Outsider Olly wins Sanremo music festival and goes to Eurovision in Basel

Euronews Outsider Olly wins Sanremo music festival and goes to Eurovision in Basel Andrea Barolini • 1 day • 3 minutes reading time A young outsider has won the renowned Sanremo music festival. 23-year-old singer-songwriter Olly from Genoa can now represent Italy at Eurovision in Basel. At the end of a more than five-hour Saturday evening show on Raiuno, the rapper was declared the winner of the 75th edition of the Sanremo Festival. "It seems absurd, but it really happened," explained the young artist on the stage of the Ariston Theater, before singing his song "Balorda Nostalgia", which he wrote and composed together with Pierfrancesco Pasini and JVLI. Winner Olly: "I didn't expect it, but my life won't change" "I didn't expect this ending," added Olly after the win, "it was a leap into the unknown at the first performance. I can't believe it, but my life will stay the same, every day at the piano, on the guitar, with the guys I've been playing with for ten years. I hope to be able to play as much as possible." Second place went to Lucio Corsi with "Voglio essere un duro." He won the critics' award "Mia Martini"; third place went to singer-songwriter Brunori Sas with "L'albero delle noci." Rounding out the top 5 are Fedez with "Battito" ("You made me realize how powerful music is and how much I want to go back to making music only and exclusively," the rapper commented on the result) and Simone Cristicchi with "Quando sarai piccola" (which won the Sala Stampa award named after Lucio Dalla and the Giancarlo Bigazzi award for best musical composition). A neck-and-neck race between Olly and Corsi, separated by just 0.4 percent In the final vote, it was a neck-and-neck race: the winner Olly beat Corsi by just 0.4 percentage points: 23.8 to 23.4 percent (taking into account televoting, press room and radio jury). Brunori Sas got 20.3 percent, Fedez 17.7 percent and Cristicchi 14.8 percent. If you only take the televoting into account, Olly's victory was more clear. He received 31 percent of the audience votes, followed by Lucio Corsi with 25.7 percent and Brunori Sas with 16.6 percent. Favorite Giorgia not in the top five The 53-year-old Roman Giorgia, who was considered the favorite, only came in sixth place, which was a surprise to many. The audience booed her placement. There was, however, a lot of applause for the evening's main guest, Antonello Venditti, who performed two of his most famous songs: Amici mai and Ricordati di me. The Sanremo Festival is always a ratings hit. On Friday evening, 13,575,000 viewers tuned in to the show hosted by Carlo Conti. Raiuno recorded an absolute record with a market share of 70.8 percent. The “Festival della canzone italiana”, as it is officially called, is the oldest pop music competition in Europe. The singing competition has been held every winter since 1951 – in the early years in the Casino of Sanremo, and since 1977 in the Teatro Ariston. The final ranking of the 75th Sanremo Festival Olly - Balorda nostalgia Lucio Corsi - Volevo essere un duro Brunori Sas - L'albero delle noci Fedez-Battito Simone Cristicchi - Quando sarai piccola Giorgia - La cura per me Achille Lauro - Incoscienti giovani Francesco Gabbani - Viva la vita Irama - Lentamente Coma_Cose - Cuoricini Bresh - La tana del granchio Elodie - Dimenticarsi all 7 Noemi - Se t'innamori muori The Kolors - Tu con chi fai l'amore Rocco Hunt - Mille vote ancora Willie Peyote - Grazie ma no grazie Sarah Toscano - Amarcord Shablo feat Gue', Joshua e Tormento - La mia parola Rose Villain - Fuorilegge Joan Thiele - Eco Francesca Michielin - Fango in paradise Moda' - Non ti dimentico Massimo Ranieri - Tra le mani un cuore Serena Brancale - Anema e core Tony Effe - Damme 'na mano Gaia - Chiamo io chiami tu Clara - February Rkomi - The ritual of the cose Marcella Bella - Pelle diamante