This Is Italy
A powerful alternative rock song by the Måneskin (Danish for moonshine) formation is Italy's entry for the 2021 Eurovision Song Contest.
This Roman rock group was founded in 2015 by high school friends Damiano David, Victoria De Angelis, Thomas Raggi and Ethan Torchio.
Two years later, they came in second on the hit TV show X-Factor. That became their breakthrough. In 2018 the band switched from English to Italian.
And in 2021 they won the national song festival Sanremo. The winner of this is automatically delegated to the Eurovision Song Contest.
The band brings the song Shut up and good by ear, which means something like 'shut up and behave yourself'. In his own words inspired by a teacher who used to say this to his students.
Lead singer Damiano David sings about 'people who unfortunately talk and don't know what the hell they are talking about'. The chorus:
I'm crazy, but not like her
And you're crazy, but not like them
We are crazy, but not like them
We are crazy, but not like them
No
This makes the song primarily an indictment of prejudice. Precisely because you are different, you are unique. Full text and translation of Shut up and good you can find here.
For Eurovision concepts, Shut up and good a pretty solid number. Still, after rehearsals, Italy rose to the top 3 among the biggest contenders to win the festival.
Because Italy is one of the biggest financiers of the song festival, the band qualifies directly for the final.
Jeangu Macrooys Birth of a new age (the Dutch entry) remains in the lower regions. Hooverphonic with Geike Arnaert, the Belgian entry, is doing a little better in the polls.
Update: Måneskin takes the win
What do you think of the Italian entry for the 2021 ESF?
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