(Adnkronos) – “Returning to Sanremo for me is a way to undermine my artistic figure. This is the third time, the first time it was a singer-songwriter ballad, this time the path starts from the theatrical and narrative system in constructing the song. There is a very cinematic approach, and the harmonic and lyrical writing of the song follows this vision. Being able to present it live gives me the opportunity to achieve this goal”. Michele Bravi returns to the Ariston stage for the third time, with a song, ‘Prima o poi’, which “for me is the opening of a project. It acts as a battering ram for what will follow”, he explains. The path towards Sanremo 2026 was born when the artist began to play the piece to friends and family: “I saw that there was something different compared to the other songs on the album that amazed me in their reaction”, he explains. “My mother told me in the family chat ‘finally a good song’. And here I said ‘this is it’”.
Bravi immediately reveals a collaboration regarding the video clip of the Sanremo piece: “I managed to convince Ilenia Pastorelli, who wrote and directed her own very strong and personal interpretation of the song, to throw herself into her first directorial career. I am very happy with the result and the fact that she trusted me”. Pastorelli’s vision “was more convincing than mine, stronger, more original”, explains Bravi. Who after the video clip changed “the way of singing it, because there were some things that I hadn’t understood and Ilenia made me understand”. It is not unlikely that the Roman actress will be in Sanremo to support the artist. “I hope I can bring her,” he says. At the festival, the artist will be accompanied by the arranger of names such as Celine Dion and David Foster, Alterisio Paoletti. “This year the orchestra for me is not just a musical carpet but a dialogue will be created with my voice,” he says. Because the song is “harmonically very complex, this opening in the minor that you don’t expect”. Going on stage for him is an authentic experience: “I’m talking about clumsiness up there. I can’t go there and feel super cool”, he admits with his usual sincerity. “Life is ‘crooked’, everything is a little more ‘broken’ than how we tell ourselves and see it in films,” he smiles.
There is space for some reflections on the uproar caused by Ghali’s participation in the Milan – Cortina Olympics ceremony. “Ghali is called there as an artist, to represent his value system, his creativity. He is a voice, up there he represents his thoughts, so in what sense do we talk about ‘dissent’? Do we take it for granted that everything else represents the opposite thought? I find it absurd that we self-impose the rule that whoever says how he thinks is dissenting, whoever says how he thinks is just talking”, states Michele. “When I sing, even unconsciously, I tell what I think – he adds the Umbrian artist – It’s true that there is a political, social system, so with respect to large demonstrations we tend to create a narrative that represents the political majority. But it is also true that Ghali was there”, he says.
And on the controversy relating to participation in Eurovision, with some artists who have declared that they do not want to participate if they win due to the presence of Israel, Michele observes: “It is a controversy that I reserve the right to evaluate. I have a very clear idea of what is happening in Palestine, on the one hand I understand the motivation of those who would not do it, but on the other I ask myself: is it right for a musical competition to exclude a representative, therefore making a moral and political judgment on him? I reserve the right to change my mind, but for now I would be against an exclusion.”
From the friendship with Fiorella Mannoia (“last year they didn’t choose me for Sanremo, I was disappointed because it was a song dedicated to my grandparents, and I ran away from her in Brazil”, he says), the idea of the duet with her was born on the cover evening, in a tribute to Ornella Vanoni with ‘Tomorrow is another day’. “I wanted to be with someone ‘close’ to me, who I respect, I don’t care if it’s not too original, it will be a good time,” he says.
Sanremo a rebirth? “I am against these definitions, life is in flux, everything is not so schematic,” says Michele Bravi. Which is already projected towards the future: “A film after Sanremo that I care a lot about and a record. I haven’t delivered it yet, but I promised that it could arrive before the summer”.
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date: 2026-02-08 11:53:00