2016 Reviews – Italy – Francesca Michielin – No Degree of Separation

After the winner of Sanremo Song Festival declined participation in Eurovision, Francesca Michielin grabbed the opportunity with both hands and ran with it. Her song, originally titled Nessun Grado di Separazione has since had a bilingual makeover to include a chorus of English, and its English title to be used – No Degree of Separation.

The song follows from a long line of radio friendly, already popular, and classy songs sent to Eurovision by Italy. This song has a good balance of interesting melodies, a catchy chorus and a non-offensive pop beat. Francesca’s voice builds over the 3 minutes, and I think considering this song wasn’t originally 3 minutes, they did a good job at cutting the song to 3 minutes without it sounding completely butchered. I’m glad to see the song mostly in Italian, and so incredibly relieved that they didn’t translate the whole song. The reason for that, and what does let it down for me is the English chorus. The literal word for word translation doesn’t flow as smoothly as the Italian language does, but I understand why she chose to add it in.

Francesca’s voice is one of the best in Italy’s pop scene right now, and even in a slower song such as this, it can be certain that she will bring her A-Game. Her passion for the contest, and wanting to learn more about her fellow participants proves that she’s in this for the love of it, and I think her emotion comes across in the song. As for her stage performance, I envision a really classy performance to match the class of the song. Other than that I’m not totally sure what we can expect in terms of backing singers or dancers or props etc.

I think this has a potential to do well, and it has the support across Europe but I’m not sure this will completely stand out from a pack of incredible songs. Potentially being in Italian, and being a slower song might give it some attention amongst the others, but this could get lost in the group. I think it deserves a decent ranking, but have a feeling it might end up somewhere in the middle.

This isn’t my favourite Italian entry since their return in 2011 but it’s still a song worthy of praise. I’m going to give it a 7/10.

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