Suppose that, as Umberto Eco proclaimed in fragments 1959 (in Minimal Diary, Bompiani, 1963), an archaeologist of the distant future finds fragments of video clips of the hits of the Italian summer and considers them a tangible trace of a civilization of the past. Imagine what it would be like if we were represented only by men in Hawaiian shirts and sunglasses, vaping surrounded by girls in frayed shorts and bikinis. Perhaps the scientists of the 4th Intergalactic Congress of Archaeological Research would think that our vision of fashion is limited by a huge lack of resources. I don’t mean to promote boomerism, but I do know that since time immemorial, generational clashes have always revolved around music: one of the memes of my “youth” is the usual discussion of the poor quality of artists being listened to by young people with a dinosaur on duty, probably a person of my current age. Standing up to ridicule has never been easy, because the colleague lived through the golden age of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. In truth, they weren’t even joking in the 90s, starting with Kurt Cobain and Nirvana, continued to climb the hip-hop and R&B charts, followed by Brit Pop and Metal, until they closed with Britney Spears in 1999. If I scroll through any playlist that contains iconic songs from the last decade of the 20th century, I realize that the real richness lay in the variety of genres and in the international scope, a real melting pot of cultures. Listening to these works, my generation savored different scenarios and ways of being, dreaming – like the previous ones – of London, New York and “under the bridge” of the city of angels, sung by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, or of becoming “big” in Japan before with Alphaville (1984) and then with Guano Apes (2000), the journey became even more creative with original anime theme music.I don’t think today’s teens and young adults are bored with exploring the world, but their vision of music is limited, especially in terms of language and sound.What’s up?Bubbles are coming.Instagram, TikTok and Spotify have learned Gen Z’s consumer habits so well that they’ve wrapped them in a corpus of Italian music that I would define as hit and run, hit and run from memory Obviously, this generalization works great for those who don’t have many external stimuli, because hiding in a bubble is the safest choice, especially if the pandemic has survived in the middle of the developmental age.I experienced real discomfort when I accidentally read on Instagram that summer hits were born in 2015 with Maria Salvador by J-Axe – the ubiquitous rapper, hits of the summer alone or in the company of Fedez – feat. CHILE. It was as if no one had released summer music in the entire previous century. As if a gentleman named Ricky Martin never existed. The Gordian knot lies in the construction of these winged texts, which, in addition to tormenting those of other cultures, cloud the naive and uneducated conscience of the generation. What can be recognized in the Italian music market is that from 2015 to the present day, Italian hits have been created with firm and largely unchanged criteria, sung by a “hard core” of male artists supported by the “women” of the moment, often and willingly disguised in commercials at the behest of cheap sensuality, sometimes even gentle, albeit naive.
I tried to compare late 20th century summer pieces with Gen Z favorites, and the results are surprising with a high level of banality, machismo, and thickening of pretty quotes from 60s songs. Mostly these people spend their summers lounging around with alcohol and drugs, spending most of the night dancing, turning their phones off and trying to run away with someone. It’s a result as obvious as it is shared by common sense: to add some analytical complexity, I decided to review the dress code of the summer hit through lyrics and video clips.
The first Italian summer hits imprinted in my memory are two: Italian summerknown to most as Magic nightswritten by Giorgio Moroder, Edoardo Bennato and Gianna Nannini, the official song of the 90s FIFA World Cup in Italy, which talks about the emotions, dreams and thrill of chasing the ball in scorching temperatures and then You are a myth dei 883, launched in 1993, revolves around a revamped female figure from the stilen era, supernatural because she is superior to others, unique in her beauty and in being “without paranoia” like a man. The “myth” is described not so much through naturalistic resemblance or exaltation of the “golden cape”, but through the glorification of underwear: “with a balcony body that holds you on such a breast as has never been seen before.” The song is about a date between a normal man and a beautiful woman, interspersed with references to the value system of bar friends recurring in Max Pezzali’s lyrics. In the 883 universe, this drug is mentioned, but as an antagonist that kills or cheats on childhood friends, it can also be heard in This World Won’t Make Me Bad (Netflix 2023), a Zerocalcare series with Heaps. In my world of a little girl, even the phrase “In order not to be late, maybe God stoned me” seemed serious, in my provincial ignorance, a combo-blasphemous hymn to drugs. In fact, fishing means making a mistake, Treccani says so too, but there was no way to google it at the time. To the 883rd, originally compiled by Pezzali and Mauro Repetto, we must include another summer hit, that is North South West East, in which we find the first traces of the Italo-Spanish creolization, ubiquitous in summer hits since 2015. Why Spanish? In addition to being a Romance language similar to Italian and therefore easily understood, it has a pronounced musicality and is associated, by common sense, with festive moments of relaxation and fun, exotic enough to instantly cheer you up. Let’s think about group dancing. If the 883 travel through the desert in all directions described by the 4 cardinal directions to find their female angel, after a few years we see that the narrative scheme does not change, but becomes more explicit and less narratively sophisticated. In fact, summer hits continue to tell stories about good and evil in terms of “Us against them”, no longer friends for all time, but inhabitants of the same bubble who are unhappy with ill-wishers, i.e. those who doubted the capabilities of the artist. which he then “split” and redeemed himself in society.
This “we” manifests its reborn and infinite power through millions of practices interspersed with lists of luxury brands associated with legitimate or covert product placement activities. Naming brands or mentioning TV shows, movies, or cartoons is a smart choice to ease the identification process in a song to make it the soundtrack of choice this year. From the 1990s to the 2000s, the concept of “party” changes, from the rise of the sea, naked bodies and fleeting but unforgettable relationships, we move on to an apology for feelings altered by drugs and alcohol, which, combined with music, “gives a charge, strengthen the body and spirit” (Marrone 2005). If money and a new social position reflect the ability to do something, then drugs, alcohol and music serve to justify the desire to be the protagonists of the stories told by summer hits, justifying the value system that needs to be propagated.
In fact, Instagram’s saving grace is enhanced in the first “visit” recognized by Instagram users. Marya parable that continues with Elodie changing the exciting sector, preferring tequila and guarana (2020).
Even desirable places to spend the summer season are transformed over time: Rimini and Riccione – the pillars of the imaginary summer of the twentieth century – eventually give way to Salento, where mambo dances along with pizza with Bumdabash and Alessandra Amoroso (2019). There is a small international parenthesis with Rome-Bangkok (Baby K featuring Giusy Ferreri, 2015), Pamplona (Fabry Fibra, journalists, 2017) e Malibu (Sangiovanni 2021) although paradise after all Ostia Lido (2019), complete with a J-Axe in a Putin T-shirt racing along the coastline on an ATV, the main summer vehicle, along with a special Vespa 50. Whatever the coordinates of these places, you can dance in the end, better if before dawn . The idea of Italian relaxation is equivalent to rigid adherence to holiday patterns. It is a pity that the real journey begins when the travel commitments are postponed.
A few words in English from time to time is fine, but part of the summer must be Italian.
The mythical woman of the 2000s is a frighteningly beautiful babe whose clothes can suddenly “fall off” and cause disorientation for poor Rocco Hunt in the line of duty, as described in One step away from the moon with Ana Mena (2021). The tides of love become clear with Elettra Miura Lamborghini, a female predator who loves pem pem (2018) on the machine of the same name, between a glass of a joint and a sip of – again – tequila, preferably with a damn boy.
I point out the discrimination of a flowery summer dress, light and fluttering, in favor of more rigid and full-bodied materials – rigid, among which sequins are repeated, metallic textures that bare backs are worn in the evening, as Irama sings Black (2018) well covered with very fresh studded leather. Leather and latex also triumph in the anthem maranthTo Black glasses Anna, Ava and Capoplaza (2023), where the perfect summer is spent in the garage, dancing among the cars. From the asphalt we go out to the open sea: on the boat we choose clothes characterized by greater softness, a rare shimmer of sobriety without a logo, suddenly washed away by some kind of product placement of spirits or Peroni beer, which is held in the hands of singers in bright shirts with short sleeves, worn on a shirt. Meanwhile, the moon, invoked several times in accordance with poetic tradition, observes the short life cycle of these baroque hits, like the Versace prints that adorn the breasts and hair of beach models.
A bubble of video clips and social networks pours from the screens and floods the streets of Italian seaside resorts, dooming people who are unaware of the tricks of the fictional world to “masquerade” in the summer, giving rise to incredible metamorphoses that parody the way of withdrawal from life. everyday reality. It’s called an “equal” aesthetic, where imitation becomes art…or an obsession.
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Bianca Terracciano | Dress code. dress like a tourist
On the cover of J-Ax and Putin Ostia Lido.