Amadeus has decided to mess up the cards on the table.
He will no longer wait for the evening of 15 December dedicated by Rai1 to Sanremo Giovani, with the choice of the two artists who will go directly to the Ariston, to communicate the list of 22 competing at the festival (from 1 to 5 February).
With a change in the Regulations, the artistic director has taken the right to make the names of the Bigs public at any time.
There is therefore expectation and in the meantime the lists and predictions on who will take the stage multiply.
More than 300 artists have submitted their candidacy, the artistic director had said a few days ago. And right in these hours the official invitations are starting, between old acquaintances and young people who are emerging in the limelight, in a mix that has already been successfully tested in recent years. And if for some it seems like a done deal, others continue to hope. Among the first seems to be Elisa, who won in 2001 with Luce (sunsets in the north east): it was she who made her candidacy official, to the delight of Amadeus.
The patrol of young people who seem to have already mortgaged a place on the Riviera is full: Sangiovanni (arriving from the last Amici and king of the summer rankings with Malibu), Aka 7even (also in Amici share), Rkomi (his Taxi Driver was one of the most streamed albums of the year), outsider Ariete (19 years old for X Factor).
Irama, who was forced into "remote" performances last year due to contact with a positive, could be "compensated" with a new invitation.
Space also for more noble names such as that of Rector together with the young Ditonellapiega and Gianni Morandi, who knows the festival very well for having experienced it both as a competitor and to be presented. He could also bring his son, aka Pietro, a profession rapper, as a dowry. Speaking of "sons of", the hypothesis of seeing Matteo Bocelli, son of the tenor who is following in his father's footsteps, seems to fade.
If among the 22 there were also Achille Lauro, again paired with the faithful Boss Doms, for him it would be a record: in the race in 2019 and in 2020, a regular guest in 2021 and again in the race in 2022.
Despite having said that he is against the quotas, Amadeus will try not to disappoint those who expect an adequate number of female artists at the Ariston. At the forefront Emma, who has been missing for a while from the race, and the regulars of the event Noemi and Giusy Ferreri. The focus is also on Ana Mena, who with Rocco Hunt climbed the Italian and Spanish rankings, on Margherita Vicario and on the Brazilian Italian Gaia, who has already done well in the last edition.
There will be songwriters: Tommaso Paradiso would have succumbed to the sirens of Amadeus, also in view of a new visibility after the farewell to TheGiornalisti. Fabrizio Moro, with a victory already in his pocket, would have sent his song, as well as Cosmo. The road to Giovanni Caccamo seems more uphill.
For the bands, after the success of 2020 at the festival, the Nuclear Tactical Penguins are expected, but also the Boomdabash, the Fast Animals and Slow Kids and the Orchestraccia, the Roman folk-rock open formation formed by singers and actors and led by Marco Conidi.
The Vibrations, The Kolors and the Ministers also try.