Sanremo Music Festival is next to none in the Italian music industry - it's the premiere music competition to win. The victor is showered in a special kind of fame locally - joining an elite few to have won the contest. A truly unique cultural phenomenon. This year we've been treated to 26 songs, countless interval acts and five nights of festivities. The all important final night starts at 6:45am AEDT tomorrow morning.
The voting will be as follows: all 26 artists will perform their entries, at the end of the voting, a final ranking will be drawn up using the average of ALL votes from the previous evenings and the final night. This includes the demoscopic jury, orchestra vote, press room vote and televote. Twenty-sixth to the fourth position will be announced.
A fresh vote will follow to determine the Top 3, zeroing all previous votes. The new vote will include the demoscopic jury (33%), press room vote (33%) and public via televoting (34%) - the highest percentile will decide the winning song of Sanremo 2021. Got that? Not the most straight forward method but it seems to get a great winner every year so, when in Rome!
Allora, these are the five entrants we believe have the best chance at taking out the converted golden lion tomorrow night:
Ermal Meta 'Un milione di cose da dirti'
Absolutely the man of the festival to beat. Topping the demoscopic and orchestral jury with an equally strong fifth with the press - Ermal is in very strong standing to take out the entire competition. The question is how strong will the televote be? Or won't it matter - like in the case for Mahmood where is jury scores got him essentially over the line. A concern is his lack of cracking into the Italian charts.
Translating to 'A Million Things To Tell You' - the entry is loaded with passion. One of the better visual concepts in terms of staging this year. Across all evenings he has been vocally consistent and well supported online.
Måneskin 'Zitti e buoni'
Måneskin are going from strength to strength every evening. Their provisional results are improving as the festival continues with a strong fifth place going into the final evening. They currently sit pretty at #14 in the Italian music charts and #5 on Spotify.
There is something special about watching frontman Damiano David prowl around the stage and seeing the band in their element. Every performance is dripping in theatrics and drama - just perfect *mwah*. Translating to 'Shut Up And Be Quiet' - the song certainly lives up to the title, your jaw hits the ground so hard you can't help but sit up, shut up and pay attention. Their provisional results are a little inconsistent to take the crown but they are sure to place well overall.
Arisa 'Potevi fare di più'
I would be surprised to see Arisa out of the Top 3 tomorrow evening. She has been one of the most consistent place-getters across the festival with a provisional ranking of third going into the final night. Arisa also has managed to crack both Italian Radio and Spotify charts with #63 and #13 respectively. No small feat with a "less radio friendly" entry.
Translating to 'You Could Have Done More' - Arisa has proven she can do consistent, strong vocal performances. The song is about dissolved love and the pain it caused. Magical and powerful.
Annalisa 'Dieci'
Playing second fiddle to Ermal Meta for the first few nights - Annalisa has also gathered a consistent array of placings across the festival, putting her in good stead to finish in the Top 3. She goes into the final night with a provisional fourth place. Another artist to chart strongly - 'Dieci' is currently #12 on the Italian music charts and #7 on Spotify.
'Dieci' has a lovely melodic ark giving Annalisa plenty of time to show off her range, vocal control and excellent intonation. The last minute where she goes from the climax back to a simmering vocal is absolutely spine-tingling. The song itself means 'Ten' and is referring a lost love and counting down the last times she could spend special moments with them before parting.
Francesca Michielin & Fedez 'Chiamami per nome'
The streaming champions of 2021. Their performance video on Youtube has the most views with 2.4 million (next best Måneskin - 1.6 million) AND gunning it to #1 position in the Spotify charts and #2 in the general Italian charts. The best charting results of the festival.
The juries have been a bit meh having them both high and low on different evenings - Francesca & Fedez move into the final evening with a provisional ranking of 17th. They still have a good chance of placing fairly high if the televote get behind them as the charts indicate. The highly beloved Francesca Michielin (Italian Eurovision Entrant 2016) & Fedez bring nice variety between the sweetness of Francesca's voice and the timbre of Fedez's rapping. A bit clunky at times but overall getting better every evening.
I'm going to go out on a leg here tonight and tip Annalisa to win Sanremo 2021. She's proven to be consistently popular with the juries and she has the charting and views behind her to pip Ermal Meta for the crown in the televote.
We currently don't have insight into the televote and I'm betting on the televote telling quite a different story. Italy hasn't had a female winner since 2016 - perhaps this is the year! Additionally my predictions for the Top 3 are: Annalisa, Ermal Meta and Arisa.
It's to be noted that the winner of the final evening tomorrow will not necessarily go onto to represent Italy at Eurovision 2021. A decision is sometimes made on stage, shortly after the show or days later. It is up to the winning artist.
In bocca al lupo a tutti!