Sanremo, this year, talks (also) about itself: the lyrics
The originality award goes to Levante, who in “Sei tu” uses the present conditional of the verb “lacrimare”: you don’t find it every day in a pop song. But Dargen D’Amico isn’t joking either, bringing up in the lyrics of his “Ai Ai” the legend of Carlos Raposo, the impostor-player who in the 1980s managed to obtain a series of contracts with the most important Brazilian teams, but without ever taking the field. And if Fulminacci mentions the Sanremo Festival in “Stupida unfortunate”, which this year also talks about itself, Fedez instead cites himself in the lyrics of “Necessary evil”. The lyrics of the 30 songs by the big names competing in Sanremo 2026 were published today in the traditional issue of Tv Sorrisi e Canzoni with the cover dedicated to the cast. Here are the 30 verses – one for each song – that best describe what Sanremo will be.
Arisa – “Magical fairy tale”
«If the world ended right now I would smoke a cigarette».
Rag Dolls – “Stay with me”
«A girl, a guitar, and a storm, these don’t know what I feel inside».
Chiello – “I always think of you”
“I always think about you, I want to fall out of love.”
Dargen D’Amico – “Ai Ai”
“Let’s take a day off, come on, find a way, Carlos Raposo.”
Ditonellapiaga – “How annoying”
«I can’t stand careerists and “respectable journalists” (how annoying!) / and then the tronistas presented as artists (how annoying!)».
Eddie Brock – “Vultures”
«Because it is easier for you to get undressed than to undress your heart».
Elettra Lamborghini – “Voilà”
«The two of us under a polka dot sky, so chic, so hardcore».
Enrico Nigiotti – “Every time I don’t know how to fly”
“Time runs like crazy, it overtakes you and then it steals your place.”
Ermal Meta – “Stella Stellina”
«Like butterflies you lived a day».
Fedez and Marco Masini – “Necessary evil”
«What ugly people who hang out with Fedez».
Francesco Renga – “The best of me”
“Sometimes it happens that even a tear smiles.”
Thunderbolts – “Stupid bad luck”
«And rankings and Sanremi, taxis, trains, planes will pass».
J-Ax – “Italy starter pack”
“Here we don’t protest about wages, just about pizza with pineapple.”
LDA & Aka7even – “Clandestine poems”
«Ossaje che è una tarantella si non ce putimm verè».
Leo Gassmann – “Natural”
«That Rome in August looks like Antarctica».
Levante – “It’s you”
«You would tear away all my amazement».
Luchè – “Labyrinth”
“Never been too high, never fallen into drugs.”
Malika Ayane – “Nocturnal Animals”
«The road is a jungle, we aim for the moon like nocturnal animals».
Mara Sattei – “The things you don’t know about me”
“I would only like to talk to you about love in the silence of what I don’t say.”
Marie Antoinette and Colombre – “Happiness and that’s it”
«As that smiling pop star in Valentino said».
Michele Bravi – “Sooner or later”
«When you turn on the radio you only sing the songs of others».
Nayt – “Before”
«Who are you waiting for? I have no one to save us.”
Patty Pravo – “Opera”
«In vanity, I am muse, sharp color and then work, the work».
Raf – “Now and Forever”
«You are in the soul and I will look for you there».
Sal Da Vinci – “Forever yes”
«With my hand on my chest I promise you before God».
Samurai Jay – “Obsession”
“Then we do high tide under the full moon.”
Sayf – “I like you a lot”
«And as an entrepreneur said: “Italy is the country I love”».
Serena Brancale – “Here with me”
“I would climb the earth and the sky, even the entire universe, to have you still here with me.”
Tommaso Paradiso – “The Romantics”
“I wish I had a piano in my pocket just to remember us.”
Thirteen Peter – “Man falling”
«And I make another fool, like a child who slipped in a square»
