Måneskin

**Måneskin** (Danish for 'moonlight') is an Italian rock band from Rome, consisting of lead vocalist Damiano David, bassist Victoria De Angelis, guitarist Thomas Raggi, and drummer Ethan Torchio. In the beginnings playing on the streets, the band rose to fame after ending up second in the eleventh season of the Italian talent show *X Factor* in 2017. The band won the Sanremo Music Festival 2021 and the Eurovision Song Contest 2021 – as the Italian representative in the latter – with the song "Zitti e buoni". Having released two studio albums *Il ballo della vita* (2018) and *Teatro d'ira: Vol. I* (2021), one extended-play, and eight singles, they have topped the Italian music charts on various occasions, and collected 20 platinum and four gold certifications from FIMI, selling over one million records in Italy.

## History

### **2016: Beginnings on the street**

The band members first met each other as students of the same high school in Monteverde, Rome. They decided to start a band in 2016. The band's name was chosen when they had to register for Pulse, a local music contest for emerging bands. While brainstorming, De Angelis, who is half Danish, was asked by her bandmates to toss out some Danish words, and they agreed on *Måneskin* ("moonlight"), although its meaning is not related to the band itself. The Pulse Contest also marked a turning point in their career, since they had to start writing their own songs. The competition led them to perform at the Felt Music Club & School, and they later went on to win first prize.

They later performed as buskers in the streets of the Colli Portuensi district of Rome, as well as in the historical centre of Rome, including in Via del Corso. One of their first live concerts outside their native city took place in Faenza, at the 2016 Meeting of Independent Record Labels. Approximately 30 people attended the show. After a trip in Denmark, during which the band also performed some live shows, Måneskin strengthened their cohesiveness, and started to play together for several hours a day.

### **2017–2019: *X Factor* and debut breakthrough with *Il ballo della vita***

In 2017, they took part in the eleventh season of the Italian talent show *X Factor*, under the guidance of mentor Manuel Agnelli, and they ended up in second place behind Lorenzo Licitra. There they covered "Take Me Out" by Franz Ferdinand and "Somebody Told Me" by The Killers among others. The song they performed during the show, "Chosen", was released as a single on 24 November 2017 by Sony Music and charted at number 2 on the Italian FIMI Singles Chart. It was included in the extended play of the same title, released in mid December 2017 and mainly consisting of covers previously performed during the *X Factor* live shows. The EP was certified platinum by the Federation of the Italian Music Industry.

On 23 March 2018, the band released their first Italian-language single, "Morirò da re", which continued their commercial success. Måneskin's first full-length studio audio, featuring "Morirò da re" and preceded by the ballad single "Torna a casa", was released on 26 October 2018. Both the album, titled *Il ballo della vita*, and the single "Torna a casa" topped the charts in Italy. To promote the album, the band theatrically released a documentary film, titled *This Is Måneskin*. The film premiered on 26 October 2018 in Italy.

In January 2019 the band released their fourth single "Fear for Nobody", while in April 2019 their fifth single "L'altra dimensione" rose to fourth on the FIMI's Singles Chart. At the time the band members identified the most with their sixth single "Le parole lontane" released in September 2019 which reached Top 5 of the Singles Chart and was certified platinum. During their first career tour which was held in 2018 and 2019 they have sold-out over 70 dates selling more than 140,000 tickets, which also included their first European tour with eleven sold-out dates in Spain, France, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium and the United Kingdom.

### **2020–present: Sanremo Music Festival 2021, Eurovision Song Contest 2021 and *Teatro d'ira***

From late 2019 until spring 2020 they lived in London where they worked on new material. In October 2020, their seventh single "Vent'anni" was released. In March 2021, Måneskin won the Sanremo Music Festival 2021 with the song "Zitti e buoni". The band announced its new recording project entitled *Teatro d'ira* ("Theater of Wrath"), with the second studio album *Vol. I* released on 19 March 2021. They were announced as the winners of the Eurovision Song Contest 2021, representing Italy with "Zitti e buoni", in Rotterdam on 22 May 2021, having received a total of 524 points. After the contest, the single, album and other releases successfully entered Top 20 and Top 5 in the charts across Europe, while doing so also topped many of them. The single became the first Italian song in 30 years that charted in the Top 20 of the UK Singles Chart.

The band has announced a new album by the end of the year with four concert dates at Palazzetto dello Sport and Mediolanum Forum in December 2021 and first dates of an upcoming Italian tour starting in March 2022 at Unipol Arena and ending in April at Verona Arena which already sold over 60,000 tickets. They are scheduled to perform at the Rock am Ring and Rock im Park in June 2022.

## Musical style and influences

According to Damiano David, the "group is a translation of the music of the past into modernity". Måneskin have been classified as a pop rock, alternative rock, and glam rock band. Their music style changed from a pop rock sound with funk influences in their first studio album, to hard rock in their second studio album, as seen in "Zitti e buoni". Their look and sound have been compared to 70s rock music. The band members cite as influences Led Zeppelin, Fleetwood Mac, Nirvana, Radiohead, Franz Ferdinand, David Bowie, Gentle Giant, the Rolling Stones and the Doors.