Nothing happens by chance. This could be the motto to adopt for Alfa, a young Genoese singer-songwriter born in 2000, born Andrea De Filippi, chosen by Amadeus in the shortlist of the 30 Big Names competing at the Ariston. A year lived on a roller coaster for him who a year ago was watching - rather mogio - the festival from the sofa, after a bad flu had forced him to forfeit the final bars to enter Sanremo Giovani. In one year everything has changed: two triple platinum records (Cin Cin, Bellissimissima <3), 4 platinum records (TeStA Tra Le NuVoLe, pT2 and Sul più bello, Testa tra le nuvole, Pt.1, Before Wanderlust), eight gold records, over 600 million streams on digital platforms and the promotion directly among the Bigs, with the song Vai! which he wrote himself.
"Surely all this is a design of destiny - admits the twenty-three-year-old Genoese who has taken the ability to write in images from the school of singer-songwriters in his city -. And the piece in the competition was born from that desire not to stop.
After a somewhat traumatic stop for me - there was also the blocking of the tour with the pandemic -, we decided with my team not to stop. And from there it all started, with Bellissimissima which was overwhelming, and many concerts. I think Sanremo is the reward for not giving up." And 2024 will be a full year, with the festival marking just a starting point. On February 16 the new album Non so chi ha creato il mondo ma so che era innamorato is released by Artist First ("a journey into folk and country music, a record about love that I have observed and studied through the readings of Crepet, Fromm, Sappho, Plato") and from February 24 the tour in the arenas starts from the Forum in Assago. "But I've got my feet on the ground. I'm lucky that I started writing songs when I was 17. I have always treated this passion as if it were a job and when it became a real job, I already had my own project. This path that led me to Sanremo, to the arenas, to the record, is not a hysterical success.
I've worked my way up, I've fallen, I've hurt myself, but I'm here."
Every now and then, he says, "I would like to stop, but not because I'm fed up, but because I'd like to admire the view." Young, yes, but with clear ideas. "I know I'm not going to do this for the rest of my life – I'd like to focus on animated film soundtracks."
In the meantime, he owes a lot to Bellissima, a song that has been a hit in recent months. "I'm grateful to her, even if it's become almost a nuisance. When a song becomes more famous than you, it means it's a lot of work. Such a success was not to be expected."
These are the tour dates: February 24 Milan, April 5 Padua, April 6 Turin, April 16 Naples, April 19 Bari, April 21 Florence. "I'm more afraid of Sanremo than the Forum," confesses Alfa, who has a Lumineers pick in his phone cover as a good luck charm. And I'd be even scarier to be the first artist to perform. But I'm very focused, and very scared. I'm worried about how my body will react to the adrenaline rush that the Ariston can give you. Apart from the race, I hope to have fun and learn something. I know there will be a before and an after."
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