#my plan is to tune into Sanremo and catch up with whatever happened in the other shows while I wait for it to finish

[eurovision-del]

The final night of Sanremo is happening tonight, and with it we’ll find out who will get first refusal to represent Italy at Eurovision! It’s always a bit of a rush ranking Sanremo songs with how quickly the week goes by, but here’s my feelings based on first impressions:

Rosa Chemical – Made in Italy

Sethu – Cause perse 

Madame – Il bene nel male 

Lazza – Cenere

Elodie — Due

Articolo 31 – Un bel viaggio 

Olly — Polvere

Gianluca Grignani — Quando ti manca il fiato

Ultimo — Alba

Colapesce DiMartino – Splash

Giorgia – Parole dette male 

Will – Stupido 

Colla Zio — Non mi va

Mara Sattei — Duemilaminuti

Marco Mengoni — Due vite

Modà – Lasciami 

Leo Gassmann — Terzo cuore

LDA – Se poi domani 

Shari – Egoista 

Cugini di Campagna — Lettera 22

Paola e Chiara – Furore 

Tananai – Tango

Ariete — Mare di guai

Coma_Cose — L’addio

Anna Oxa — Sali

Gianmaria — Mostro

Levante – Vivo 

Mr. Rain — Supereroi

I didn’t have time to follow the shows live, instead just watching the performances from night one and two the morning after the show. I enjoyed night one well enough, but found the night two songs much stronger, broadly speaking! All my top four came from there!

My absolute favourite entry this year is Made in Italy. I was hooked on this song just from the guy in the orchestra doing the announcer bit at the start, and it only got better from there! I love the unique sound it's got, the electro swing beat is very catchy and works unexpectedly well with the rap! It's got a chaotic energy to it, there's a lot going on, yet it never feels messy. Though I have to admit I nearly lost it when he started scatting! The song moves at such a pace and I enjoy every second of it, so it ends up feeling much shorter to me than it is! I could honestly listen to this on repeat. And I absolutely love his aesthetic, his outfit was so good.  

There’s not as much separating the rest of my top five. I really enjoyed Cause perse, it’s got that pop punk sound to it, very energetic, it gets me hyped up! I only wish it were longer! Next, I loved Madame’s song Voce in 2021, and still listen to it regularly, but I might honestly prefer Il bene nel male. The sound is exciting and a little tense, it draws me into it. I think the production is great, and Madame’s voice is fantastic, she really knows how to perform. Speaking of good production, Cenere is one of the best produced songs here. I especially love that isolated bass right before the chorus, and it helps that I also really like the sound of Lazza’s voice. My final stand out from this selection is Elodie with Due, I don’t think it’s as strong a song as her previous entry, Andromeda, but I still enjoyed it a lot, and Elodie is a fantastic artist.

I would love to see any of these five songs at Eurovision, but, as usual, Italy is pretty spoiled for choice! There’s plenty of other great songs further down my list which could serve them very well at the contest. I reckon they’ve definitely got the quality here to maintain their top 10 streak, and I'm excited to see what they send!