Browsing Tag

Italian Pop

Francesca Pichierri’s ‘Amen’ Strikes Alt-Pop Gold with a Groove-Soaked Rebuke

Posted on 25 March 2025

Francesca Pichierri never lets sentimentality get in the way of precision. With ‘Amen’, her fifth single and a pivotal chapter in her concept album Cellule Stronze, she lays a satirical yet razor-sharp lens on cancer ghosting—the social retreat of those who disappear when illness walks into the room. Rather than wallowing in the emotional wreckage, she chooses to let irony march straight to the dancefloor.

Musically, Amen firmly implants alt into pop. Retro-futurist synth lines and swathes of synthesised bass bring the funk, summoning a sound reminiscent of Depeche Mode warped through the lens of South American disco and gospel. But it’s Pichierri’s performance that overrides the energy of the release. Her vocal lines carry a seraphic sanctity, acting as a vocal exorcism of all the shallow well-wishers and their hollow “thoughts and prayers”.

You plug into Amen—not the other way around. It strips you of autonomy with its animatronic pull, transposing darkness into an earworm of euphoria. The lyrical sting doesn’t get lost in the groove. Instead, it’s accentuated by it. Her vocal delivery pivots from soulful sincerity to smirking irony with a deftness that makes every line land harder. It’s funk with bite. Gospel with gall. Dance music with a grudge.

With Amen, Pichierri soundtracks the uncomfortable silence left by those who recoil from pain—and she sets it to a beat they can’t ignore.

Amen is now available to stream on all major platforms, including SoundCloud and Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast.

Northern Lights of Love: Francesca Pichierri’s ‘Sperarci Due Eroi’

Posted on 31 January 2025
Francesca Pichierri

Francesca Pichierri’s latest single, Sperarci Due Eroi (Hoping We Are Two Heroes), instantly reels you in with stabbing piano chords that drip baroque beguile into a cabaret-pop-style ballad. But the true power lies in Francesca Pichierri’s ethereal harmonies that take hold before the track ramps up to anthemic intensity. Even as the crescendo builds and the track teeters on the brink of chaos, she maintains a gracefully composed command over every element of the instrumentation. If you’ve ever wondered what art pop perfection sounds like, all you need to do is hit play on this cultivated evocation of pure emotion.

The bilingual vocals add another dimension to the track, which never veers into histrionics; instead, it leans in, deeper and deeper into aural cinema. The looming piano anchors the soundscape with weight and inevitability, its resonant tones underscoring the gravity of the themes, while the shimmering electronic layers and visceral rock elements carry the emotional tension to its breaking point.

As part of her upcoming concept album, Cellule Stronze, this release narrates her mother’s battle with ovarian cancer. Pichierri stitches themes of heroism and resilience into the fabric of the music, transforming the Northern Lights into a poignant metaphor for enduring love and courage. It’s a heart-wrenching yet empowering exploration of love’s ability to sustain and protect, even when the path ahead is shrouded in uncertainty.

Stream ‘Sperarci Due Eroi’ on all major platforms, including Spotify, from January 31st.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Francesca Pichierri painted an Avant-Garde pop prism of the absurdity of reality in ‘Io Sto Bene’

Posted on 8 December 2024

After a beguiling fusion of style, soul and spirituality in her sophomore single, Francesca Pichierri has evolved into an alt-pop Avant-Gardist with her third single, Io Sto Bene. The infectiously obscure piano-driven earworm inches cabaret pop further into the mainstream with the playful panache in Pichierri’s vocals bringing equal amounts of energy as the upbeat staccato piano notes before the mid-way mark hits and sinks the listener into a kaleidoscope of baroque pop experimentalism.

Io Sto Bene pulls you into a rabbit hole of mental disquietness, efficaciously depicting how it feels to try and find stability while everything in your external and internal world feels off-kilter.  Like a rush of acceptance, the outro is a luminous visualisation of ephemeral transcendence away from the tumult of turmoil.

The independent singer-songwriter penned Io Sto Bene inspired by a bitter-sweet memory of her mother waking up from her first ovarian cancer treatment to reassure the family that ‘everything is fine’, and the epiphany of how paradoxical it is to be determined to appear fine in the midst of chaos. This is so much more than art imitating life; the single is a painful prism of the absurdity of reality.

Io Sto Bene was officially released on November 29th; stream the single on Spotify now.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Jaco Painted a Pop Portrait of Love’s Duality in His Latest Single, ‘Gioconda’

Posted on 22 October 2024

In his third single and first Italian release, ‘Gioconda’ the electro-pop icon in the making, Jaco, tracked the highs and lows of love, painting a sonic picture as ambiguous and complex as the Mona Lisa’s smile. As the bass kicks momentum into the disco-funk-tinged indietronica beats, the pop production draws you into an intoxicating kaleidoscope of emotion which shimmers with reflections of love’s beauty and inevitable fragility.

Having made waves across the UK and Italy, Jaco’s latest release ensures nothing is lost in translation. Even if you don’t speak the language, the sticky-sweet melodies and euphoric reverberations will resonate. The warm tones offer a sense of familiarity, while the layered production reveals a depth that lingers beneath the fresh, summery exterior.

Prior to introducing his latest single to his staunch fanbase, Jaco hit international stages, brushed shoulders with Eurovision and X Factor alumni, and found a distinct way to maintain a unique sonic signature by channelling his classical training and Italian roots into British pop sensibilities.

Gioconda was officially released on October 11; stream the single via all major platforms via this link.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Spotlight Feature: Emilio Lanza embraced the moody future of pop while looking back in ‘Rearview Mirror’

Posted on 25 August 2023

For his latest single, Rearview Mirror, the Naples-born singer-songwriter Emilio Lanza darkened the doorstep of 90s boyband pop and weathered the torrid storm of heartbroken introspection.

With acoustic percussive fingerpicked guitar motifs scattered amongst the dark and reverberant moody pop sensibilities, Rearview Mirror is a triumph of evocative ingenuity for the way the light melodicism juxtaposes the harsher elements to sonically allude to the rollercoaster you’re forced onto when distance becomes definitive disconnection.

Careful to balance light and shade, Lanza, also instilled resilience into the release that will efficaciously embolden any hopeless romantics searching for hope; it is in Rearview Mirror by the visceral smorgasbord.

With over 2 million streams on Spotify and after receiving plaudits from the likes of Ed Sheeran and James Bay, Emilio Lanza has already conquered the world of pop; be a part of his legacy and delve into his latest elevated production.

Emilio Lanza Said:

“My song, Rearview Mirror, is a metaphor representing our past, nightmares, breakups or scary thoughts; it can be anything, but the message is positive, as reflected by the cover art depicting a sunset ahead and struggles in the rearview mirror. I wrote the song following the end of a six-year love story and other life hardships.”

Rearview Mirror will hit the airwaves on the 25th of August. Stream it on all major platforms via this link.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Isohel added nuance to stoic philosophy by embracing negativity in his latest pop hit, BAD VIBES

Posted on 24 August 2023

Billie Eilish gave us Bad Guy; in another pop universe, the luminary who is well on his way towards the one million steam mark, Isohel, gave us BAD VIBES in his latest viral-worthy hit.

While some see negative emotions as something to be repressed, Isohel proved that when you embrace pain, you will find the lesson within it. Consider it a far more nuanced and realistic view than the stoic belief that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.

Following an angular guitar prelude that sounds like it was pulled from a Slowdive album, BAD VIBES unravels as one of the most progressively electric pop hits the airwaves have received this year. While the guitar tones remain a constant throughout the mix, dance-pop proclivities start to work their way into the melancholia-laced anthem that defies expectation and genre to establish Isohel as one of the most authentic acts on the scene.

The RnB and moody synth-pop nuances infused into the track with all the hallmarks of a pop earworm is a testament to the talents of the Italian singer-songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist who is making light work of breaking into the international music industry.

Stream BAD VIBES on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Marianna’s vocal lines leave us on the hook in her feat of alt-indie pop grandeur, Hold On

Posted on 26 May 2023

If it has been a while since you last checked in with your inner child, find the inspiration to reach out and reconnect my immersing yourself in the latest single from the arresting alt-indie pop chanteuse, Marianna. With class, conviction and introspection the triadic drivers within the tribally enlivening single, Hold On, ambivalence is not an option.

Towards the outro, the single moves away from indie pop panache and veers towards an ABBA-ESQUE world music crescendo; if you weren’t invested before that climactic build, you’ll feel your heart catch in your throat around her flawlessly pitched vocal lines.

It’s a rarity that we hear something truly pioneering and resounding in equal measure, but evidently, pedestrian performances aren’t Marianna Zappi’s forte. After performing in front of a crowd of two million, one of those just so happening to be Pope Benedict XVI, touring across Europe for the past two years and garnering attention from BBC Radio London, the future for Marianna will be as luminous as her talent.

Hold On will officially release on May 26. Hear it on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Umberto Bravo pulled the purity out of salaciousness with his sophomore synth-pop single, Sacred Sinner

Posted on 15 January 2023

Italian independent singer-songwriter and composer Umberto Bravo has unleashed his synthy sophomore single, Sacred Sinner, which modernises the 80s pop tonal palette with explorative vision and lavish layers of soul.

The mid-tempo ballad embellishes the 80s pop sound with gospel traditionalism through the vocals as the instrumentals push lush synth cords against consistently evolving guitars, which know just where to transfuse the gritty and transcendent tones to make the peaks and valleys of the emotional rollercoaster infinitely steeper.

Some view lust as a cardinal sin, but if anyone can make the case for the purity of salaciousness, it is Umberto Bravo in this carnally magnetic earworm that could rouse even the most sexually repressed puritans.

“Sacred Sinner is not a love song, let alone musical pornography. But it certainly goes against the traditional dynamic of the relationships of equality that exist between two people dealing with intimacy.”

Sacred Sinner was released on January 14th across all major streaming platforms, including Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Kevan put a dark cinematic twist on Latin pop with his debut EP, Doors.

Posted on 29 September 2021

‘Doors’ is the debut EP from Italian producer and artist Kevan, who has been making more than waves with his evocative alternative tracks. There’s been a tectonic shift of talent on the airwaves since he started contributing to the airwaves 13 years ago.

The title single is a cinematically dark take on contemporary pop which finds room for rock and ambient trap and RnB elements to add to the dynamism. The lyrics feed the brand of frustration that only comes to fruition when you’re contending with an ending, and you’re transfixed by the past, unwilling to look to the future for fear of not seeing something you convinced yourself that you needed.

The way he shares a common experience is something. The way he expresses what words alone can’t has ironically left us speechless. We’re fairly sure that is how he ended up racking up nearly 1 million streams on Spotify alone with his standout single, Call Me.

Doors is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Dark pop icon Francesca Monte has released her fierce new earworm, Vertigo.

Posted on 2 August 2021

Italian dark pop icon Francesca Monte has released her fierce new earworm, Vertigo; what Cher started with inventive vocal reverb, Monte has superseded it with her deliciously dark track.

Vertigo allows lyrics to run through like scorned spoken word poetry as glitchy harsh electronica beats make sure that your rhythmic pulses are entwined, ready for the colossal drops and broadsiding aural curveballs.

Instead of pandering to moody pop cliché’s, Francesca Monte ensured that the multifaceted emotion was as visceral as the melodic yet sporadically caustic beats. It is only a matter of time before she is a permanent fixture in the electronic music charts.

Check out Vertigo for yourselves by heading over to Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast