Italy
Lucio Corsi – Volevo essere un duro
In a year when seemingly others have taken it up on themselves to serve Italy at Eurovision, Italy itself has, unsurprisingly, done it better by simply doing it properly. This is an Italian song, sung in Italian, about very Italian things. There is no grand gimmick, no sudden tempo change into Euroclub mode, no shouting. Just a musician who came here to sing.
Musically, it’s a touch retro—somewhere between 1980s prog rock and the soundtrack to a road trip through Tuscany in a vintage Fiat 500. There’s a calm, summertime melancholy in the chord progression, and the melody is content to linger rather than explode. It’s beautifully performed, downbeat without being dreary, and—praise be—it actually resembles a song from start to finish, not a TikTok vibe waiting to happen.
And then there’s the ‘official music video‘: five full dramedy minutes involving a grifter priest, a catastrophically conservative father, and a hint of queer defiance that lands somewhere between camp and Catholic guilt. Our performer—face lacquered in more makeup than a MAGA acolyte at a Trump rally—sings through it all with unwavering sincerity, lashes that could sweep a terrazzo floor and eyeliner sharp enough to slice prosciutto.
There’s no question this won’t be for everyone. It’s gentle. It’s theatrical. It’s unashamedly Italian. But it’s also one of the few entries this year that feels like it was made by a musician, not a brand. If you’re looking for spectacle, look elsewhere. If you’re looking for a moment of soul amid the glittered frenzy—pull up a chair.
8 points (and probably 12 from the juries who still believe in melody and manners)