“Furore” Never Sounded This Good
The Iezzi sisters are back. Order is restored.
© Sony Music Entertainment Italy S.p.A. / Edit: Census
It's been ten years since the Iezzi sisters, probably the most famous sisters in Italian pop music, have released anything together, and their comeback is nothing short of spectacular!
I mean, it did bring me out of my writing slumber. I may, however, speak from biased ground, given that half of my vocabulary when I had started learning Italian twenty-something years ago, is owed to their songs. Heck! I even learned about the subjunctive mood in grammar, or "il congiuntivo" in Italian, through their 2000 breakthrough hit Vamos a Bailar (Esta vida nueva).
Their new release, comes again to teach me the meaning of another word: "Furore" which is the title of their 2023 Sanremo Festival entry for the 73rd edition of the contest, which took place last week. (They ranked 17th) The last time they participated in the festival was in 2005, while in 1997 they won the "New Proposal" category with Amici Come Prima.
A bit of a side note here: Sanremo Festival is unequivocally the greatest celebration of (pop) music in Italy, it lasts a whopping five-nights, approximately four+ hours per night with an abundance of young and "big" artists participating, while the whole series of events is infused with a spectacular array of guest performances, co-presenters and parallel non-competing performances. Imagine the Super Bowl on steroids, but without the sports (no puns intended).
Back to Paola & Chiara: In 2013 they released their 8th studio album, Giungla(Jungle), a genuinely solid pop album. They almost immediately split up due to creative, or whatever other differences two sisters who have been working together for almost 20 years may have. In all honesty, it happened so abruptly that it actually made sense. At least we were left with a great album and that was consolation enough. Paola continued to venture as a solo artist and DJ, while Chiara pursued acting and, more recently, writing. Being a huge Italian pop music fan, I obviously gravitated towards Paola's work which, I have to say, did not disappoint.
So, fast forward to December 2022, it is announced that the Milanese sisters, Paola and Chiara Iezzi would be reuniting for Sanremo, (although hints were made previously in the year when they appeared together as guests at two of Max Pezzali's tour dates and one with Jovanotti). Their fans (me included) went on a frenzy, and soon after, a two-date tour was announced for Rome and Milan. The Milan date went sold out and a second Milan date has been added since then – to which I managed to get tickets!
Last Wednesday Furore was performed for the first time on the stage of Teatro Ariston, where Sanremo takes place since 1977, and I have to wholeheartedly say, it was a Paola & Chiara reunion in its truest and most classic form.
Paola & Chiara performing Furore at Teatro Ariston, February 7, 2023 © Rai
In, literally, one night it was made clear that the people who were hanging in anticipation for this reunion were actually simmering for ten years. That is evident by the fact that the song gained immediate traction on the radio and in clubs. Also, given that ten years ago the reachability of social media was far less potent than it is today, the Iezzi sisters are now met with a renewed, stronger type of popularity and they seem to have realized and will, hopefully, embrace and lean into it. (As they also are, hopefully, leaning into the studio for a new album.)
With Furore, Paola & Chiara are back to where they left off; their voices, the specific way they disperse their background vocals, their sort of run-of-the-mill – but nevertheless adorable– choreographies, even their strict practice of visually presenting themselves in the same way their duo is named: Paola on the left and Chiara on the right. A practice they applied on virtually all of their single and album covers, as well as performances and videos.
P&C usually write all their songs and this time they co-wrote the lyrics with Jacopo Ettore and Alessandro La Cava, leaving the music to Leonardo Grillotti, Eugenio Maimone and the Italian DJ duo Merk & Kremont who also produced the track.
The lyrics deliver a sincere, moving, expression of love –be it sisterly, or one of pure admiration– and that, in conjunction with the feeling of anticipation for this reunion, give the song an extra layer of emotional charge.
Furore is a crisp, sparkling pop disco record, in all its glory. With just the right touch of nostalgia, gorgeous string arrangements and even a key change in the final chorus, Paola & Chiara are in clubs all over Italy: nature is healing!
