, so all is good. Basically “two men can identify with each other no matter who they love.” I’ll save… Read more »
I appreciate your words.
The pattern of hosts finishing into the bottom 5 may continue…
You dream. Sincerely, never seen such a long stream of stupid comments against the victory act of any national final. There will be a lot of people understanding the meaning of the song, taking time to study the lyrics, who may actually connect with the song and fall in love with it. For your info I am a 54yo grown man and when I heard the song the first time, I lost myself into tears. And not only once. More than once. This song punched me in the stomach. I believe there will be less stupid people around having my… Read more »
ok Vicenzo we get it. You are passionate about the song and probably you speak Italian and you understand the meaning. The average viewer at ESC will not take the time to study the lyrics. This song is not impactful at all. You cannot compare this to Arcade. Ballads can win at ESC but it has to be really good one that touches everyone. Not just the Italians. It will not win ESC but it won’t be bottom 5 either because is Italy after all and Mahmood is well known.
AlexC, I remind you Salvador Sobral won with a ballad in a language that was only known in Portugal, which is, compared to Italy a smaller country and a country that I love together with Spain, Greece, Albania and France (when they don’t act bad with Italians saying Damiano was doing coke live). It depends on how only music, sometimes, touches your heart.
I haven’t said you can’t win with a ballad sang in native language. All I said you need to great song and ballad to win at ESC not just any ballad.
Cannot change the comment anymore, I was meaning Arcade was a ballad and a beautiful song and so is Brividi. Different tastes in music is one thing. Saying this song will make the top bottom of the score is simply being negatively biased or someone who has an integralist approach and only sees things that belong to his personal taste.
I think Eurovision teaches us a lot. You know what type of songs most Europeans like and that’s why you might have strong opinions. If Italy was to win for second time in a row it would have been with Irama. The song is absolutely beautiful and impactful. It brings you tears even if you don’t understand Italian.
Alexc, it’s quite incoherent to say that Arcade touches everybody because it’s in english! What the hell! Everybody knows that. If Duncan Lawrence’s song was in dutch probably it would have been bottom 5. It’s not fair to reason in your way. Brividi is in italian and I and other foreigners love that because italian is a wonderfully sounding melodic latin language. But, we are not in the 1930. You open youtube and there are translated lyrics!! That’s why is is not fair to have bunch of countries singing in english and then come here saying Brividi is not good… Read more »
Vicenzo is not about the language. Many songs won at ESC in their native language. If something is great you don’t have to translate it to understand the meaning. Irama gave me goosebumps. I felt the same for Fai rumore by Diodato. Brividi is not impactful at all. I don’t have to translate the lyrics to understand it. It won’t change my opinion for the song.
I don’t want you change your opinion on the song! We don’t need an english version and we don’t want to trick, by translating the song to another language which is not our own. Hope it will not even cross the mind of the singers or the producer. We are proud of our own language and there were local people at the concerts done by Måneskin in Europe and USA singing (or at least trying to) the lyrics of their songs in italian. Singing in english for a country where english is not the official language is like trying to… Read more »
Probably people get alienated when die hard fans say this will be a second win for Italy. I call those delusional. I said previously Brividi is an awful song but probably I have used the incorrect words. It is not impactful and nothing special to the average non Italian viewer. Nobody denies that Italian is beautiful language and I strongly believe the native languages should be used more at Eurovision as this is not a negative thing. Many songs won ESC in native languages and more recently Italy. Italy consistently scores high because of San Remo being a song contest… Read more »
One can express his views without constantly downvoting all the comments of people who say the song is beautiful. But I am fed up about the fans on this side. I have better things to do in life than being here trying to provide somewiseness to those who take a song contest as a fight, as Risiko. I give up.
I’m not Italian and I think Brividi’s rather special – Arcade’s alright and so was Irama’s somg, but there’s something here that’s a lot more intriguing. It doesn’t compare well to dramatic ballads because that isn’t what it is… Taste is taste and I have no idea how well it’ll do at ESC, and I’m not an average ESC viewer (we’re on this site in February, none of us are) but I think you’re underestimating its appeal.
They are not really talking about Brividi. Same comments from the same people every year…
I know. There is people who comes here to spit their daily dose of venom against life or the other human beings.
It seems like no one can have an opinion.
Just accept that there’s people who won’t like your favorit song. At the end of the day you can not vote for you own country.
I’m from Sweden and whatever song we send, people will talk poorly about it because it’s from Sweden or because people don’t like the song. And we are used to it.
Deal with it.
Anybody can have an opinion, but usually should not downvote those who have a different opinion. Look around to some of the comments here and how many downvotes they have! Here it’s enough that someone writes “I like the song” and he/she is buried under tens of downvotes. This is childish/silly/stupid. Here we see someone saying “They will be bottom 5” without giving any reason or plausible explanation. If we are playing the game “shoot down a potential harsh candidate like Italy because I am an envious betch”, ok I will play the same game. That is why I believe… Read more »
Only in your dreams…
I mean, Leonardo DiCaprio won an Oscar. LMAO became Mexico’s president. Cruz Azul, Atlas and many football teams were finally champions after long streaks, recently. It’s not crazy to think that, eventually, a host country can and should break the so-called host country curse.
Welcome back to Eurovision Mahmood !
One of my favorite Italian singers!
Italy could very well do the double. It’s been a long time since it happened last, but could very well happen again.
My number 1 for now.
Zzzzzz
After a string of strong results from 2017 onward, Rai want to make absolutely sure they not forced to pay out to host the contest again in 2023.
I wish you a good sleep.
Mahmood & Blanco were not my favorites in Sanremo but I’m happy for Italy that they found their song/singer for Turin. I think “Brividi” is not as strong as “Soldi” ….but we will see how this song will do in the ESC.
Just an awful song , so overrated. Can vote me down really don’t seem special whatsoever.
Don’t worry Martin. I am the champion of getting downvoted all the time in here :). Someone has to be realistic to balance out the sea of delusion.
Being downvoted on Wiwi usually just means you’ve spoken the truth…
Or upset the Spaniards…
Sometimes even, it’s both.
No, being downvoted sometimes is just because you have written something against the common sense, the logic or hurting the average intelligence of people. Or, mayne because you are just an assss hooole. And leave alone the Spaniards which are much nicer than you.
Many people like it, some people don’t. Calling it “overated” does not invalidate peope loving a particular song that you are in no obligation to fancy on about.
are you kidding me people? downvote me also!!! you think this song can back to back victory Italy? jajajaja it has nothing to do with the appeal of Soldi. If this song was albania it would be 41 in odds and bets and noone would talk about which language would be selected. you are all totally biased. You were loving almost 5 songs from san remo this year and all of them were almost exactly the same. even musically a looot similarities in almost half of the songs of san remo. whichever song would be chosen, Italy would be still… Read more »
Had it not been the defending champion it probably would have got more attention. Being host entry these days is a curse. Just look at Netherlands who had one of the best host songs and who people thought would do better than other host songs…
Can’t remember the last time a host has been in contention to win again.
There are a couple of strong results, Serbia 2008 springs to mind, but even then I don’t think anyone was predicting a return to Belgrade in 2009, it wasn’t in with a winning chance.
And in May it probably won’t be a contender to win. Don’t worry
Jeangu’s song was good because of the message, but I don’t think anyone really thought the song itself was all that great. No one in Holland liked it, that’s a start of course. With Brividi it’s different. At least the Italians love it. I don’t think it will win Eurovision, but surely a top-10 should be within reach.
Congratulations to them for winning SR. I never liked the song and I don’t get it. Some people are delusional thinking this will be back to back win for Italy. Unless all countries drop out, this will not be winning. Maneskin had charisma, performed great and their song was impactful. You need those qualities to win ESC and Brividi has none of those. Italy can score well because is Italy just like Russia was in the past. Most of the time Europe gets it right with the winners so I’m still hopeful. So far Spain and Israel are in the… Read more »
Israel in the lead? lollll you must be joking, even Moldova brings more quality than Israel this year.
« Brividi » is wonderful, it’s actually to good for this circus of Eurovision. ESC will never find the class Sanremo Fest has…
Just read my answers to your previous replies and you will find the answer also for this kind statement of yours.
Undoubtedly it’s a good song, and it’s sung exceptionally well, but I worry it will suffer a similar fate as, for example, Jeangu Macrooy and not translate when surrounded by the much less subtle songs that will inevitably come along once all the entries are selected (though not suggesting it’s a nil pointer for a minute). I’m not nearly as convinced as others that this is a contender for the top spot – the juries will give it the recognition it deserves, but thinking maybe top 12 once the public votes are added.
The first really good song of the season! Well done, Italy!
Congratulations to Italy for selecting something completely different to last year, and (most likely) different to anything else anyone will come up with in 2022.
Italy has the potential of winning 2 years in a row if the song is kept this way
I don’t think this song will win the ESC – it is (for my taste) not strong enough and is way too overrated. I don’t say it is a bad song – “Brividi” is an okay song …………..but is not outstanding. There will be better and catchier songs in the running for sure.
Certainly keep the song fully in Italian. It shouldn’t even be a question at this point that Sanremo songs should never be translated. They lose a great deal of magic and quality this way.
This is beautifully sung and so elegant, their chemistry is moving. I have no idea what Eurovision will make of this song though, I kinda feel it’s not impactful enough to win. Wait and see!
Still a beautiful addition to the line-up.
Is Italy slowly becoming the Ireland of this decade? They have a good chance to have a back to back win.. Ciao Ciao was my winner but I can’t deny Brividi is classy and well crafted.. Come on Italia!
Congrats to Mahmood and Blanco. It was a predictable result – still I’m happy with it. They weren’t my personal winners, but the song has grown on me over the week. Also, I just looked at what Israel picked, and, uh, yeah, Italy is definitely my favorite entry so far. Let’s hope they don’t decide to translate some of it into English because Italian entries don’t have a history of doing that successfully. Either way, I’m sure they will give Italy a very good result on home soil.
Overhyped because it’s from Italy. Their live voices hurt my ears as well.
That’s because your ears have no taste
If singing in the high range or falsetto, means hurting your ears, well I am happy for it. Because probably your ears don’t deserve to listen.
What a comment. Who cares..
I really like this song. Really well done, Italy. Although I would have loved to give the victory to Elsa too!
Great! At least they’ll save us from all the bad songs so far. What bad year song-wise this is turning out to be.
So far, except Italy, only the countries that usually perform poorly selected their songs. And they are all mediocre at worst, no boring ballads. A lot of good songs in national selections. So the year looks extremely promising.
Not really, most of nf songs this year are not so good
“However, the pair haven’t decided if the song will be kept entirely in Italian, saying “We still have to think about it: what interests us for now is to bring our music abroad.” Blanco’s preference is to keep the song in Italian.”
Please leave it in Italian. Don’t to a Nina Zilli (who ended up looking like any Amy Winehouse knock-off).
And got 7th doing it so no problems there
Nina’s song for Eurovision was different from her Sanremo song, so it’s not apple-to-apple. it makes more sense to compare it with 2016, which was the exact same song but with some lyrical tweaks.