Now or Never, the report cards: Rector shining loose cannon (score 8.5), Anonymous Italian “already tired” (score 4)

Scanu (doesn’t) already want a hammer, he’s angry with everyone: rating 8

Valerio Scanu wants to win. It will be nice to participate, yes, but his ‘Eye of the Tiger’ allows no alternatives to the very first place when he enters a competition. And this counts as an advantage. His eagerness to excel already establishes him as villain perfect edition. Literally an asp, he can’t stand everything and everyone: not even the coach assigned to him, Rita Pavone, seems to like him. She assigns him ‘Datemi un Martello’, to be sung as a couple and then exposed to the public and jury vote. As soon as he hears about it he reacts with a terse: “I reserve the right not to comment”. He doesn’t like the song: “It’s not up my alley, in fact, I was really annoyed at the idea of ​​having to do it.” In the episode, he does it reluctantly, almost immobile and in a very serious evening suit, while Pavone trots around him, all rhinestones and the verve of a twenty-year-old. “I don’t dance, not on this piece”, clarifies the singer. Who, while he’s at it, also tries to pick a fight with his colleague Pierdavide Carone, author of the song with which he won Sanremo 2010 ‘Per tutte le Volte Che…’. “Do you know that it wasn’t the only song of yours that had to end up on my album? ‘Di Notte’ was also there. I listened to them both and chose the one with which I won the Festival. Festival that I would have won anyway, anyway” . Proudly obnoxious, at least on TV, Valerio Scanu is a godsend for the show: imagine how boring it would be if all the contestants always seemed very grateful for the opportunity granted and went through the edition prone, without ever allowing themselves to have anything to complain about . In Scanu, we believe precisely on a genetic level, nothing is ever good, perhaps not even the existence of pedestrian crossings. Born to cause havoc on TV, in this first episode he ranked last in the jury and penultimate in the televoting. Certain that he will have taken it well, let’s hope that no one gives him (now and never again) a hammer!

Anonymous Italian is already “tired”, Fogli freezes him (and does well): rating 4

“Do you see that one over there with the mask, Maestro De Amicis? Here, he tells me he’s already tired. There are people working in the mine, but he’s tired, imagine!”. So Riccardo Fogli, during the tests, freezes the competitor assigned to him, Anonimo Italiano. Old glory of the nineties, the masked singer – today he only covers half his face – says he lost his popularity due to a warning from Claudio Baglioni who accused him of ‘imitating’ his voice excessively. Returning to today, coach Fogli advises him live to find a middle ground to sing ‘Stories of Every Day’ with him: “Try to be a bit of me and a bit of Baglioni, in practice you have to become Foglioni!” . The always competent host Marco Liorni, faced with such a sudden joke, for a moment fears that a bad word has just been uttered and considers engaging in harakiri. Angelo di Ricchi e Poveri’s exploit on New Year’s Eve (that now infamous ‘Pieces of s*rda!’ shouted at an open microphone) must have really felt a lot to him. To face the next episodes, we recommend the host herbal teas, yoga, meditation, the lighting of each candle at Sunday mass, modulated abdominal breathing, holy poles to be sprinkled in the studio before the live broadcast. He can’t live every moment with the anxiety that a few too many words will slip out. The atmosphere between coaches and contestants is already ready to explode and that’s a good thing: it’s absolutely part of what the audience wants to see on this show). Good luck.

Rector and the technical comment, “I got wet!”: rating 8.5

“Marco, come here and let me hug you, you’re a great pussy!”. So the brightest juror of ‘Now or Never’ breaks the ice in this first episode of the talent show. And the host Liorni is already starting to sweat. The singer, obviously, will find other ways to embarrass him with her smoking and, at times, even ‘hot’ verve. After Alex Britti’s performance with Matteo Anania, former voice of Sugarfree, on the notes of ‘Oggi sono io’ (a performance that went on to win the episode), Rettore is enthusiastic, perhaps too much so: “Well done! I give you 10 because I got wet!”. Liorni tries to immediately patch things up: “Well yes, it’s hot in this studio, it’s very hot.” Made up and wigded like Harley Quinn’s rock’n’roll granny, Rettore already appears as the Joker of this edition. We await next Saturday like the Sahara for rain.

The very high marks given to Loredana Error: mark 5

Loredana Errore is a former ‘Amica di Maria’ who placed second in the edition won by Emma Marrone, 2009. For her Biagio Antonacci wrote the beautiful ballad ‘Ragazza Occhi Cielo’. Then, his career didn’t take off also due to a ferocious, unfair fate. It was 2013 when, on the way to a concert, she was the victim of a terrible car accident: the car overturned due to the pouring rain and the singer, at the time a possible promise of local music, woke up in a hospital bed “With 95% of my body paralyzed, I could only move my eyes.” It took years for it to get back on its feet (it wasn’t at all obvious that it could actually happen completely, unfortunately). An unfortunate, unfair, brutal story. Today Errore would like a second chance, given that the first was taken away from her in this horrible way. How does he sing, though? Donatella Rettore is the only one to tell her the truth, at least judging from this first episode: “I’m sorry, but you just don’t take some notes”. The others on the jury pour out amazing compliments, very high votes pour in, between 8 and 9, Alex Britti even talks about “10 potential”. Here we allow ourselves to observe that the jurors are making a mistake: they do not evaluate the performance, but the personal vicissitudes of the competitor. And this, although understandable on a human level, is unfair towards the others in the race. But it is also, if not primarily, for her, Loredana. Let’s hope, for everyone’s sake, for greater objectivity in the next episodes.

Carone remembers Lucio Dalla (and is still phenomenal): rating 8

Perhaps ‘Now or Never’, net of disagreements and popcorn controversies, was born precisely for talents like that of Pierdavide Carone, one of the most phenomenal songwriters ever hatched from the school of ‘Amici’. Already at the time of the Defilippian talent, he was producing profound and beautiful pieces such as ‘Di Notte’ and ‘L’Ospedale’, just to name two. So formidable as to attract the attention of Lucio Dalla, Carone says today that it was precisely the immortal voice of ‘Piazza Grande’ that brought him to Sanremo 2012: “He really liked one of my songs, ‘Nanì’, and convinced Gianni Morandi to call me in the match while they were at the stadium watching Bologna”. That Festival was also Dalla’s last television appearance, who remained on stage with him, to support him. Only to shut down twelve days later. “I was shocked by his death and began to make bad choices, both artistic and personal”, Carone tells ‘Now or Never’ today. At the end of the episode, he almost comes first (for the jury, but the televoting prefers Matteo Anania). It doesn’t matter, this ‘boy’ (Patty Pravo calls everyone that perhaps because she has no idea who or what is standing in front of her) is getting the second chance he deserves. We hope that this television opportunity will be useful to him: there is always a need for good songs. And pens capable of writing about it.

January 12, 2025

© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED