It’s called Giannagold because the collection celebrates her golden anniversary in music. But there’s another reason, too: fifty years after her debut, Gianna Nannini, much like gold itself, has lost none of her value.
If anything, she remains a safe-haven asset in troubled times.
“As a young woman, I rebelled against my family and ran away from home,” recalls the 72-year-old rock star from Siena, daughter of industrialist Dario Nannini, who had wanted her to join the family confectionery business. We all know how that turned out.
No to prejudice and victimhood
A social experiment before she was even a singer-songwriter; a source of outrage in Christian Democrat-era Italy, when she sang about abortion; a driving force throughout the Eighties; a cult figure around the time of Sei nell’anima (2006). And today?
“Today, things are more complicated. The world moves fast, and getting people to accept you for who you really are — even as an artist — is difficult,” she says.
“When I started out, feminism was still in its infancy and patriarchy was deeply entrenched. I challenged a great many prejudices about women, but not to provoke a scandal. It was simply who I was. I have no time for victimhood. I love strong women: our work isn’t done yet.”
What does she tell her 15-year-old daughter Penelope, who grew up in London with Nannini and her partner? “I try to tune her in to the right frequencies. She’s already very self-assured. She doesn’t have a father, but that doesn’t necessarily mean she would have been exposed to a patriarchal model. The mistake is to divide the world into men and women. This isn’t a war. We simply need to overcome our preconceptions about femininity.”
A new starting point
The Giannagold album cover
A heretic and anything but conventional, Nannini returns to the stage without a trace of rhetoric. “I hate slogans, and I’m not interested in the past.”
Perhaps that is why she has chosen to celebrate her milestone by going against the grain: a collection of classics, ten of them — from I maschi and Latin lover to Sei nell’anima — reimagined with the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Gavin Greenaway.
A luxury (“The model is Rosalía’s Lux”), complemented by new songs written with Italian singer-songwriters from younger generations. Contributors include Italian songwriters Brunori Sas and Dimartino, who teamed up for Meraviglioso errore, and Gazzelle, co-writer of Ricominciassimo.
“For me,” she says with a smile, “this is a new starting point. Being ‘gold’ is a state we should all aspire to: shining, confident and self-aware. Activism is part of who I am, and it’s important to make your views known. I can’t speak on stage without being overcome by emotion, but I never hold back in interviews or in my songs.”
Back on tour
Speaking of the stage, Nannini will return in March for an arena tour, followed by a European leg with a particular focus on Germany, where she is a star in her own right — and not simply among the Italian expat community.
Last September, she performed in front of 20,000 German fans at Berlin’s monumental Waldbühne, accompanied by the Bohemian Symphony Orchestra Prague.
But Nannini has no intention of becoming a monument. “[Italian rapper and songwriter] Marracash is expected to join me as a special guest at some of the Italian dates. This summer, we reworked America together as America Inc., because the United States is no longer a dream — it’s a corporation. That’s another way I keep challenging myself.
What about the Sanremo Music Festival, Italy’s most prestigious annual song contest? “I’ve already won it, in 2008, as the songwriter behind Colpo di fulmine. But I’m not quite ready to enter the competition as a performer for the first time. Let’s talk again in 2076, for the centenary of my debut.”
There’s time yet.
This article was reviewed by an external translation partner