Mahmood has won the prestigious San Remo music festival in Italy. After performances throughout the week, he came out on top every night, and has therefore won the opportunity to represent Italy at Eurovision in Tel Aviv. He has accepted the invitation to represent Italy in Tel Aviv.
Mahmood has been in the top ranking in Sanremo all week. In the super final, he defeated Il Volo, who came 3rd in the main Eurovision Song Contest in 2015. Ultimo was the third super finalist.
The winner of the 69th San Remo festival is of Sardinian-Egyptian decent, however he was born and raised in Italy. At the San Remo winners press conference, he confirmed that he will be taking “Soldi” to the Eurovision Song Contest in Tel Aviv in May.
Watch Mahmood live at Sanremo 2019 with his Eurovision song “Soldi”:
Other notable names in the competition this year included Nek, who took part in Sanremo in 1997 and 2015 and is a big name in Italy, and Nino d’Angelo, who sang for Germany at Eurovision 1989, was also a participant in Italy this year.
Overall rankings for Big Artists Section
The final rankings (without percentage breakdowns) of the Big Artists section, the section which gives artist first refusal on a ticket to represent Italy at The Eurovision Song Contest are as follows:
- Mahmood – Soldi
- Ultimo – I tuoi particolari
- Il Volo – Musica che resta
- Loredana Bertè – Cosa ti aspetti da me
- Simone Cristicchi – Abbi cura di me
- Daniele Silvestri – Argentovivo
- Irama – La ragazza con il cuore di latta
- Arisa – Mi sento bene
- Achille Lauro – Rolls Royce
- Enrico Nigiotti – Nonno Hollywood
- Boomdabash – Per un milione
- Ghemon – Rose viola
- Ex-Otago – Solo una canzone
- Motta – Dov’è l’Italia
- Francesco Renga – Aspetto che torni
- Paola Turci – L’ultimo ostacolo
- The Zen Circus – L’amore è una dittatura
- Federica Carta e Shade – Senza farlo apposta
- Nek – Mi farò trovare pronto
- Negrita – I ragazzi stanno bene
- Patty Pravo con Briga – Un po’ come la vita
- Anna Tatangelo – Le nostre anime di notte
- Einar – Parole nuove
- Nino D’Angelo e Livio Cori – Un’altra luce
Liveblog of the grand final of Sanremo 2019
Sadie Trent followed the San Remo final for ESCDaily and wrote this about Mahmood’s performance:
Similar background to Dance you Off in terms of the blue and red stream lighting, but not the same style of song. The song is about money and the singer is very enthusiastic when singing it. Singer is dressed in all black and stands out against the staging, gives me Benjamin Ingrosso vibes, but this singer is much older. The song is pop but a quirky type of pop and his voice suits it but the band and orchestra do not.
Since the final last night, Italy’s interior minister Matteo Salvini expressed his disapproval at the eventual winner of the 69th San Remo Festival, and his comments can be read in article produced by The Times of Malta. He made this comment as the song was in Italian with some lines of it in Arabic.
Since Italy is a member of the Big Five at Eurovision, they have a guaranteed place in the Grand Final of the contest, which will take place on the 18th of May.
By far the best entry til now and a big relief after the choices earlier today.