Geolier and Ultimo: the risk of “'na canzone comm' tant' ate”

In the hours leading up to the release of the song “The last poem”, the collaborative single between Geolier and Ultimosome fans and even some magazines on Instagram, have played on the fact that this publication it would be a sort of “revenge” against the press room of the Sanremo Festival, “guilty” of having made both Ultimo in 2019 and Geolier in 2024 reach the second step of the final ranking, taking away their crown with a vote that went against the popular will. It has been explained several times how this narrative is largely fallacious (you can read more here) and is part of the great Sanremo circus, but above all it should be underlined how the rapprochement between the two big names for co-writing took place before the participation of the Neapolitan voice at the Festival.

“The Last Poetry” has been in the works since last autumn and marks a new collaboration of Ultimo with an Italian artist after Mostro, Fabrizio Moro and Antonello Venditti (without forgetting internationally Ed Sheeran), while for Geolier the feats, coming from the more purely urban world, are many and more common. Unlike many plastic duets, this one undoubtedly has a real root: is found in the life excursus of the two artists and in the friendship that has bound them for some time. They both come from difficult neighborhoods, of Rome and Naples, have been able to generate, thanks to sacrifice and talent, a rare popular support, comparable, with all due proportions, to that of giants like Vasco Rossi, all with incredible numbers both live and on streaming platforms. Therefore, despite their differences, there is a sort of connection between them “pride of the last” who arrive first and get what they deserve. This redemption, obviously combined with the strength of many of their songs, it is a determining element in the affection that has been created towards them. That said, “The Last Poetry”, produced by Takagi & Ketrawho have long played on ballads, It looks more like an Ultimo piece than a Geolier oneexcluding the part in which the artist from Secondigliano takes up space with some hints of slash.

But the song has nothing urban about it, it's singer-songwriter and pop, and demonstrates Geolier's ever-increasing openness, as also dictated by the Neapolitan tradition that inspires it, to different playing fields. The piece is almost entirely in Neapolitan with a few words of Ultimo in Italian, with the piano acting as a real glue and the chorus giving melody to the structure. It bears the signature of the two protagonists together with Davide Petrella, Takagi & Ketra themselves, Gennaro Petito and Julien Bverod, i.e. Jvli, Olly's producer, who also worked on Emma's Sanremo piece “Apnea”. Put two bigs together and make a great piece it's not math: the history of music proves it. “The Last Poetry” will probably do well in the ratings, it will be played insistently on the radio, we will also see it in a live dimension, but it is missing something, it does not have the evocative magic of several pieces by the two artists, taken individually. If it weren't for the fact that two of the most important protagonists of current Italian music sing it, one would perhaps say that it is “'na canzone comm' tant' ate” (Thanks to my colleague Gianni Valentino for the advice on Neapolitan).