Il Tre: “I make pop, but not because the market asks me to”
Il Tre returns with “Anima nera”, out on Friday 7 November. This third studio work in 11 tracks, between rap and pop, is the most personal and reflective project of the Roman artist, a journey in which Guido Luigi Senia talks about finished relationships, but also about dreams, pays homage to the future and the family and also removes real stones, not pebbles, from his shoes. It’s a dark album, but also with a lot of light. He will be on tour from November 28th.
Let’s start with the cover: you are in front of a house, which has some elements that seem disturbing.
We took the photo in Texas. It is the house of a lady we didn’t know, but who then invited us in. I put myself there in front, because it inspired me and us. Unsettling? No, for me it isn’t. It arouses curiosity in me. I see that photo and I say to myself: what will be in there? It is an invitation to enter a world you don’t know, different from how you perhaps imagine it.
When did the work begin and how did the title arrive?
I started working on the project as soon as I finished “Invisibili”, released in 2023. Some tracks are recent, others are almost two years old. They are all linked by a red thread that is somehow found in the title in which the soul coexists, that is, an ethereal element, with the color black, that is, a darker part. The idea was to convey a link between something elusive and something else concrete. There is no bad attitude, there is nothing pessimistic, at most there is a strong reaction to what goes wrong.
In the opening track you say: “It’s not Sanremo telling me what I deserve”. Were you burned by participation in 2024?
In the piece “Noveunouno” I talk about Sanremo, but I want to specify this: the Festival was one of the most beautiful and intense experiences of my career. What I say in the song is: when I found myself in that spotlight, many had the presumption of judging me, without thinking about my path, without taking into account the career I embarked on ten years ago. Hence the sentence you quoted.
You also sing “I don’t follow the numbers” and in “Paura di me” you continue with “I come from the sewers not from the parties of Milan”. Do you want to claim diversity?
I’ve always done it, I’ve always been like this. I’ve never been 100% part of a certain musical environment. It’s also about a choice: I never left the place I grew up in, I still live here. I make pop songs, it’s true, but not because the market asks me to, but because I like making choruses. And if we look at them, they are not really pop, in the sense that yes they are of the people, but never truly popular.
“Francesca” Is it dedicated to your ex?
Yes, at the center there is a story of 7-8 years, an important slice of my life and which I want to have good memories of. They were magnificent years, I want that relationship to end with a beautiful memory, with a beautiful song. The piece was born precisely for this reason, as if to say “it’s over, but now let’s try to be happy”. It’s a goodbye without any negativity. It’s a bit like in “Black Soul” when I talk about the possibility of “rewriting an ending”.
“I imagine you” is it a letter to a son?
I’m not sure that one day I will have a child, but I still wanted to dedicate a song to a child, which I don’t have at the moment. I was struck by the idea of telling myself through a piece like this, also trying to understand the possible reaction of a little one. The song, then, at a certain point, reveals another focal point: it is a praise to my family, to my parents. I had already dedicated a song to my father in the past. This is a piece for both of us, to reiterate that I wouldn’t be where I am without them.
In “Felpa XL” do you explain that even a simple gesture can be significant?
Yes, the gesture is that of handing a sweatshirt to an unknown person, but obviously in difficulty, on a wall. In reality, I am not such an empathetic person, but I believe that if we all tried to be better, even in small things, this world wouldn’t be like this.
What do you hope comes with this record?
In the past I was more interested in going Platinum or doing big numbers. Now this is no longer the case. I’m interested in leaving beautiful songs, making people understand and see that I have grown, both humanly and artistically. They are all songs that I believe in, pieces that I didn’t share doing feat because they are very personal and because deep down I’m a more solitary artist than others. I prefer to go straight on my way.
