Arisa: “Love is a simple thing”

With all the looks and genres and styles of music it has changed over the years, from Sincerity to date, Arisa is perhaps the most versatile singer we have in Italy. We ask for a comment, she replies with a joke: “Yes, I’m as versatile as a small car”. She laughs and occasionally yawns: she is tired, perhaps the most tiring days of the year are these pre-Sanremo in which we intercept her. Arisa owes his career to the Festival, especially for his debut with the first place among young people with Sincerity, and then in particular for The night, a romantic turn and at the same time goodbye to the cartoon character full of glasses and playful refrains, one of the many transformations he would have accustomed us to.

Two years ago it was the turn of the carefree and retro song, I feel good, a hymn to the little things that make us feel good when we are down, a text so sincere and disarming that it was hard not to think: Arisa is one of us. A little the same effect it does, even if with the sounds and atmospheres of the Neapolitan song, this year’s song, You could have done more. Gigi D’Alessio wrote it but it tells about Arisa’s world and the experience of many: that of a toxic love, a contradiction in terms that indicates a relationship that is not at all healthy but that often happens to live.

Has this ever happened to you?
“Yes, and I was not a victim, I also had my share of responsibility. You know that Vasco song, Our relationship, which says: “Our relationship is something different, it’s not love at all and maybe it’s not even sex, we just live in the same bed, a little out of habit, or maybe a little out of spite” “.

More habit or more spite in your case?
“Maybe in spite, like in that film, The War of the Roses… Here, I was inside that story ».

How do you realize you are living in toxic love?
“The signs are many, but basically you realize it when you don’t feel comfortable in the relationship, you live with a constant repressed cry in your throat, you are always a little discontented, you never feel really comfortable and never really beloved, you trouble yourself about stupid things. Instead, as Tiziano Ferro says, love is a simple thing. When you are with a person you just know it, then there will be misunderstandings, but the feeling of being loved is clear. But we must have the courage ».

Courage to do what?
«To choose happiness, because happiness is a duty, makes us balanced people who form a balanced society. After so many tears I reflected on the fact that we have a duty to be happy towards the people around us, otherwise we throw everything away o ‘cess».

Are the songs therapeutic?
“Yes, they are a kind of confession. Sometimes to say what you have inside you have to go to the psychologist, because often people cannot listen to you, I am always afraid of doing violence to others with my problems. With songs, on the other hand, I declare my truths and exorcise many moments of life, I let them go and then I’m ready to look forward ».

On social media he actually says a lot about himself and, for example, about the relationship with his body. It has become a symbol of body positivity.
«Ehhh look … We women have to take several exams. The first is the one with our father, then in middle school and during adolescence there are tests that determine if we are Serie A or B girls, if we are cool, nerd, losers, etc. But the exam never ends: with social media it becomes even harder and also falsified because with all those filters… ».

As a teenager, what category did you fall into?
“A tomboy, like all the women in my family. I come from a matriarchal family, with an approach to femininity that I never found on TV. I was neither cool nor unlucky, I was more of a pest, I was making a mess ».

Is he making peace with his body?
“Yes, but I take care of it without pretending to be perfect. This body is my home, it accompanies me everywhere ».

What impact does the recording environment have on self-acceptance?
«It is very masculine and I hear absurd comments from men… unfortunately, men often judge women as things that are okay or not, it is as if we were milk, with an expiration date. I love them but they should be more magnanimous ».

There is also the women’s championship though: women are not always tender with women.
«Ah yes, the rivalry is terrible, it scares me. Being very male, I tend to take a step back when I smell competition. I’d pay to hear nothing. Why does he know what? In life I just want to be quiet ».