Olly: “I put myself in other people’s shoes, like a singer-songwriter”
Olly he started, very young, writing songs about himself, then he broadened the lens with “It turns, the world turns”the album released last year which also features “Polvere”, song with which he participated in the Sanremo Festivaland now he broadens his gaze even further, entering the existential and sentimental folds of his generation with “Tutta vita”, the new album out on Friday 25 October. The project will be presented with a sold out club tour starting in November. In the wake of these numbers, they were announced new dates in May.
From I to we
“At first the album was supposed to be titled “Our story”, in fact in the final piece ‘The champion’ I say ‘Our story, your story’ – says Olly, born in 2001, sitting in the studio – this is because I find it important to underline that what I and I feel Jvli (his inseparable producer, ed.) that’s exactly what so many people feel.” Then he continues: “You know, many see me as the one who is ‘achieving his goals’. But I also have my problems at work, in the family, in love. ‘All life’ is said when things don’t go as you imagined, but in the end it’s all experience, it’s ‘all life’. In fact, on the cover there is a car that has just crashed, but I decide to lie down on it. Because accidents are part of the journey. In this project I also tried to put myself in other people’s shoes just like a singer-songwriter should do…”.
One and more Olly
And there are “more Ollies” as demonstrated by pieces like “Doodles”in which it is more romantic, “Those memories over there”in which he ironically imagines himself as an old man, or as “We don’t need to make love”in which he addresses the theme of betrayal. There is also room for community anthems a la Vasco: “We Who” and “The Champion”. The harmony between Olly and Jvli, overall, gave life to a record played (even with unexpected instruments such as sax or harmonica) eralready achieved with a clear vision of the live that awaits them. A record that, thanks to the inclusion of “dirty” at the beginning of each song, or of voices that accompany the piecesit seems “almost a dialogue with an alter ego of mine who comments and makes fun of me”. And in the song “I cantieri del Japan” he also lets off steam. “Singing: ‘We’ve become saturated, blaming the record companies, with no time to leave’: it’s an outburst, as if to say ‘enough, I’m leaving’. After the Festival of Sanremo 2023, a beautiful experience for which I am gratefuleverything has accelerated – he reveals – the problem is that I don’t want to be swallowed up, repeat myself or give just one vision of who I am. After the Festival, many identified me only with ‘Polvere’ and the duet with Lorella Cuccarinibut I’m not just that.”
Angelina and the new manager Marta Donà
The release of “Tutta vita” was anticipated by the publication of the most recent one “For two like us”, co-written by Olly and Angelina Mango. A hit song that ended up at the top of the charts. “Collaborating with Angelina was an honor – recalls the artist – I immediately fell in love with her voice, with how she moves. I believe this passage is true in the sense that it talks about real situations that can happen to anyone. It focuses on relationships and the complexities of relationships that we all experience, be it love, friendship, family or even brief, casual encounters. And how we grow and change when we have to deal with a person who is different from us in small things, which however are a reflection of larger differences.” Today Olly and Angelina also share the manager, Marta Donà: “Marta is a very structured person, she is giving me a great hand. I place value in the things that interest mefirst and foremost in music and has profound respect for my historical journey.”
The tour
The one written with the latest winner of the Sanremo Festival is not the only collaboration on the album: it’s also there “On the same boat” with Enrico Nigiotti. “Enrico and I have the same vision of music, he is an artist who doesn’t wear masks – says Olly – the song which, at first it was supposed to be for his record, but then it expandedit’s not necessarily about love between two people, but it has a collective sense where everyone is ultimately in the same boat, the image is precisely that of a united group in which everyone sings this song together, uniting their voices with each other”. There is a tour in the near future. Will the Sanremo card also be replayed? “The live dimension is fundamental for me – he concludes – people come to hear me sing, I sing. Well, I repeat to myself: ‘let’s agree and do something great together’. I want to create these kinds of synergies. We are expanding the band and will bring more instruments on stage. The ending will remain ‘Thank goodness there’s the sea’ with a tribute to inside ‘The Fisherman’ by De André as we have always done. Sanremo is not among my goals at the moment.”
