Eurovision 2021 top 39 countdown #34: ITALY – Måneskin– Zitti e buoni

We reach the second Big 5 country of this year’s countdown and narrowly avoid having two Big 5s in my bottom 5. I have a feeling this may be the most controversial placing of my entire countdown but I think goes to demonstrate this is a very personal and subjective countdown! This (low) placing is no reflection of the quality of Måneskin or the song itself (both very high) but ultimately comes down to my personal music taste. And don’t forget, I placed Italy as my winner in my 2019 countdown.


Måneskin are a young Italian rock band, that have some distinctive glam rock and gender fluid style and manner, who first came to the Italian public’s attention in 2017 when they were runners up in that year’s Italian X Factor. In the years since then, they’ve gone from strength to strength with a string of platinum-selling singles and two huge selling albums. Perhaps it wasn’t a surprise they got a huge public vote when competing in this year’s Sanremo festival, pushing them to a clear victory.

So why have I placed this successful, popular, quality and authentic band so low in my countdown? Well, it is purely that matter of personal taste, and while I’m not wedded to specific music genres, rock (including alternative rock) has never been my cup of tea, and I just really struggle to actively enjoy “Zitti e buoni”.

I have no doubt though they will do a great live performance and I suspect their popularity within Italy will also translate well to the European-wide televote. Italy has done so well in the past ten years, I can’t see this not giving them another very good result indeed.



Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest

Flag of Italy

First entered: 1956

Appearances (excluding this year): 45

Best result: Winner 1964, 1990

2019’s result: 2nd

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