Laura Pausini talks about what people feel in her songs
When in February 1993 with the song “Loneliness” Laura Pausini imposed itself in the News section at the Sanremo festival, no one could remotely imagine what career awaited the then 18-year-old from Solarolo, in the province of Ravenna. Today Laura turns 50, she has released 14 albums, she is the queen of Italian pop and one of the greatest interpreters of international Latin pop. We wish you a happy birthday by republishing the review of your latest album, “Parallel Souls”released in October 2023.
Laura Pausini's previous album, “Fatti felt”, was released five and a half years ago.
In this period of time, as unfortunately we all know, we have had to live for a long period with an epidemiological emergency which has put us to the test at all levels, causing psychological difficulties in a large portion of people whose effects perhaps To date, we have not yet fully understood. The reflections linked to the problems generated by having experienced the Covid-19 pandemic led to the creation of the album “Anime parallele”, as she very clearly explained when presenting the album: “The pandemic forced us to listen to our thoughts and our questions, until we returned to live, without being the same as before, we all became 'parallel souls', homologated for fear of being excluded, even if further away from each other, with fewer points of reference and 'encounter. I asked myself how I wanted to survive this new reality and deal with it. I haven't found all the answers but I keep looking. And in this process I understood that the only way was to start looking at ourselves from the outside, as if my eyes were above me. I put individuality and its right to be respected at the centre. And so the common thread that links the songs on my album was born.”
I anticipate the final judgment by revealing that “Anime parallele” is an album that has its own undoubted formal perfection. The songs on the album confirm her status as the queen of Italian pop and that of a star of Latin music – the album is also released in Spanish with the title “Almas parallelas” – on a global level. There are no featuring (due to a specific personal choice) on the album except for the counterpoint of his daughter Paola (10 years old) in “Dimora naturale”.
If there are no duets, on the contrary there is no shortage of good 'pens' who contributed to the success of the final result. The singer of Pinguini Tattici Nucleari Riccardo Zanotti in the convincing single “A good start”; his friend Biagio Antonacci (“More than an idea”); the Dardust-Tommaso Paradiso team (“Every time”); Nicolò Agliardi (“Before us”). And then again the quartet Federica Abbate, Francesco Catitti, Cheope (his “Oltre la scuola”, but also the title track) and Alessandro La Cava (his “Cos'è”) who signs the enthralling “Zero”, the song placed at the top to the tracklist, one of the best episodes of the entire album. Without forgetting the contributions in almost all of the songs by Pausini herself, Jacopo Ettorre, Paolo Antonacci, Edwyn Roberts should also be mentioned, among others.
Laura Pausini has always talked about what people feel and experience in her songs. She speaks in an understandable language and this is part of her success. The songs included in “Parallel Souls” are generous in number – sixteen – and respectful of the golden rule of three minutes, good enough to facilitate their radio broadcast. On this occasion, more than other times, the musician from Romagna keeps the power of her voice – her trademark – at bay, rather preferring a more restrained singing, and that's not a bad thing. Laura Pausini's new album has all the characteristics for the queen to still sit on her throne. The new songs work and the upcoming world tour will only confirm it.
