“The truth is that television hurts me,” explains Fabrizio Moro. He knows he often comes across as nervous and frowning. “It’s just that I’m always a bit embarrassed in front of the camera. But I’m very different from the picture there, and only those who come to my concerts know that. There have been a lot of these in the last few months. His new EP “La mia Voce vol. 2”. “I wrote it in 2020, during the pandemic. I had time to think.
According to the songs, he seems to have had a strong focus on love.
“During that time I experienced a crazy loneliness: I didn’t have a partner, I was locked in the house and I was thinking.”
He wrote about unhealthy, toxic relationships.
“A problem I’ve gotten myself into on a number of occasions due to the constant search for some adrenaline. In our minds we think we are striving for peace and serenity, but then I realized in the end that I was always looking for strong feelings in relationships, the kind that relationships give you when they start: It’s like they are Create substances that make you feel alive and addictive at the same time».
And how are these mechanisms broken?
“Nothing, you’re waiting for it to get old and break. Now I’ve got the rollercoaster antenna: if I can’t read a person well, which used to fascinate me, now I avoid them. And I’m really starting to dream of the tranquility of a walk by the sea, maybe with your dog. I’ll get there.”
How did you realize that some of your relationships weren’t healthy?
“Because they made me do absurd things, I lost control of my emotions. Dynamics are triggered that bring out the worst in everyone: I looked in the mirror and said to myself, “Could it be that I’m that ugly?”. To see this, a minimum of self-analysis is enough. Generally, by the end of these stories, one feels worse: failure follows. You’re not happy having created anything anyway. In fact, I felt exhausted from suffering and having to make others suffer. Instead, the goal should always be to improve and work on the gaps in our soul.”
Very introspective.
“I am. And I like being able to share my experiences through music, but also through films. I think they can leave something to others, even just in terms of experience. First of all, about my children: I like being able to knowing that the things I’ve written are available to them even when I’m gone. I confess that I’m a bit obsessed with death: I’m not afraid of it, it fascinates me. But I often stop And imagine what it will be like when I’m not there.
However, this consideration does nothing to invalidate its seedy image.
“And yet I am not tormented. My adolescence was the best time of my life: I grew up in a very close-knit group of people made up of relatives and friends. Despite the difficulties, despite the fact that we all came from a difficult neighborhood, from a disadvantaged situation, we had fun every day and we are all very close to this day.”
where did he grow up
“On the edge of a suburb: north of Setteville, suburbs of San Basilio. I moved there when I was 14 – there was nothing. There were no paved roads, there was no bar… there were only 50 villas of which only the first floor was finished and everything above had to be done. In this context, we children got to know each other and grew up next to a low wall in the neighborhood. We spent Christmas together, the holidays together… this little commune was born. And in my memories of that time, there is always the sun.”
In the episode there is also a song dedicated to these people, titled “The Sun”.
“I remember the best moments we had together over the summer. I have lost many friends. Some died from the drug because it was still circulating in an important way at the time. Others died in traffic accidents. Among them my best friend: died on a motorcycle at the age of 23. When you meet your first violent death, you stop being a teenager and suddenly become an adult. You’re going to be a man in a minute because you realize that even if you were eating the world as a teenager, things can happen and it’s not all up to you.
What was he doing when he hit the wall?
“I was the only one who played the guitar. I was 15 and started playing the first songs by Ligabue, one of my favorite songwriters. Every evening I went there and played. The other Cuccavano, never me: I stuck to the guitar.
Who made you play it?
“I chose it and learned to play it myself. The first time I visited was my eighth grade classmate Giorgio’s house. He was obsessed with Iron Maiden… it’s impressive to think of the different tastes of today’s kids… Anyway, I was a lost metalhead: he played drums and we thought if I learned to play guitar, we would form a band My cousin Ciccio gave me the instrument he kept in the attic: it had four strings. I started trying. Then some older boys taught me to play Battisti, Vasco…
And with this instrument, love was born.
“I took it everywhere, even on vacation. There were no phones, so for us friends on Saturday night we had guitar, beer and laughter: we changed the lyrics of famous songs to poke fun at each other. I remember my version of “Bar Mario” that made everyone laugh… I was lucky: I loved a lot of people who loved me.”
And with his family?
“We agree, but I can’t say we have the same bond. We love each other, of course. But we’re not that sensitively close. My father is a farmer: a Calabrian who moved to Rome as a child and has been working in the fields since he was 12… he is not a dreamer, he has always kept his feet on the ground.”
And when did you tell him you wanted to be a singer?
“He told me: You’re crazy. In our life there were no such dreams. Basically, the relationship between us has remained the same. My father hasn’t heard this record yet… he might buy it himself, but without telling me. It is certainly not the father who gives me advice.”
Do you suffer?
“It’s a balance we’ve found. Even when I went to Sanremo he didn’t say anything to me and if he did I would probably be embarrassed: he’s a man anchored to the ground, my dimension is a dimension that doesn’t belong to him. It’s a very strange ratio to decipher, but that’s how it is. Even when I give particularly big concerts, maybe in Rome, I don’t see my father, he doesn’t come to see me in the cloakroom. We both prefer it that way, seeing it breaks me. After all, he is the one who raised me this way ».
What kind of father are you with your children?
“I’m doing the complete opposite of what my father did to me. Precisely because I have lived this relationship, I am open to my children, I talk about everything and always try to understand their interior without penetrating them.”
Do you miss the days spent with your friends at the Wall?
“But when I can I still do it: I have remained particularly attached to four, five friends and if I stay in Rome for some time I return there, I take the guitar and we start playing, like at that time.”
But could she ever compose a summer hit?
“Uh, it depends. I’m not ruling it out. My fans also know my ironic side, but it’s true, when I write ironic songs, I end up afraid to put them on the album. There have been some tracks I’ve written, even strong ones, that would have taken the focus away from the image of the busy singer, but I’ve always been afraid to defend them. I have to get there, but I feel like there’s a shift.”
Is there a moment when you realized everything the way you did, starting with that low wall and the four-string guitar?
“The first time I played at the Curva at the Olimpico in 2018: it was a very strong emotion. There I had attended some of the best concerts of my life: Vasco, Ligabue, Springsteen, U2. Being there was a feeling that entered my soul.”
Do you know one of your myths?
“I opened Vasco’s concerts but never met him because he entered right after me: we wrote to each other on Instagram. My wish is to hug him. I directed a video of Ligabue: he’s a very serious person and when I first met him I felt almost awkward, he’s not the type to laugh and joke immediately and neither am I. I felt a strong responsibility. One game helped us: Italy played, we saw it together and we went our separate ways.”
He’s also a director. Would you ever become an actor?
“They offered me the role several times: I received proposals from three very important directors, which I turned down because I didn’t feel like it. But never say never. One of them, a really big name, called me to be in a remake of one of my favorite movies. I didn’t accept the thought that one day I would regret it because then I know I would enjoy it. But I also believe that you shouldn’t overdo it by doing too many things, otherwise you risk becoming a clown.”
Did they ever tell you that you would never make it?
“Most of the people I’ve met in the music industry are record players, so I started my own independent label. I’ve always been inspired by people who have done something important in life: they often had difficult stories. But they all have one thing in common: they have gone ahead and resisted, even those who did not believe in them.”