by Andrea Laffranchi
The singer introduced his new album “Il mondo è nostra”, which will be released on Friday November 11th: “I had the courage to face depression, it’s an illness”
“The references to events that happened and people that existed are not accidental”. Tiziano Ferro hasn’t stopped singing about feelings, but on the new album “Il mondo è nostra” (out Friday 11th) this sense of the universal is linked more often than before to clearly identified personal experiences. «Perhaps because the media of an artist’s story have multiplied … Today, alongside the song, there are interviews, books, documentaries to expose us and when a record comes out, the public already has photos, references. And then I have less modesty than before. I used to feel ashamed, I didn’t feel entitled to feel bad. I said to myself “shut up and smile” ».
Here he even dedicates “Goodbye my love”, an electro-pop song from the 80s, to the depression …
“The courage to face her was given to me by Lady Gaga. Our record company had sent me to interview her and I had documented myself by listening to a podcast in which she delved deeply into her mental health. There comes a time when you understand that depression makes you see certain things through its filter, it’s not reality ».
Was dealing with depression a parallel path to saying goodbye to alcohol told in the 2020 documentary?
“No. The moment of diagnosis is the most difficult. I spent some time in analysis for another, my relationship with food, the suppression of my feelings… I understood chronic depression by going to California, where it was considered an illness becomes: It’s not madness, it’s low serotonin levels”.
Speaking of real people, «I stay you» is for his daughter Margherita and «Speaking from scratch» is for Andrés…
«Baglioni said that all songwriters write a song when they have a child… here I am in the club… I never understood before what my parents did for me and I keep repeating it to them. I’ve had children at an older age, with more clarity and more chances to get help, even if we don’t have a permanent nanny. I pushed the tour back to 2023 just to be with them for the first year.”
The family trilogy ends with “Father’s First Day”…
“There won’t be a sequel (laughs): my body has given enough… In the words of the song is the message of well wishes that my father wrote me for the party: a powerful gesture that opened my mind when I still feeling shame and inadequacy, I was atrophied by the idea that this thing could not be for me ».
In the text he says that paternity is denied “to those who are like me”. How are we right? Living in Los Angeles but afraid of a setback in Italy?
“We are behind on all sides. No government has ever done anything important… You can hear that phrase on us… I know a lot of guys saving a life to go to Spain, couples waiting years to be adopted, singles not admitted will. It is obvious that I disagree with certain positions of the majority, but I hope that whoever is the head of the country is doing the good of the country. There’s no time to hurt. Giving someone more rights does not take away from others ».
Which father are you and Victor? Who is the most generous?
“We come from families full of love, but also discipline and respect for adults, things that are out of fashion in American pedagogy these days. You look for idiotic ways to say no to children without words, there are no points in sports competitions … but life tells you no, it tells you that you have not won ».
Is “Liar’s Paradise” an outlet for hate?
“I have often been hurt and have often not felt reassured in the face of certain negative feelings. There are words that come to mind when you’re a boy and at 40 you’re still hurting… With the song I turn suffering into something positive ».
In the text he aims at a colleague who writes songs with five other authors. A response to Fedez for the homophobic rhyme years ago “Try again, you’ll be luckyer”.
On the disc there are feats with Sting, Thasup, Roberto Vecchioni, Caparezza and Ambra Angiolini…
“Collaborations vary a lot, but I love the bottom-up spikes like a crazy electrocardiogram.”
The tour starts on June 7th. Will 2020 be different than he imagined?
“Not very much. The form can change, but the concept that guides me is the cast, the songs. I understood that by looking at people like Rod Stewart, Boy George, Duran Duran, Cindy Lauper » .
November 8, 2022 (Change November 8, 2022 | 07:07)
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