Winner Olly (l.) and Lucio Corsi (centre) with guitarist Francis Delacroix Photo: IMAGO/Avalon.red
From the editorial team
The music spectacle of the year ended on Saturday with a sensational audience rating of 73.1 per cent. The winner of Europe's oldest music competition traditionally represents Italy at the ESC. But this year's winner needs time to think.
Sanremo - Right from the start: For five days from Tuesday to Saturday, more than half of all Italians tuned in to public broadcaster RAI to watch the best of the best on the Italian music scene. From old stars like Giorgia (52), who won Sanremo back in 1995, Italo superstar Fedez (35) with 14 million followers on Instagram, to newcomers that the majority have never heard of. The "Festival di Sanremo" is a great opportunity for all artists and can be the springboard for a global career. Eros Ramazzotti also started out here.
Olly asks for time to think about the ESC
The discovery of the year was Lucio Corsi (31), who was reminiscent of the glam rock of the young David Bowie, both visually and vocally. With his song "Volevo essere un duro" - "I wanted to be a tough guy" - he won the hearts of fans on social media from day one. In the end, someone else won with a 0.4 per cent lead: singer Olly (23), who competed with the ballad "Balorda nostalgia". You could already tell how tense he was on the night of the final: The pressure is enormous, even on the experienced artists, when the whole country is watching. At the final press conference, Olly asked for a week to think about whether he wanted to go to the ESC at all.
"Everything that's happening to me is totally crazy. When I said in the last few weeks that I didn't expect to win the festival, I was being honest," he said at a press conference on Sunday, visibly shaken up: "It's a great honour to take part in the ESC, but I have to process it first. I need time to make a decision."
The debate in Italy is ongoing
Since then, the debate in Italy has been in full swing. On social media, some people are trying to persuade Olly to take part, while others are discussing whether someone else should go anyway. People are also discussing whether the cooling-off period has anything to do with Olly's sold-out club tour, which is taking place in Basel at the same time as the ESC. And why the grande dame of the Italian music scene Giorgia was able to finish in sixth place at all.
65 million euros in advertising revenue
The organisers of the Italian ESC preliminary round have already announced that they will respect Olly's decision. If he cancels, it is still unclear which artist will take his place. No matter what the singer decides: With his cooling-off period, he has already made Sanremo history. In any case, the music competition was a financial hit for the television broadcaster RAI: the production costs for the five-day live spectacle totalled 20 million euros - the advertising revenue 65 million.
