Soldi

Soldi
Mahmood
publication	February 6, 2019
length	3:15
Genre (s)	Pop , R&B
Author (s)	A. Mahmoud, Dardust , Charlie Charles
Publisher (s)	Ed. Universal Music Italia / Universal Music Publishing Ricordi
Label	Island Records
album	Gioventù bruciata

Soldi ( Italian for "money") is a 2019 song by Mahmood. It was written by the singer with Dardust and Charlie Charles and won the 2019 Sanremo Festival .

background

The singer Mahmood appeared as one of two graduates of the preliminary decision Area Sanremo 2015 for the first time in the newcomer category of the Sanremo Festival 2016 and had achieved fourth place with Dimentica . After further musical experience, in 2018 (alongside Einar ) he was able to win the Sanremo Giovani competition , which replaced the newcomer category of the 2019 festival , with the song Gioventù bruciata and was thus able to compete with a new song at the Sanremo Festival.

Emergence

On January 6, 2019, Mahmood announced via Instagram that his festival entry would be titled Soldi . According to his own statement, he only started working on the song after winning at Sanremo Giovani . Charlie Charles joined them afterwards, the recording took place at the last moment. The official music video was created under the direction of Attilio Cusani .

Sanremo participation

On the first evening of the festival, February 5th, he presented the song to the public, although he was only able to perform as the last of the 24 participants. In the evaluation of the polling jury, which was presented at the end of the first evening, the song landed in the lower third. Soldi , however, became a favorite of journalists, who influenced the rating by 30 percent on all evenings. On the fourth evening Mahmood presented the song together with the rapper Guè Pequeno . Thanks to the great support of the press and jury, who together determined 50 percent of the rating, the song was finally able to reach the finals and, contrary to all predictions, push the audience favorite ( I tuoi particolari from Ultimo ) to second place.

The big disparity between the audience rating and that of the press and jury (in televoting , Soldi had only achieved 20.95% in the final vote of the top three, compared to 30.26% for Il Volo and a clear 48.80% for Ultimo) took care of the following for a lot of criticism of the voting mechanism. Ultimo accused the journalists during the press conference of being biased and voting frivolously. The fact that Mahmood, a candidate of Arab origin, had won the controversy also made it politically explosive, fueled not least by a Facebook post by Italy's Interior Minister Matteo Salvini ( Lega ), who declared his support for Ultimo after Mahmood's victory.

Eurovision Song Contest

As in previous years, the Sanremo winner was given the opportunity to represent Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest . After the festival ended, Mahmood's participation in the ESC 2019 in Tel Aviv with Soldi was confirmed. There the song reached second place in the final.

content

The song addresses the dynamics that money, and especially the lack of it, can have within a family. Mahmood sings about his Egyptian father who has left the family and apparently only shows interest in his son if he can get money from him (tu da me volevi solo soldi) . However, many lines of text are to be understood symbolically and the title money is not meant literally according to the singer. It is also a game with a core theme of the trap : while there money is the center of existence and a symbol of social liberation, in Soldi it is reinterpreted as the cause of the break in an interpersonal relationship. The Arabic line of text Waladi waladi habibi ta'aleena ("My son, my son; come here, darling") is one of the few memories the singer has of his father. The rest of the text also evokes images from memory, to finally answer the question Ora dove sei papà? ("Where are you now, Papa?") In the room.

music

Soldi uses forms of the trap musically and has a very modern sound overall. Mahmood himself referred to the Arabic style as Morocco Pop . The song has no actual refrain, instead it builds on several repetitive elements (above the text soldi , "money", or come va , "how are you?"), Each concluded by a concise double clap of hands . The latter, in conjunction with the emptiness that the very reserved arrangement creates, traces the core of the song's content: the anger of a child left alone.

Other versions

The album Gioventù bruciata also includes the duet version with Guè Pequeno presented in Sanremo as a bonus track . The version of the song presented at ESC was shortened by almost ten seconds, but is otherwise unchanged; it found its way into the official sampler for the song contest. Furthermore, were remixes by Benny Benassi , Denis First and Vigiland , an Italian-English version with Isac Elliot and an Italian-Spanish version with Maikel Dela Calle published.

Commercial win

In the week of the festival, the song entered the Italian singles chart at number 81, after which it climbed to number one.

Charts	Top ranking	Weeks
Chart placements
Italy (FIMI)	1 (... Where.)	...
Germany (GfK)	32 (3 weeks)	3
Austria (Ö3)	12 (4 weeks)	4th
Switzerland (IFPI)	5 (33 weeks)	33
United Kingdom (OCC)	73 (1 week)	1

In the first week, the song was awarded a gold record .

Country / Region	Award	Sales
Awards for music sales (country / region, Award, Sales)
Italy (FIMI)	3 × platinum	150,000
Spain (Promusicae)	platinum	40,000
All in all	4 × platinum	190,000

Web links

• Official lyrics at Sorrisi.com
• Official music video on YouTube
• Irving Wolther: Sanremo winner Mahmood starts for Italy . February 10, 2019, Eurovision.de

supporting documents

1. ↑ Alberto Muraro: Mahmood: Soldi è il suo brano in gara a Sanremo 2019. In: GingerGeneration.it. January 6, 2019, accessed February 11, 2019 (Italian). 
2. ↑ ^{a b} Sanremo 2019: il vincitore è Mahmood con Soldi. In: Sorrisi.com . February 10, 2019, accessed February 11, 2019 (Italian). 
3. ^ Mario Luzzatto Fegiz: Sanremo e le polemiche: ecco perché il mix di televoto e giurie scontenta tutti. In: Corriere.it . November 2, 2019, accessed February 11, 2019 (Italian). 
4. ↑ Sanremo 2019, lo sfogo di Ultimo con i cronisti: Vi sentite importanti e rompete il c… In: Repubblica TV . February 10, 2019, accessed February 11, 2019 (Italian). 
5. ↑ Michela Tamburrino: Salvini: “Non ce l'ho con Mahmood, contesto l'inutile giuria d'onore”. In: LaStampa.it . February 11, 2019, accessed February 11, 2019 (Italian). 
6. ↑ ^{a b} Roberta Damiata: Cosa significa la frase in arabo nel testo di Mahmood. In: IlGiornale.it . February 10, 2019, accessed February 11, 2019 (Italian). 
7. ↑ Angelica D'Errico: Mahmood: “Quel padre scomparso e la Sardegna, fonte della mia ispirazione”. In: L'UnioneSarda.it. February 7, 2019, accessed February 11, 2019 (Italian). 
8. ↑ ^{a b c} Andrea Rodini: Mahmood e “Soldi”: l'analisi della canzone. In: Rockol.it. February 11, 2019, accessed February 11, 2019 (Italian). 
9. ^ Mary Adorno: Mahmood, Soldi è la canzone di Sanremo 2019 che parla di ricordi e ti fa sentire dentro un film. In: Cosmopolitan . February 7, 2019, accessed February 11, 2019 (Italian). 
10. ^ Carlo Moretti: Mahmood: “Faccio Morocco pop nel segno di mio padre”. In: Repubblica.it. February 5, 2019, accessed February 12, 2019 (Italian). 
11. ↑ Alessandro Alicandri: Sanremo 2019: ecco perché Mahmood ha vinto. In: Sorrisi.com. February 10, 2019, accessed February 11, 2019 (Italian). 
12. ↑ Top Singoli, Classifica settimanale WK 7. FIMI, accessed on February 19, 2019 (Italian). 
13. ↑ Soldi. Official German charts, accessed May 24, 2019 . 
14. ↑ Soldi. Austriancharts.at, accessed on May 29, 2019 . 
15. ↑ Mahmood - Soldi. Swiss hit parade, accessed on May 26, 2019 . 
16. ↑ Mahmood. Official Charts, accessed May 24, 2019 . 
17. ^ Certificazioni
18. ↑ Mahmood - Soldi, elportaldemusica.es

predecessor	Office	successor
Non mi avete fatto niente ( Ermal Meta , Fabrizio Moro )	Italy at the Eurovision Song Contest 2019