Tiziano Ferro: “I am addicted to the truth”

Hasta la verad, siempre. Tiziano Ferro has changed labels, managers, producers and three years after his last album he returns with the new “Sono un grande”, out on Friday 24 October, which coincides with his new very personal revolution in the name of truth. Not only for the new discographic and musical trajectories he has undertaken, but also because in the eleven tracks of the project, the singer-songwriter faces the past, his ghosts, his wounds and seeks an unprecedented light. A rebirth which, to be achieved, once again requires the unveiling, the cancellation of every mask. At a certain point in his career he says he felt “obsolete” and in those cases, he continues, “either you end your career or you look for a new vertigo”. He chose to dive.

Lady Gaga, in her latest tour, metaphorically duels against her early self-image. “I am great”, in the same way, is it a “destroy to rebuild”?
By force. I hate disorder, even in life. I need to face things. I need to explain myself. There is no growth without imbalance, without that feeling of ground that is missing under your feet…I wanted to start again from a sense of vertigo.

Do you have an image related to music in mind?
Yes, a few weeks ago I went to see Oasis live. It was wooooow, the concert I didn’t see in the 90s that I had to see. It wasn’t just a live show, but a lesson. In all these years I have seen the ashes, the rubble, the broken baseball bats, but the first thing they did, before going on stage, was hugging each other and giving each other a kiss on the head. There it is. And one of the most beautiful live shows I’ve ever seen began. This was possible because, before, there was all that clash, that rupture that we know.

What were you looking for in Oasis?
I wanted them broken, but also repaired. And all this arrived on stage.

Does unveiling come from not hiding the cracks?
For me, if Oasis hadn’t come to terms publicly, we wouldn’t have had them and re-loved them like we do today. They put their face to it. They argued in front of everyone. If you don’t do this, you’re not doing this job. Because this is how this job is done. For me, it can only be done like this. The legend of Freddie Mercury does not exist without everything else. A great artist can even make a mistake on a record, but if it doesn’t tell the truth to people, it’s all over. Music, over time, has become similar to religion, there is faith, there is spirituality, there is listening.

And the revelation?
It’s the concert, where you sing in front of people, you can’t escape from there. And at that point you can’t lie. If you do that, over time, you collapse. This is also a physical discussion, not just an artistic one. I don’t know what’s the point of erasing wrinkles or hiding your body if one day they’ll see you on stage for who you are. Is it better to accept a wrinkle or disappoint your audience?

With this kind of awareness, isn’t songwriting scary?
The truth can become an addiction. The most tragic consequence that can happen by putting a truth in a song will never be worse than putting a lie. If you create one lie, then you need the next one too, it’s a game of slaughter. The truth is easier. I teach it to my children too. Talking bullshit is demeaning. And it’s something I’m learning too…

What role do the fans have in all this?
People today don’t need a holy man with sculpted abs, but a mirror in which they can see their own fragilities. If it weren’t like this, in my opinion, today many people would no longer go to concerts. If I were to give a lecture to a hypothetical University of Music I would say this: let’s start from the truth.

Masks, however, exist and are part of the journey. You talk about it in the album, also drawing a boundary, in “Fingo&Spingo” between private and public dimensions.
Yes, at the beginning the masks are there, it’s true. And you wear them because you don’t know who you are. At twenty years old, I didn’t know who I was, especially having been born in a small provincial town. Fiction, unless it is staged, like Lady Gaga, in which one becomes a “monster”, is not positive. Gaga’s transformism brings you close to those who don’t look like you, which is why she is magical. Gaga is the idol of outsiders for all this, but also because she hasn’t had a nose job, because she calls her fans “little monsters”. The ugliness is certainly not there, at his concerts, but out there, in the world. Gaga did all of this at her own expense. It could have been Christina Aguilera, but no: she preferred to get her hands dirty.

But between fame and anonymity, returning to “Fingo&Spingo”, what more could you want?
You become the best at both when you go through withdrawal from the other. Let me explain: I come from a world where you released a record, went on tour and then disappeared. There were no social media. Here, I need stage abstinence to then give my best. And it’s not a criticism of those who don’t create this gap, of those who are always there. Always being there is also an art. But I’m not that kind of artist.

To always be there you should also always say something…
Here, precisely, I want to be able to take advantage of the “non-answer” because maybe I’m understanding a question, I’m delving into it and I don’t want to express myself immediately.

How was it working with new producers like Zef and Bias?
Easy, because they love and breathe music. When you meet producers like this you throw yourself on the ground with your hands clasped and thank God by shouting “the music isn’t over”. Think how boring it would have been to stay locked in a box, right?

That’s why you changed everything, but really everything?
Yes. Manager, record company, producers. After a twenty-five year career, I’m not afraid to be taught new things. I’m not afraid of criticism. I need to be told what’s wrong.

In the album you deal with many ghosts, but there are also rays of sunshine: I think of songs like “Gioia”, “L’amore è re”, “Le piace” and the final “We deserve more”, which is a cry of hope. Was it also important to tell this side of the coin?
What really pisses me off about today’s communication is that there is a lot of talk about the problems, but little about the solutions. I feel I must also talk about where the light is, not just the darkness in the tunnel. Personal drama, obviously, sells, pays off, but if we don’t also talk about the solutions it becomes pure narcissism.

Can the songs be explained?
Sometimes the fans do it for me. They offer me keys to understanding or new perspectives, for better or for worse. The feeling of listening to a record for the last time, the day before its release, or when it belongs only to the person publishing it, is very strange. It will never sound like it did on that day again. The moment an artist releases a song, that song is no longer just his. It’s horrendous and beautiful.

In “1-2-3” you talk about mental health and you do it directly, bringing life and death into the mix. Should these topics also be discussed without masks?
The hashtags #mentalhealth have become a trend. A delicate and dangerous topic cannot be trivialized. Let’s go back to the previous discussion: drama attracts, but why don’t we talk about solutions? Why don’t we talk about illness? Why aren’t we talking about drugs? Of psychiatrists? Why aren’t we talking about maintenance? Faced with all this, I believe we need to be more explicit in music too.

Fabri Fibra wrote a raw song about his father, “My father”. Recently, in concert at the Forum, he didn’t rap it even though it was part of his latest album. And I understand the reasons. In the same way I ask you: “Ti dreamed”, in which you deal with the difficult relationship with your mother, will you be able to sing it live on your next stadium tour (here are the dates)?
No, I don’t feel like it. When I say that this “is the album I couldn’t have made”, I mean exactly that. There are things you can’t say halfway. Either you tell them, or you don’t. I don’t feel like going on a stage to say things without that person I’m talking about having the same stage to be able to have his say… I’ve already done enough. I’d like it to be a single, yes, but I struggle with the rest…

In “Milite ignoto” you sing: “And there’s nothing left if you’re nobody”.
In that sentence there are also the reasons why I decided to change my work team. Not because I had an argument with anyone…. But there was a moment when I felt obsolete…I admit that the generational transition from young to “no longer young” was tiring. Going from being judged by how many physical records you sell to the number of streaming, therefore in another world, makes you think you’re no longer in it. And it’s horrendous. It scared me…

Do you want to talk to me more about this fear?
…Either you rock the streams or you’re no longer there…it hurts. At that point you have two options: either you stop, or you pull the earth from under your feet and look for a new vertigo. My fear is the same that many colleagues have experienced.

Has anyone said anything significant to you?
Lorenzo (Jovanotti, ed.) told me: “Tiziano, you have become a classic, you play in another league”. His words helped me, they comforted me.

Robbie Williams, in his documentary, says that people photograph you the moment you are successful and you can never escape from that photograph.
We have to look for the beauty of this. It’s difficult, but you have to remember that it’s a privilege. However, I go to concerts in stadiums, I realize this, I can’t complain, but it was very difficult to re-tune to the right frequency. But I recognize one thing…

Which?
I didn’t get into the nastiness of “you don’t understand shit”. I said to myself “maybe you don’t understand shit”. And I changed everything. All. Here we are. I had to do it, if I hadn’t done it it would all have ended…And do you know what I’ll tell you now that I’ve changed everything? That if I have to finish anyway, at least I want to finish with a bang (laughs, ed.).

Have you ever told yourself “I’m great”?
No. And I was wrong, you also have to give yourself some credit every now and then.