Ultimo takes us to the future in Sanremo 90, Travis Scott & Co.

Travis Scott is joined by The Weeknd and Bad Bunny, champions of platforms grinding out billions of streams. Ultimo draws on the 340,000-plus audiences of its stadium concerts and sings about the fears of a young prince struggling with success that has almost gotten out of hand.

And then the return of Zayn Malik, a combo between will.i.am and Britney Spears and – in Italy – the catchphrase you wouldn’t expect from Mara Saitei with Takagi and Catra and a song outside the traditional circuit by Alda and Guesson. Today’s New Music Friday has everything, absolutely everything. We’ve heard the most relevant releases of the week – here are our reviews.

Last – “Never Be Afraid”

Born in the dressing room before taking the stage at Rome’s Stadio Olimpico, “Poura Mai” is a quick ballad in which, at the height of its success, with more than 340,000 tickets sold for concerts in stadiums this year, Nicolo Moriconi – Ultimo’s real name – looks inside himself, inviting himself to overcome fears, apprehensions and doubts. Included in the live EP released to celebrate the victory in stadiums, this piece is spontaneous, heart-wrenching, with simple lyrics written in one go, a cross between Fabrizio Moro of the early days and Sanremo ’90s, complete with a solo on electric guitar at the end: “I’m scared without her / Still you know, I’m not scared / I’m never scared to look inside, when it’s dark outside / When everything’s closed, but I find color.” I will” / And if I’m afraid I know it’s normal / This life passes, but doesn’t disappear”. (MM)

Travis Scott, Bad Bunny, The Weeknd – “K-Pop”

The new piece “Utopia”, the record that all Travis Scott fans have been waiting for, brings together three legends: La Flamme himself with Bad Bunny and The Weeknd on melodic, sensual and Latin beats. A song, given the scope of the three heroes, will be made in huge numbers and will become the soundtrack of the clubs. It is well made on a marketing level, but not successful on a musical level. Mess. It’s certain that “Utopia” will see Travis experiment and play with the music, “K-Pop” being proof (CC).

Zayn Malik – “Love Like This”

Two and a half years after “Nobody’s Listening”, the career of the former One Direction – who had meanwhile changed record company, having moved from Sony Group’s RCA to Universal Group’s Mercury – began with “Love Like This”.

The single which marks the return of Zayn Malik and represents the first preview of the singer’s new album of unreleased songs, the first (former) member of the boy band launched by Simon Cowell to carve out a career and an identity beyond the group when they sold millions of copies on both sides of the Atlantic in 2016 mixing R&B and electronics with “Pilottalk” and the album “Mind of Mine”, moves between pop, contemporary R&B and breakbeat: faster and faster with Featuring a soft vocal mix production, signed by Monsters & Strangerz, the Miami collective is already behind the successes of – among others – Maroon 5, Camila Cabello, Rihanna, Katy Perry and Dua Lipa. (MM).

Will.I.M & Britney Spears – “Mind Your Mind”

Will.I.M inserts sounds, hyper electronic and a few verses here and there. Britney keeps repeating like a mantra, sometimes with autotune, sometimes without, “Mind your be, mind your be, mind your be, mind your be, mind your business-ness-ness”. So for more than 3 minutes. The content is that on the other hand “Chi Chi Chi, Co Co Co” by Pippo Franco was a futuristic masterpiece and even a text by Tony Efe is more poetic and deep. Q: But would Britney Spears, a scarred, disfigured and disfigured icon, really benefit from this type of operation? not answer. Free Brittany from the jackals. (mm)

Mara Sattei – “I Cry at the Disco”

A light, summery piece to dance to, despite some bittersweet points. “It’s a song born instantly, in an afternoon. We hit it off immediately with Takagi and Catra, we hit it off in two days, we knew from the start that it was going strong. It tells about a perfect love story and how, even when you find yourself trying to have fun in a club, you end up crying and thinking only of that person”, says Mara Sattei. Another single that’s set to be a hit of the summer, but has a little more to it than many others. (CC).

Alda & Guysen – “Pampano”

As children we believe that anything is possible. However, growing up, we collide with obstacles that are becoming increasingly insurmountable: this is the philosophy that lives in the song “Pampano”, signed by Alda with the Genoese rapper Guéson. Very nice and not obvious association at all. “Pampano” in Liguria is the name used to denote the “hopscotch game”. The concept is summarized in that basically we are just kids jumping over numbers on pompano, numbers are things that we, as adults, value, but which are really superficial. Off the Traditional Circuit: A Song to Hear. (CC).