“In the discography Italian and not only are not all terrible, but there is still a fundamental ignorance. Many artists are taken and thrown away extremely quickly, while singers all say they are friends, but this is not the case.” Michele Bravi, in this interview with Il Messaggero, removes a few pebbles from his shoe. The singer and musician, as well as actor in the film “Finamente l’Alba” by Saverio Costanzo and twice a judge on Amici, has just released his fourth album. The evocative title “What do you see when you close your eyes”, hides an unprecedented and sensitive journey into feelings, between sophisticated and grotesque. Tomorrow evening she will present her work atAuditorium Parco della Musica, in Rome, after the first date at the theater in Milan. For Bravi “love is always a political act” and Italy’s failure to sign the EU declaration on LGBTQI+ rights is “a humiliation for everyone”. Sanremo 2025? «If Carlo Conti calls and I have the right song, I say yes».
You return three years after your last album, with a record that you ironically defined as “a bit like a poet, a bit like a porn star”. You go from Italian humor to French moodiness, from popular to sophisticated. With an emphasis on eroticism and also in dialogue with Carla Bruni and Guè Pequeno. Is the new Michele more mature and sensual?
«I like to talk about sensuality in my lyrics, but when I write I don’t have the presumption of being mature. Indeed, I would say that I am instinctive, without the prejudice of excluding anything. I like to tell eroticism in a grotesque, ironic and sophisticated way. Writing for me is an epidermal thing.”
A song on the album is called “Dirty poetry”. An oxymoron that represents you?
«Poetry sublimates things, but always starts from real life, bringing it back to another language. Next to that sentence about the poem there is also “fucking in a parking lot”. I can’t take away the possibility of telling everything and even the so-called “rotten” is actually the sublimated expression of concrete things. Life is made up of everyday life, what I try to do when I write is crystallize it in songs, with my language.”
A central theme of the album is love, seen against the light: a little nostalgic and poetic, a little toxic. It doesn’t concern you, but don’t you think that the concept is a bit too inflated and trivialized in Italian music?
«Inflated I would say no: everything you write starts and in the end is a movement of love. Even when I talk about something else, the flow of words can always be traced back to the push of love. It definitely can be trivialized sometimes, and I do that too. I’d say it’s like when a child makes drawings and gives them to his mother: some seem prettier and others uglier. There is always the risk of trivializing, but I believe the intention is positive. And since I work like this, it comes naturally to me to think that others do it too. Then of course, each artist’s vocabulary is different and the emotion of the listener is subjective. A question of distinct sensitivities.”
The philosopher Hannah Arendt said that politics is action, that is, revealing yourself and showing yourself in public for who you are and for your ideas. Is love, if lived fully, a political act?
«Love is totally a political act. However, I would say that any daily act is ultimately political. Doing politics is managing your life in public. Then of course, the political resonance of an artistic movement is a little more evident, because it moves more people and has a larger listening audience, but the concept applies to every action in the common space. Thinking that the things that happen around us are distant from us is the biggest mistake we can make. I myself thought that a series of rights were the struggle of others, but this is not the case.”
Were you disappointed that Italy did not sign the European Union’s declaration on LGBTQI+ rights?
«More than having displeased me, I would say that it is a political defeat, a humiliation for everyone. Those who belong to the community have not obtained what would be right: not recognizing a right is a mistake for each and every one, because it does not help the entire society to grow in awareness and union. In our street demonstrations there is a poetic act, but also and above all a concrete request for recognition by the State of what we deserve as human beings equal to others before the law.”
Some time ago in an interview Arisa said that it is the LGBTQi+ community that must approach those who think differently, like the current government, and not the other way around, proving that they are more “normal and wow than they seem”. Many were outraged
«The community, and I also include Arisa in it, is a prism of movements with different ideas, it is not an army that completely agrees on everything. But our strong point is to demand that they all be heard and guaranteed. When we talk about the LGBTQI+ community we think we are asking for the freedom to love, but I repeat: here we are talking about being fully recognized by the State, with a series of rights and institutions. The Italian State must look at us as it looks at everyone else and guarantee us the same possibility of life, from marriage to adoptions, as a more “traditional” and “socially accepted” reality.”
You’re having a lot of experiences on the side of music. You starred in the film “Finamente l’Alba” and were twice a judge on Amici. More and more artists are emerging from social media, while talent show formats now seem “old”. X Factor is in crisis, The Voice has turned to entertainment. The only one that holds up is Amici, who knows for how long. Are talents destined to disappear in the future?
«There was certainly a phase in which talent seemed the only way, while today there are many others. But for those who make pop there is a difficulty in emerging and the explanation is given by the record market: compared to 10 years ago, indie, rap and trap are stronger. There is a lot on offer and there are few spaces. Pop needs to meet a large audience and to do this the talent showcase is the most welcoming, with the largest auditorium. I believe that such a context should be maintained. Simply put, if there hadn’t been talent, I wouldn’t have had the means and knowledge to emerge. That reality allowed me to study, to understand myself, to train in front of the public. Of course, those who feel right must go to talent shows and not everyone has the character to do so.”
When you join a talent show, however, you are tied to one of the three big Italian record companies and if you don’t make a splash in a few months you risk abandonment. After winning the X Factor, at just 19 years old, they told you that “you were finished”
«Discography is connected to talent, but many times the finger is pointed at the program, thinking that they are the exploiters. Instead, it is the Italian record market and beyond that has negative aspects.”
Have you made peace with these negative aspects?
«Let’s say that I’m not proactive about discography, it’s a great theme that remains within me even in the present. And with this I don’t want to say that everyone in the discography is terrible, but there is still a great limit and a fundamental ignorance.”
Do you want to remove some pebbles from your shoe?
«The speed with which an artist is taken to sell and then thrown away does not respect the human and professional part of a musical performer. This is a constant that I still struggle with every day. Speed clashes with quality. When young people ask me for advice I reply: regardless of the record company, surround yourself with a team you can trust. Because the artist is not a 100% employee: he must not work for the record company, but with the record company.”
Going back to talent, were you sorry about Morgan’s exclusion from The X Factor? After he mentored you, do you still talk?
«I often talk to Marco, even if now a little less than in the past. He is a true artist, a musical head, with beautiful writing. We’ve been talking about doing things together for many years, then we always postpone it due to commitments.”
Yet, interviewed by Nunzia De Girolamo on “Ciao Maschio”, he said he had no friends in the musical world
«I know him mainly as a singer, not as a person in depth. Simply put, there is an age difference between us and talking about certain everyday topics would perhaps seem difficult to me. But he is a beautiful person, he made me understand and see things differently. In any case, I think he hit the nail on the head: that type of record market I was talking about created a lot of competition between artists. Publicly there is a force to say that we are all friends and I find it wrong, partly a bit false. I have positive relationships with many artists, but you can count my friends on your fingers. Friendship is a daily presence, it should not be confused with respect, esteem or professional sympathy.”
Let’s go back to light: Carlo Conti brought you success with Sanremo 2017. Do you want to repeat it in 2025?
«I would say that it is early to talk about Sanremo, but I feel very comfortable with Carlo. If Carlo was pleased and called me, of course: I owe everything to him and with the right song I would be happy. Sanremo is always Sanremo: you play with a space orchestra and all of Italy watches you. If I had a good song in September I would certainly propose it.”
Meanwhile you are on tour at the theater with your concerts. Tomorrow evening at the Rome Auditorium. Are you excited?
«Every concert is exciting. However, this is the first time I play at the Auditorium, with a show designed just for music. In my previous shows there was a prose part, now I want to make only voice and notes speak. The language of theater is my favorite and the audiotorium is one of the places I have always wanted to play. I wanted to have a certain type of musicians and a particular sound atmosphere by my side. The first date in Milan has already had an important emotional impact on me and now I can’t wait to play in Rome.”
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Read the full article at
The messenger
