A magnificent Lorenzo Cherubini performed on Thursday 21 June at the Hallenstadion in Zurich,
See the photos
Thanks to the photographers: Vittorio Mooh and Gerardo Russo
Jovanotti Interview with Tuttoitalia
In the studios of Swiss Radio and Television, in Lugano, where the showcase dedicated to him was held, the mood is that of the great events and, among the insiders, there is strong anticipation for the press conference that we at Tuttoitalia.ch are also attending. We know Lorenzo Cherubini and, above all, we recognise him in all those songs that accompanied us as we grew up and that let us associate him with certain moments of private life in which his repertoire played in the background: he is the memory of the end of the 80s, of Gimme Five, of the discos and of military service; he is the awakening of the 90s with the discovery of the multiculturalism of Ombelico del Mondo; he is the ballad of A te whispered to his daughter; he is the poet with shoes full of steps, but above all, with his attitude far from that of an unreachable star, he is simply the young man who considers himself lucky yet has talent to spare. Jovanotti is marking 30 years of career and 51 years of life, but it is not only the clothing or the hat that deny him the look of a seasoned singer. It is his sociable manner, his frankness in expressing himself and the desire to reinvent himself continually that conceal the actual age of an artist whom we continue to regard, with a now old-fashioned but literal word, as a giovanotto, a young lad.
The new album Oh Vita! is in fact an experiment with sounds atypical for the artist, confirming the need to touch new chords. And it is precisely on this theme that the press conference begins.
Lorenzo, can we define your album as essential, that is, a collection to which, instead of adding, you took something away from yourself? It is a statement I have repeated for so long that I am starting to doubt it… Avoiding definitions, I would say it is a Jovanotti record produced by Rick Rubin, and it could not have been otherwise. I followed an inclination that allowed me to vary the type of songs on the album with many nuances, and I can call it spacious, sparsely filled with sounds. It is a return to using essential instruments too, as I did with “Una tribù che balla”, which, thanks to the collaboration with Rubin, I have rediscovered and brought out. In my productions there was rap but also pop music, reflecting the sound I was in love with at that moment. Lately I no longer liked it and I decided to change, to work on an album that might disappoint the fans but, on the contrary, thrill the people who never followed me. Oh Vita! develops a sense of urgency in celebrating reality in a nihilistic atmosphere, feeding the purpose and the power of the music I feel within me. It is a sincere reaction to a duty I felt I had to share.
In this case, what do you receive at the moment you release a new album? Certainly the adrenaline. There are two moments, far apart but complementary, that are essential: when I write a song and I realise how well the music or the chorus can work, and when I understand, at a concert, that the track truly reaches people's hearts. It might be a stadium stand dancing, but also the sense that the song can be listened to by a couple in their intimacy. The result and the feeling of having hit the mark are, for me, moving.
What were you like 30 years ago, and what would you say to young people who want to take up this career? It was another planet, without the internet, without chats or social media. To bring back a typically Italian phrase, everything changed so that nothing would change. What matters, that is, talent, is universal and irreplaceable, both 30 years ago and now. Music today is more democratic: if you are good, there is no need for a record label with a contract to sign, sometimes YouTube is enough, but there has to be a passion, a motivation so strong that you could not live without it.
Speaking of motivation, you went to New Zealand, by bike, in extreme weather conditions: did you find inspiration there? Actually, no. I needed to get away from myself, from fame, to give myself a solitary journey that would open my mind without the obligation of creating music. I needed to refresh my soul, to step out of the public figure and leave. It was a tough physical test, but never as much as facing the tour, which is truly demanding because you are not on your own but in a mechanism in which the protagonist is irreplaceable. At the end of every concert I am so tired that each time I doubt I can get through another show, but the enthusiasm of being in front of the audience is reborn every time. On this tour I want to give those who buy a ticket the chance to be part of the concert, to feel on stage with me, to be inside the show and to enjoy it as a spectator. What is amazing is not only the band or the singer but the audience itself. It must be a full immersion, not a virtual one, which I hope I can give by using technology as little as possible.
A tour, then, in which you do not spare yourself. Do you feel particularly free on this record, or is there a part of you that you have not yet expressed? In truth, I did not feel freer than in the past. An album is never a walk in the park, but this time I felt blessed because I was in a studio with a legend like Rick Rubin. The same feeling I had with Claudio Cecchetto at the beginning. These producers offered me everything I loved and wanted. Now… I do not know whether there is an unexpressed part in me. For example, at twenty, when I was doing rap, I would never have believed I could write romantic songs, yet then it happened. I would like to express myself with narrative texts, to tell stories, I do not rule it out.
As for social media, what is your relationship with haters? Honestly, I have to say that I have a very low percentage of haters; I am more worried about instrumentalisation for political purposes, for example. It has become difficult to really get your message across without someone using it to their own advantage or distorting its meaning. It is the nature of the web, hard to control.
And what about your approach to music criticism? Music criticism, seen as the judgement of social media users, has not been very valid in recent years because it has turned into a critique that is more emotional than competent. It can be used as a collection of data to assess the success or otherwise of a song, but, for me, criticism is what helps an artist to engage and understand, for better or worse, what they have produced on the basis of the previous career and with a view to a future one. It has always been very useful in my work. As far as I am concerned, there is no conflictual relationship, and this is confirmed by the fact that in Garzanti's Enciclopedia del rock I appear as the Italian singer with the greatest number of albums rated five stars! Today there is only a chronicle of an artist's releases and professionalism is lacking, because competent reviews are interesting and certainly fundamental for the record industry. This last observation reminds us precisely of the disappearance of critics like that “Bertoncelli che sparava cazzate” quoted by his friend Guccini in the famous Avvelenata of the seventies. Lorenzo ends the press conference, in which he was generous with answers from which we learn what his true success is: Jovanotti does not write for himself, to manage, as happens with other artists, to extol his own life through lyrics and notes. It is his honest and urgent need to share a view, understandably subjective, that deserves to be taken into consideration because it is aimed at celebrating the greatest gift we have been given: Oh Vita!
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
