Italy's Mahmood and BLANCO share their emotions and give us 'Brividi'

12 May 2022 at 09:00 CEST

Italy's Mahmood and BLANCO Photo: Universal Music

There’s always more than a little bit of pressure when representing your country at the Eurovision Song Contest, and even more so when you’re doing so for the host nation. But despite the fact that they’re performing in front of a home crowd, Italy’s Mahmood and BLANCO aren’t letting things get to them.

Italy’s Mahmood and BLANCO performing at the first semi final EBU / Corinne Cumming

Even though Mahmood returns to the contest after an impressive second-place finish at Eurovision in Tel Aviv three years ago, he does look at the 2022 event as a fresh start.

I’m super-happy to be here again. It’s a great possibility to bring my story to a big stage. In 2019, I was just telling my own story of when I was a kid. With ‘Brividi’, it’s another story. You can say different things in a different way. This is a completely new experience singing with him, and I learn something from him every time we sing.

📺 Watch: Mahmood & BLANCO – Brividi (Exclusive Rehearsal Clip)

Their song Brividi may seem like a classic romantic ballad on the surface, but rather than just being a traditional duet, Mahmood explains that the song is more about the expression of emotion in general rather than a specific love.

It’s two different generations, with the same fears about exposing your feelings to someone that you love. It’s a normal thing to be vulnerable and to be masculine. It has to be a more common, natural thing now to just spread love. That’s life. I have a lot of family and friends who are afraid to expose their feelings and I think we wrote the song because we’re not so afraid anymore to be sincere with ourselves. Love is to be free, in any case. The power of the song is freedom, and I think that ‘Brividi’ doesn’t speak about exactly what kind of love we’re dealing with, but more about losing the fear to face someone you love and expose your emotions.

Mahmood & Blanco, representing Italy, backstage, second rehearsal EBU / Andres Putting

Following their shared win at the Sanremo Festival in February, both Mahmood and BLANCO have embarked on wildly successful tours through Italy and other nearby European nations. Fortunately, they were able to arrange their schedules to take part in Eurovision this year. After two years of quarantines and cancelled shows, the two are thrilled to be hitting the road and meeting their fans. BLANCO said:

It’s so cool to be on stage again, after two years of COVID lockdown, and performing in front of a live audience.

So, what sort of advice has Mahmood shared with BLANCO about what to expect at Eurovision? Surprisingly, not too much!

For me, the most important thing isn’t so much the competition, but to put all of my energy and passion into a performance. I hope, with BLANCO, to stay free and enjoy the moment. And as for advice, he is good at what he does! What advice could I possibly give him?

Be sure to tune into the Grand Final of the 2022 Eurovision Song Contest on Saturday, 14th May.