It was supposed to be the most anticipated song of early 2026 but it has become the last surprise of 2025. «Phantom», the much vaunted duet between Geolier and the myth hip hop 50 Centwas published last night, at one o’clock, in the wake of an act of spoilering launched the other evening on TikTok. How much the two songs coincide – the newspaper goes to press before the release of the official piece – is not known, but there is a strong suspicion that the song we listened to, spammed on all social networks and chats, is a partial and incomplete version, perhaps divergent in the beginning of Manu more than in the chorus, or ny of Curts James Jackson III. This is certainly an important step not only for the boy from the Gescal neighborhood, but for the entire Italian rap movement, and he will make a good impression in “Tutto è Possible”, Manu’s fourth album, out on January 16th and destined to monopolize the charts at the beginning of the year, also thanks to the posthumous and unreleased duet with Pino Daniele which gives the album its title.
Speaking of charts: while waiting for the official charts of the best-selling records in Italy in the first half of 2025, Olly («Tutta vita»), Geolier himself («Dio lo sa», although released in 2024), the Sfera Ebbasta-Shiva couple («Santana money gang»), Marracash («Peace is over») went crazy…
With so much self-sufficient hip hop It doesn’t hurt if the personal “chart” of the best albums of the year looks abroad – with genuine exceptions – and to less mainstream sounds. On this front, as in general, there are no epochal titles, even if someone points out the exploit of the Rosalia of «Lux», certainly courageous and varied, but perhaps not perfectly focused in the assault on the sky carried out by the Catalan diva, who sings in thirteen languages (including ours) and is accompanied by the London Symphony Orchestra mixing, like a Madonna (in the sense of Mrs. Ciccone) who has studied the sacred and the profane, spirituality and carnality, female mysticism and personal biography. Some people even approve of the Bad Bunny of «Debì tirar mas fotos», but, while recognizing the steps forward (and the refusal to perform in Trump’s USA) of the king of reggaeton, it will be better to go in this direction with the brakes on.
Rock lovers consoled themselves with i Geese di «Get killed», even if the comparison with the Strokes smells of a revival of the revival. However, Cameron Winter’s baritone voice won over even Nick Cave and in the face of such judgment, who are we to add doubts about the originality of the operation?
In the year that took away a nu soul star like D’Angelo, we can console ourselves with Blood Orange and his «Essex honey»: a Londoner in New York who doesn’t forget his roots and also looks to the delicacy of Durutti Column. Or with less originality and more catchiness, with «Baby» in Djon. To raise the pace a bit on the black front there is the return of Bootsy Collins with «Funkateer».
Not to be… whimsical, but to find something truly surprising you have to turn to «Los Thuthanaka» by the duo of the same name, who subverts Andean music by injecting it with electronics. Or maybe it’s the opposite? The Pulp of «More» confirm themselves, and these days it’s dripping grease. The same goes for Stereolab of «Instant holograms on metal film».
And the Italians? The dialect wins, and this time Geolier has nothing to do with it, even if he is definitely the most important standard bearer of the Neapolitan which has returned as the language of Italian song. Make room for La Niña, who with «Furèsta» softens the pain of Roberto De Simone’s passing and gives hope – even seen live – in terms of a new true popular song, capable of keeping its roots and wings together. But there is also room for the Sicilian Carmen Consoli of «Amuri luci». Returning to Dante’s idiom, we welcome Lucio Corsi’s exploit with «Volevo essere un duro», but above all the very delicate singing of Niccolò Fabi in «Freedom in the eyes».
Nothing epochal, however, we have seen much richer years, there is no denying it. Better, then, to look at the records to come, to the debut of «Phantom» and to the rest of the sounds that will be, remembering – even in the face of demises such as those of James Senese, Ornella Vanoni, Ozzy Osbourne, Steve Cropper, Lalo Schifrin, David Johansen, Roy Avers, David Thomas, Sly Stone, Brian Wilson, Connie Francis, Rick Davies, Jimmy Cliff… – the lesson of John Cage than to the undersigned who asked him what it took to find new music he dedicated a wish: «Happy new ears». Good new ears to you too, in a necessary process of sonic re-virgination. But also, the time has come to say it: happy new year.
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