The laughing gaze, the enthusiasm of those who are ready to embrace the public again: Tiziano Ferroconnected from Los Angeles, tells of the happiness, at 43, of seeing her grow up with her husband Victor Allen children Margherita pizza And Andres and the emotion of returning on tour in Italy from 7 June (starting from Lignano Sabbiadoro, touring all of Italy). Twenty-year career. The single is out today Bye my Lovedance song dedicated to depression, contained in the last album, already gold record, The world is Ours.
What period are you living in?
«An unexpected period, I haven’t prepared a tour for six years. There was Covid, I’m starting to think about the lineup. For the rest we go on, the children grow up, which is a very nice thing, I write new songs. I feel the enthusiasm I had as a kid».
Will the tour be different than you had thought it would be in 2020?
«Impossible to do it again as I had thought it: for me this rapprochement with the public has a sort of religious quality, I saw faith in the people who didn’t return the tickets. They taught me that trust is a higher power. I like the idea of creating a moment that will speak for itself. I accept miracles, for example, I’ve never sung it live. And then Raffaella Carrà passed away».
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Were you very close?
“His death was one of the greatest pains, he was like a member of the family. We spent a lot of time together in Madrid. She was starting to record the second season of The Story You Begin and had to come to Los Angeles to interview me, overcoming her fear of flying. I was waiting for her, she never told me anything about the disease. When I made her listen to Raffaella è mine, she jumped on the table halfway through the recording. She feared it was a complaint, she wanted to see the stadium jumping ».
And so it will be. Instead “Goodbye my love” is about depression. Why this title?
«I regret having said what you are talking about, I wanted to leave the ambiguity. Sometimes people who don’t know it talk about depression. I imagined this glamorous woman with a manipulative ability. She affects the geniuses and even the stupid, she is a Democrat. Pain eventually becomes your comfort zone, you know it inside out. Chronic depression must be treated with chemistry, like diabetes is treated, and with a psychiatric course. The problem is the stigma: depressed, therefore crazy».
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He suffered for it, but what did he understand most in Los Angeles?
“When I moved here, I heard people talking about depression as a condition that can be hereditary. I started documenting. I remember as a child, while the others at school were playing, I looked at the sky and everything gave me anguish. I thought: “That’s how I am”. In reality, in addition to psychological therapy, serotonin must be rebalanced. You do the analysis well if you look and listen with the eyes and ears of someone who is not underground».
One is almost ashamed to say: “I feel down, I can’t do it”.
“My grandmother, who suffered from depression and anxiety, was completely sedated. I want to live well, those therapies are obsolete. We are still heirs to the Italian sense of guilt; we are children of war, of poverty, whoever suffers is a much more dignified person. It takes time to change the habits of a people. I realized how difficult it is to be a black man in the US, and slavery ended 150 years ago.”
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Is talking about malaise liberating?
«I found inspiration in Lady Gaga’s blog with Oprah Winfrey in which she tells second by second what she did. You have to give details or people don’t understand. You become a version of yourself that doesn’t exist. You have to overcome the sense of modesty».
It’s difficult?
«So many things are defeated in the representation in the media, think about when there was no gay singer, a gay character. You are and you convince yourself that you are defective, instead if there is another you compare yourself».
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edited by edited by the Spettacoli editorial staff
How is it with his children?
«I have a lot of fun with them, yesterday I sent several videos to Romina Power».
You are friends?
“I met her by chance. I had been to Palm Springs, just had a massage, wanted to buy water. I slip into this little shop and there she is, I call her: “Romina!!!”. We exchanged her numbers, and I took the liberty of sending her a video of the kids: she dances and sings, he’s a little more caveman. There is everything they hear and see now: Raffaella, Mina and Battisti e The quack dance».
Do you spoil the children?
“Discipline is the greatest form of love you can give your children. But you can’t make them live in a silent world. I slapped them in the crowd, at 7.30 they go to sleep near the room where we receive friends. They are used to it. Their life revolves around ours, here in California there is the incredible theory that children can do whatever they want».
Is everyone free?
“The nannies at the interviews were terrified: ‘Can we say no?’ But you have to say no a thousand times. Victor has Cuban Hispanic parents. With my father at the table – if I got a word or pronunciation wrong – I couldn’t go on eating until I corrected myself. He was a common surveyor, and I thank him infinitely.’
He will admit that reconciling love and rules isn’t always easy.
“Love is boundless and has no limit. The result is that the children then jump, they don’t respect others, they do as they please in the restaurant».
Will you take them to Italy in June?
“Sure, I want them to see what dad does.”
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Have you ever thought about returning to live in Italy?
«I met Victor and with him things that I have never experienced, I didn’t choose life here, it has evolved in this sense. It’s a conversation I also had with my mother, who is very sad because I’m far away. I deal with the question of rights in retrospect. Before being absorbed by this place without choosing it, I had bought a house in Milan, which I then sold. I wanted to have this experience, become a father regardless: could I have done it?».
Are we far behind on civil rights?
«We are behind on everything, it takes ten years for anyone who wants to adopt, it is not a question of gay or non-gay. Brothers of my friends go to Spain to give themselves a chance, I’m not thinking only of homosexuals, but also of heterosexuals. It makes life complex for people who will do what they want anyway. Don’t stop the Italians. Everyone has the right to their own happiness.”
Do you trust those who govern us?
«I released the last record right after the elections and everyone was asking me: “Are you worried?”. But why? What have other governments done? Think of the Ius soli: children of immigrants born in Italy cannot yet have Italian citizenship. I don’t think whoever’s in charge wants to cause more damage, I’m confident. I want to see them in action. Let’s not play this preconceived game: the right is bad. The problem isn’t the right or the left, it’s the head. I think of civil unions “be careful not to call them marriage”. It’s not exactly the same, in fact it’s offensive. We are behind on rights. And that’s that. I have seen them fail with all the governments ».
He saw? Voters in the Pd primaries chose Elly Schlein.
«People exist regardless of what the political classes decide to tell. My career had to end with coming out, right? A suicide. I don’t think it happened that way. I trust the generations that have begun to vote.”
What do you think of social media?
«I don’t understand why, in 2023, after episodes of people who have killed themselves, one shouldn’t register with documents: virtual murder exists. We need to regulate social networks, I’m for zero tolerance. Enough. Instead, you have to dedicate five minutes to those who love you».
You were there as a guest, would you return to the Sanremo Festival in competition?
«I watched this Sanremo because I was in Italy: I liked so many songs. But it’s too long, I’m starting to get older, if I were the presenter I’d try to finish a little earlier. When a camera is turned on, I don’t say 50%, but 70%, while on stage in concert I can give my best. TV castrates me, the idea of playing a song for the first time in Sanremo creates an anxiety that I wouldn’t be able to face. But I’d like it”.