Gianluca Grignani:… and the rest disappears

What do you feel then?
«A son of the people. I have tried family life, I have tried and still try to be a good father, I have tried to be responsible. But this life has conditioned me too much. I was not free. Now yes”.

In 2020, after almost 20 years, he separated.
“Long last. But I immediately capitalized on the quarter of an hour of suffering: it became my new single, which will be released soon. I haven’t felt such a strong emotion in years, maybe in My story between my fingers. I have often written love songs inventing what I wanted from a woman. Even from my wife. ‘

She won’t be happy to know.
“There is no malice. Do you want to know the truth? I know how to write about it very well. I know how to suffer. But in love I am still a virgin. I’ve never been loved much, and I’ve never loved much, as a result. I am demanding, because I exist. With me you live, you don’t stay “.

Do you think you can fall in love now?
“I would like to, but I don’t know if I’m capable of it. We need a Rita Levi Montalcini, but very cool ».

Why does he say he’s always been alone?
“I’ve never had anyone by my side who supported me. Neither my father, nor the record companies, nor my wife. There have always been only sour people around me. I always opened my arms to everyone, as if I were Our Lady, and I never received anything. When I realized it, I cried. You put me in a bit of awe, you know? ‘

I do not think.
“I said bullshit. I like him. But I’m also a bit smart ».

He says?
“In telling these things, either I’m smart or I’m stupid. You decide. “

Who should thank for these 27 years of career?
“People. And people don’t think what the media think, which have used and swallowed up my person. But I never gave a shit emeritus. Do you know why? Because if I hadn’t done that, I wouldn’t be here today. I realized that I can do nothing but be honest with myself. I earned my music with blows, on the street, taking an interest in people: the baker, the drug dealer, the Albanian who steals cars because he doesn’t fit into them, the bank manager who steals too … I am the people “.

Now I understand when he says “a child of the people”.
«I also said this at a concert on May Day:“ I am, I was and always will be on the side of the people. For the rest: sticazzi “. They always ask me which political side I’m on … ».

Do you want to say it now?
“Do you know who would be a good Prime Minister? Fedez. When I tell him he gets angry, but for me he wants to do it. “

Do you have any fears today?
“I’m afraid for my children, for their future. And I’m afraid we won’t leave any traces. Which is the reason why I make music, after all ».

Are you never afraid of losing inspiration?
“No, I’m afraid of dying, of not being able to say everything I still have to say, which is a lot. Too. I’m genius enough, huh. “

Who is the first person who told her “You can write!”?
“My kindergarten teacher. The first poem at the age of six: “A little flower shines in the sunlight, it seems to say to the sun: shine, oh sun, higher and higher, with its little yellow heart and its pink petals”. My mother’s best friend told her: this baby can do anything. ‘

Did he do it all?
“Everything, except marrying his daughter Cristina, my erotic dream as a child.”

Her eldest daughter, Ginevra, lives with her. Why?
“Because she is smart, she did well.”

Not even on her, today, would you like to lean on?
“I will never lean on my children. I don’t want them to live like my generation, with guilt. All thanks to Catholicism, which in this has also broken the bales a bit. With all due respect to the Pope, but I prefer the desecrating one of The Young Popewith that actor who looks like me ».

Jude Law. By the way, how did you experience his beauty?
“The first time I looked in the mirror, I saw one that was too good for the way I was inside. I didn’t feel comfortable, I didn’t understand why everything was so easy with women. Of course, if I look back today, I say: “Kill oh, not even Brad Pitt” ».

When we talked about her, at the beginning, Vasco Rossi and Lucio Battisti were brought up. Who do you choose between the two?
«Battisti, there is no doubt. I never gave a damn about becoming like Vasco ».

Do they still compare you to anyone today?
«They tell me I’m a bit De André. A man of great spirit, he told me things that flashed me ».

For example?
“If we go out drinking, with friends, and he promises not to tell me, I’ll tell him.”

Haven’t you learned to be wary of journalists?
“He’s right. Now they say I’m the Italian John Lennon. Even if Lucio Dalla said I’m more McCartney. When others tell you, you don’t care. You’d be cocky, to believe it. But if Dalla tells you… ».

Well, if Dalla tells you …
«For him I was many things; he was the greatest guide I have ever had. When I met him I was young: I went to his house, and found him hiding behind an armchair, frightened, I don’t know why. He looked at me. When he heard my voice, he saw how I was and came to me … And that’s it: he understood that I was freer than he thought ».

His latest unreleased album, from 2014, is Sometimes I exaggerate. When did you go overboard last time?
“Last night: I went to sleep early. I still exaggerate, always. But there are those who know how to do it, like me. And who is not ».

What was the worst moment of your life?
“This. Because I’m stalled, in the midst of change. But now I am aware that whoever writes a song and whoever listens to it feel the same, identical sensation. Except that I try it ten billion times and – believe me – it hurts. All the time I spend in the studio, I take off a piece of air. I’ll kill myself”.

In an interview with Vanity in 2008 he said: “I have always enjoyed trying everything and I did it.”
“It’s not that I like it. But he is stronger than me ».

Have you tried anything new since 2008?
“Life, I told you. It is the strongest drug I have ever tried. And I’ve tried drugs, like everyone else. She must have tried them too ».

I don’t have time to say no, actually no, we’ve already moved to the kitchen. Gianluca takes a kiwi, cuts it into cubes, puts it in a small flat plate and eats it with a teaspoon.

“I need acidic things. They are of that type there. ”

Will this single be followed by an album?
“Three, all dedicated to a girl who lived nearby, a little further down: Stefania, who died very young of leukemia. We used to climb peach trees to eat cherries, so says one of the new songs. She was telling me things, in a way she saved my life. The spiritual one ».

What did he say to her?
“That revolution is not a seasonal song: first they have to love you, then they have to hate you, then they have to respect you and then you have to run away”.

A little cryptic. At what point are you on this path?
“I’m not telling you, she’s the reporter.”

Gone, he hasn’t escaped yet.
«What I like to do is revolutionize. Now I can admit it, without being ashamed and with full knowledge of the facts: I am a revolutionary. A pause, Gianluca gets up from his chair. Stop. What else could I tell you? ».

To subscribe to Vanity Fair, click here.