Oh, vita! (Oh, life!), the new album by Lorenzo Cherubini - stage name Jovanotti - is due to be released on Friday, marking a substantial turning point in his 30-year career.
Jovanotti's 14th album has been produced in collaboration with American producer Rick Rubin, who has stripped it of all embellishments to get to the essence of the music. "I had never done this before, it was difficult but incredibly stimulating. I wanted to be equal to the situation, to someone who has worked with Jhonny Clash, Adele, Ed Sheeran, the Red Hot Chili Peppers," Jovanotti said.
"He wasn't interested in my past, but rather in this album.
'And I want you to be interested in it too, without continuity with what you have done before,' he said. And he wasn't even interested in the lyrics, he wanted the emotion to be conveyed by the music, not by the words." The album was recorded over 18 days and is halfway between the singer-songwriting tradition and hip hop, with forays into reggae and the popular folk music of Emilia Romagna as well. "I don't know if the album will go down well, but it is undoubtedly an important part of my musical journey," Jovanotti continued.
"I have to admit that part of me is terrified because with this album Rubin has laid me bare and set me before my limitations, making me leave my comfort zone … And yet it is the album that is most truly my own," he said. "I don't know what will happen now. But it is as if Oh, vita! Were in some way my first album. We are starting from here and will see what happens. But there is no turning back," Jovanotti concluded. The release of album is accompanied by two related products: Sbam!, an almanac containing writing by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Zadie Smith, Donatella Di Pietrantonio and Davide; and Oh, vita! Making an album, a documentary film that will be in cinemas for a day. Instead Jovanotti's tour starts in Milan on February 12 with 10 dates, followed by 8 in Rome, 8 in Florence and others throughout the country.
"We are already working on it and it will be a mega party, people will dance. There will be 6-7 pieces from the album, and then the heart of the concert will be my repertory. But my new skin will also be visible in the reinterpretation of old pieces in a more pared-down, rock and roll fashion."
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