Watercolor intensity from Italy’s unexpected new music star Lucio Corsi.
The current music market is definitely predictable in terms of artists’ chances in getting and gaining popularity. In fact, the dominance of streaming platforms allows to easily datify every single musical output; therefore, songs “stay where they belong” in terms of exposure, and fewer and fewer independent artists are able to break the so-called glass ceiling and get mainstream. But luckily, there are still exceptions to this rule, and the brightest example is the sudden popularity raise of Lucio Corsi, from Tuscany.
Corsi started his career in 2015, releasing the double EP “Altalena Boy/Vetulonia-Dakar” (altalena is seesaw and Vetulonia is the artist’s hometown), followed by three albums in 2017, 2020 and 2023. Since the very beginning, Corsi’s songs are very imaginative and evocative, sounding like modern fables and creating a world of its own, with an unique balance between childhood naivety and adult imagination.
His style is heavily influenced by the 1970s and gets inspiration both from world class legends like David Bowie, Peter Gabriel and Lou Reed and local heroes like Renato Zero and Ivan Graziani. His musical evolution moved him into glam territories and, little by little, guitars à-la T-Rex overtook and are now one of the main ingredients of Corsi’s musical recipe.
The recognition for his work grew stronger and stronger, but, after 10 years, his tours were still in clubs, and there were no signs of chances to get bigger and perform in arenas or stadiums. But things changed drastically, and for the better, just a few weeks ago. Corsi took part to the huge annual Italian music contest, and Eurovision Song Contest qualifier, called Festival della Canzone Italiana, or, more easily, Sanremo, from the name of the town where it takes places.
Expectations were low for Corsi; instead, his then unreleased song “Volevo Essere Un Duro” (I wanted to be a tough guy) got a lot of love and finished in the second place.
A real Luciomania suddenly took the whole country: tickets for the upcoming club tour instantly sold out, and an added date in Milan sold out as well in the blink of an eye. So, two huge summer dates were announced in Rome and Milan, both planned in racecourses with dozens of thousands capacity. They’re still not sold out, but it’s a huge leap for Corsi. Most notably, “Volevo Essere Un Duro” is Italy’s entry for ESC, as Sanremo winner Olly declined the opportunity to go to Basel, while Lucio accepted it.
On top of it, his fourth album “Volevo Essere Un Duro” was released on March 21st. It was written and recorded well before this popularity boost, but, of course, many more people were eager to listen to it. Until now, the reception is being great, as Corsi begins a new phase of his artistic life, with a collection of songs with a more classic style and a more concrete, realistic imprint.
This doesn’t mean that the album’s content is strictly classicist and realistic, but that these two characteristics emerge after passing through the “Lucio Corsi filter,” made up of kindness, innocence, disillusionment, a watercolor-like intensity, and a way of looking inward driven by a desire for escapism.
The key traits of everything Corsi has done up to this point are still all present, only now they’re expressed in a different way, probably more suitable for a wider audience. In any case, the feeling is there has been no calculation, but simply the artist’s desire to explore these territories in his own way, without losing his essence because, simply, he is capable of doing things only in this way, but has enough control over his art to bring it into any musical territory.
Stream “Volevo Essere Un Duro” LP on Spotify.
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