Anna Castiglia wants to do what she wants and likes

Twelve stories of nostalgia, faith, light social criticism, love and swinging moods. A centrifuge of feelings and sounds. All with one awareness: “You can’t please everyone and you have to learn to accept yourself before seeking the approval of others”. In the album “Mi piace”, out on September 27, Anna Castiglia, a Sicilian singer-songwriter among the most interesting in Italian music, doesn’t give up anything from an emotional or musical point of view. She ranges from pop to r&b, from singer-songwriter to samba influences up to the song theater which, especially in her live shows, is increasingly present. Anna is a large palette of colors with a pair of glasses and two shining eyes full of desire to live and experiment, the reasons why in 2023 she landed, like an alien, on the stage of X Factor to present the piece “Ghali”.

Did you fall in love with music gradually or was it a bolt from the blue?
No, not a flash of inspiration. I was born into a certain world: my father was a comedian and a radio host, so he listened to music all day. I started to fall in love, specifically, with the figure of the musician when I saw my best friend taking lessons and studying classical guitar at nine years old. I said: I want to do that too. In the end I didn’t study much, but I continued to study for five years. I remember writing songs for my friends’ birthday parties, that was the beginning. The love affair with music was the only constant and lasting story in my life.

The album is very multifaceted, you go from one genre and one mood to another. Have you always been like this?
This versatility was a problem at the beginning. When I arrived in Turin, I would let the people in the industry listen to my songs and they would tell me: “there is no coherence”. But it is truly an all-Italian problem. In America, Childish Gambino goes from ultra pop songs to committed or instrumental ones, and no one thinks it is an obstacle. Here, on the other hand, you have to be “recognizable” and “labelable”. I have asked myself many times: should I continue on the more pop path or on that of song theatre? And I answered myself: you don’t have to choose. And so in “Mi piaci” I put all my favorite songs written over the years.

Are you really like this in everyday life or is it a mask?
Yes, I change my mood several times, even in the same day. And my music is the mirror of that. My moods, however, coexist peacefully and this is a positive factor (smiles, ed.).

Is the common thread between the songs your being a musician?
I don’t feel like a great guitarist, but I undoubtedly give great importance to the musical and instrumental aspect. This is an album that is all played. Even “AAA”, in which we played with electronics, is. From flutes to violins to drums, there is everything in the project. This approach has to do with the fact that I was born on a stage before being born in the recording industry.

Is this an album filled with more nostalgia or a desire to exorcise the past?
I always try to live in nostalgia and at the same time exorcise the present. Living ‘far’ from memories and the places where I grew up helps me write.

Let’s play a game: three moods for three different songs.
If you want to feel a Latin warmth you can listen to “Le chiese sono chiusi”, if you want to cry in the rain you can listen to “Troppa città”, if you want to experience a nostalgic feeling with open windows while driving you can go to “U mari”.

AX Factor in 2023 did you feel like an alien?
Morgan was the one who got me to participate. He saw the clip of “Ghali” and we got in touch. I asked him: “Do you think I could go to X Factor?”. He replied: “If you go to become a pop star, forget it, if you’re interested in the experience, that’s a different matter”. I also felt out of place and alien on that stage, but the audience reacted great. I was eliminated, so I wasn’t liked in that context, but outside I got important feedback and that spurred me on. And so in the end the experience was positive.

Was it also helpful in boosting self-esteem?
Well, yes. I won’t hide from you that I happened to think “I’m going abroad” to find my way, a little disappointed. As Stromae sings in French everywhere, maybe there is someone somewhere who might be interested in listening to some songs in Sicilian (smiles, ed.), right? I thought so. X Factor gave me the energy to continue here and give myself a chance.

You have received expressions of esteem from artists such as Max Gazzé and Carmen Consoli. Did this also help?
They are artists that I listened to a lot and that raised me. I am always afraid of meeting an idol, I am afraid that they will disappoint me. In their case it was not like that, they are beautiful people. It seems a bit rhetorical, but it is really like that.

The connection with Sicily?
It’s very nice. When I left, my relationship with Catania was contrasting, today, however, I would like to spend more and more time in Catania. It is a city with great excitement, but there is a lack of places for emerging artists. My relationship with Sicily, in any case, is nostalgic, that’s why it works.

The live dimension is fundamental for you.
I started with the classic apprenticeship in clubs. I learned to solve many technical problems and what helped me a lot to be on stage was singing for tourists and for the military, who frequented the clubs. I tried to understand which song would appeal to the people who populated certain places. I did covers. And then I also specialized in dialogue with the public, today in fact I speak a lot on stage, the song-theatre has become an important part of my show. And I would like to develop this dimension, also inserting other elements. I certainly don’t want to get to the point of doing a musical, a world that I studied, but I’m interested in expanding my possibilities.

In “Whitman” you collaborate with Ghemon, another artist who has often said he felt like an alien in the world of music.
I admire him a lot for the choices he made. It’s as if, by dedicating himself to a certain way of doing entertainment, he changed his life. I see so many marriages, artists and otherwise, that are carried on wearily and without love. I think that making a break, in those cases, is important. Yes, ours was truly an encounter between aliens, we recognized each other immediately.