Sanremo Music Festival 2024
The Sanremo Music Festival 2024, officially the 74th Italian Song Festival, was the 74th edition of the annual Sanremo Music Festival, a television song contest held at the Teatro Ariston of Sanremo, organised and broadcast by RAI. It was held between 6 and 10 February 2024, and presented for the fifth and final time in a row by Amadeus, who also served as the artistic director for the competition. The festival was won by Angelina Mango with "La noia ", earning her the right to represent in the Eurovision Song Contest 2024.
Format
The 2024 edition of the Sanremo Music Festival took place at the Teatro Ariston in Sanremo, Liguria, organised by the Italian public broadcaster RAI. The artistic director and the presenter for the competition was Amadeus, for the fifth and final consecutive year.Presenters
On 24 March 2022, a month after the final of the 2022 edition, RAI officially confirmed Amadeus as the presenter of the 73rd and 74th editions of the Sanremo Music Festival, announcing in June 2023 that this would be his last time hosting the event. Each of the nights of the festival was co-hosted, respectively, by: Marco Mengoni, the winner of the previous edition, who additionally performed his 2013 and 2023 winning entries "L'essenziale" and "Due vite" as well as other songs from his repertoire; Giorgia, who additionally performed her breakthrough song "Sanremo Music Festival 1994" and her 1995 winning entry "Come saprei", as well as other songs from her repertoire; Teresa Mannino; Lorella Cuccarini; and Rosario Fiorello, who was originally meant to be a guest on that night. The competing entries on each of the second and third nights were also introduced by the non-competing artists alongside the hosts.In addition, PrimaFestival, the introductory segment aired before each of the nights and during the opening red carpet, was hosted by Paola & Chiara, Mattia Stanga and Daniele Cabras.
Format changes
On 19 June 2023, Amadeus announced to have proposed changes in the rules of the contest, as well as in the organisation of the traditional five evening shows. The complete rules were published on 10 July.Changes affected the number of the entries, the arrangement of the five shows, the cover performance show and the jury system.
Voting
Voting occurred again through the combination of three methods:- Public televoting, carried out via landline and mobile phone.
- Jury of the press room, TV and web.
- Jury of the radio, detached from the second one and replacing the demoscopic jury from previous editions.
- First night: all of the entrants were judged by the jury of the press room, TV and web.
- Second night: half of the entrants were judged through a 50/50 split system by means of televoting and the jury of the radio.
- Third night: the other half of the entrants were judged through a 50/50 split system by means of televoting and the jury of the radio.
- Fourth night: the covers were judged through a split system by means of the televoting and the two juries. The results obtained on each evening that far were then combined.
- Fifth night: as in previous years, the entrants were judged by televoting alone, to be added up to the results obtained that far; ultimately, a final voting round was held among the top five, which determined the winner.
Selections
Sanremo Giovani ''2023''
For the third time in a row, the Newcomers' section was not included in the Festival, with the Sanremo Giovani selection directly decreeing three places reserved in the Big Artists' section. The twelve artists competing in the format were selected through two separate contests: standard section and Area Sanremo.Standard selection
Online submissions for the standard selection were open between 15 June and 19 October 2023. On 27 October 2023, it was announced that 564 acts had applied, 49 of which were selected at a listening session by a musical committee – composed of Federica Lentini, and, and chaired by the artistic director – to proceed to a live audition in Rome on 10 November; there, a total of eight Sanremo Giovani finalists were selected. Their songs were released on 18 November 2023.| Artist | Song | Songwriter |
| Bnkr44 | "Effetti speciali" | |
| Clara | "Boulevard" | |
| Grenbaud | "Mama" | Simone Buratti |
| Jacopo Sol | "Cose che non sai" | |
| Lor3n | "Fiore d'inverno" | Lorenzo Iavagnilio |
| Santi Francesi | "Occhi tristi" | |
| Tancredi | "Perle" | |
| Vale LP | "Stronza" |
Area Sanremo ''2023''
The rules of the Area Sanremo selection, organised by the Municipality of Sanremo alongside the Sanremo Symphonic Orchestra Foundation, were released on 10 October 2023, with the opening of an online application platform lasting until 30 October 2023. Artists aged between 16 and 30 were eligible to compete. The 772 submitting acts were auditioned by a musical committee – composed of Alessio De Stefani, Lavinia Iannarilli, Paolo Biamonte and Sergio Rubino, and chaired by the artistic director – between 4 and 24 November 2023 at the Sanremo Palafiori, with around fifty qualifiers from this phase attending a final round on 25 and 26 November 2023; there, twenty winners were proclaimed among whom a total of four Sanremo Giovani finalists were selected. Their songs were released on 1 December 2023.| Artist | Song | Songwriters |
| Dipinto | "Criminali" | |
| Fellow | "Alieno" | |
| Nausica | "Favole" | |
| Omini | "Mare forza 9oi" |
Final
The final of Sanremo Giovani was held on 19 December 2023 at the Sanremo Casino Theatre, presented by Amadeus and broadcast on Rai 1 and Rai Radio 2, as well as on the broadcaster's online platform RaiPlay. The ranking was determined by a 50/50 combination of votes from the musical committee and the artistic director ; the resulting top three artists were selected to compete in the Big Artists' section.| Draw | Artist | Song | Result |
| 1 | Grenbaud | "Mama" | Not selected |
| 2 | Clara | "Boulevard" | Winner |
| 3 | Bnkr44 | "Effetti speciali" | Selected |
| 4 | Lor3n | "Fiore d'inverno" | Not selected |
| 5 | Nausica | "Favole" | Not selected |
| 6 | Dipinto | "Criminali" | Not selected |
| 7 | Santi Francesi | "Occhi tristi" | Selected |
| 8 | Tancredi | "Perle" | Not selected |
| 9 | Vale LP | "Stronza" | Not selected |
| 10 | Fellow | "Alieno" | Not selected |
| 11 | Omini | "Mare forza 9oi" | Not selected |
| 12 | Jacopo Sol | "Cose che non sai" | Not selected |
Competing entries
For the third year in a row, the Newcomers' section of the contest was merged into the traditional Big Artists section, which sees the participation of 30 artists. 27 were selected by the artistic director among established artists, both by direct invitation and from over 400 submissions received by the deadline of 27 November 2023, and were announced on 3 December 2023; the remaining three artists qualified from Sanremo Giovani on 19 December 2023 and competed with a new song. All the titles were announced on that day, with the lyrics published on 30 January 2024. By tradition, the full entries were only premiered during the festival, but a special listening session reserved for the press was held at the RAI studios on 15 January.| Artist | Song | Songwriter | Conductor | Rank | Awards |
| Alessandra Amoroso | "Fino a qui" | Francesco Mancarella | 9 | ||
| Alfa | "Vai!" | 10 |
| ||
| Angelina Mango | "La noia " | Giovanni Pallotti | 1 | ||
| Annalisa | "Sinceramente " | Daniel Bestonzo | 3 | rowspan="3" | |
| BigMama | "La rabbia non ti basta" | Alberto Cipolla | 22 | - | |
| Bnkr44 | "" | Enrico Melozzi | 28 | - | |
| Clara | "Diamanti grezzi" | Valeriano Chiaravalle | 24 | ||
| Dargen D'Amico | "Onda alta" | 20 | rowspan="3" | ||
| Diodato | "Ti muovi" | Antonio Diodato | 13 | - | |
| Emma | "Apnea " | Alberto Cipolla | 14 | - | |
| Fiorella Mannoia | "" | Clemente Ferrari | 15 | ||
| Francesco Renga and Nek | "" | 25 | rowspan="9" | ||
| Fred De Palma | "" | Valeriano Chiaravalle | 30 | - | |
| Gazzelle | "Tutto qui" | Enrico Melozzi | 11 | - | |
| Geolier | "I p' me, tu p' te" | Francesco D'Alessio | 2 | - | |
| Ghali | "Casa mia" | Enrico Melozzi | 4 | - | |
| Il Tre | "" | Carmelo Patti | 12 | - | |
| Il Volo | "Capolavoro" | Carmelo Patti | 8 | - | |
| Irama | "Tu no" | Giulio Nenna | 5 | - | |
| La Sad | "Autodistruttivo" | Simone Bertolotti | 27 | - | |
| Loredana Bertè | "Pazza" | Luca Chiaravalli | 7 | ||
| Mahmood | "Tuta gold" | Carmelo Patti | 6 | ||
| Maninni | "Spettacolare" | Enrico Brun | 26 | ||
| Mr. Rain | "Due altalene" | Enrico Melozzi | 17 | ||
| Negramaro | "Ricominciamo tutto" | Giuliano Sangiorgi | Davide Rossi | 19 | |
| Ricchi e Poveri | "Ma non tutta la vita" | Lucio Fabbri | 21 | rowspan="5" | |
| Rose Villain | "Click Boom!" | Davide Rossi | 23 | - | |
| Sangiovanni | "Finiscimi" | Davide Rossi | 29 | - | |
| Santi Francesi | "L'amore in bocca" | Daniel Bestonzo | 18 | - | |
| The Kolors | "Un ragazzo una ragazza" | Valeriano Chiaravalle | 16 | - |
Shows
First night
All of the competing artists performed their songs.| Draw | Artist | Song | Press jury ranking |
| 1 | Clara | "Diamanti grezzi" | 19 |
| 2 | Sangiovanni | "Finiscimi" | 30 |
| 3 | Fiorella Mannoia | "Mariposa" | 6 |
| 4 | La Sad | "Autodistruttivo" | 28 |
| 5 | Irama | "Tu no" | 17 |
| 6 | Ghali | "Casa mia" | 9 |
| 7 | Negramaro | "Ricominciamo tutto" | 10 |
| 8 | Annalisa | "Sinceramente " | 3 |
| 9 | Mahmood | "Tuta gold" | 5 |
| 10 | Diodato | "Ti muovi" | 4 |
| 11 | Loredana Bertè | "Pazza" | 1 |
| 12 | Geolier | "I p' me, tu p' te" | 23 |
| 13 | Alessandra Amoroso | "Fino a qui" | 15 |
| 14 | The Kolors | "Un ragazzo una ragazza" | 7 |
| 15 | Angelina Mango | "La noia " | 2 |
| 16 | Il Volo | "Capolavoro" | 13 |
| 17 | BigMama | "La rabbia non ti basta" | 16 |
| 18 | Ricchi e Poveri | "Ma non tutta la vita" | 12 |
| 19 | Emma | "Apnea " | 8 |
| 20 | Francesco Renga and Nek | "Pazzo di te" | 25 |
| 21 | Mr. Rain | "Due altalene" | 24 |
| 22 | Bnkr44 | "Governo punk" | 28 |
| 23 | Gazzelle | "Tutto qui" | 14 |
| 24 | Dargen D'Amico | "Onda alta" | 10 |
| 25 | Rose Villain | "Click Boom!" | 20 |
| 26 | Santi Francesi | "L'amore in bocca" | 18 |
| 27 | Fred De Palma | "Il cielo non ci vuole" | 27 |
| 28 | Maninni | "Spettacolare" | 21 |
| 29 | Alfa | "Vai!" | 22 |
| 30 | Il Tre | "Fragili" | 26 |
Second night
Fifteen of the competing artists performed their songs. Each of them was introduced on stage by one of the non-competing artists.Third night
The remaining fifteen competing artists performed their songs. Each of them was introduced on stage by one of the non-competing artists.Fourth night
The artists each performed an Italian or international song from the past, duetting with one or more guest performers.Fifth night
All of the artists performed their songs one final time, with the top five moving on to the final round of voting.| Draw | Artist | Song | Press jury rank | Radio jury rank | Televote score | Total score | Place |
| 1 | Irama | "Tu no" | 5 | 4 | 7.5% | 6.9% | 5 |
| 2 | Ghali | "Casa mia" | 3 | 3 | 8.3% | 10.5% | 4 |
| 3 | Angelina Mango | "La noia " | 1 | 1 | 16.1% | 40.3% | 1 |
| 4 | Geolier | "I p' me, tu p' te" | 4 | 5 | 60.0% | 25.2% | 2 |
| 5 | Annalisa | "Sinceramente " | 2 | 2 | 8.0% | 17.1% | 3 |
Special guests and other acts
Special guests included:- first night – Federica Brignone, Lazza, Tedua, and Zlatan Ibrahimovic;
- second night – Bob Sinclar, Giovanni Allevi, John Travolta, Leo Gassmann, with Nuova Orchestra Santa Balera, Rosa Chemical, and the cast of The Sea Beyond;
- third night – Bresh, Edoardo Leo, Eros Ramazzotti, Gianni Morandi, Paola & Chiara, Russell Crowe, Sabrina Ferilli, Stefano Massini with Paolo Jannacci, and the Verona Arena Foundation Choir ;
- fourth night – Arisa, Francesco Bagnaia, Gigi D'Agostino, Jalisse, Margherita Buy with Elena Sofia Ricci, and the cast of the upcoming TV series ;
- fifth night – Claudio Gioè, Gigliola Cinquetti, Lazza, Luca Argentero, Roberto Bolle, Tananai, and Tedua.
Broadcasts and ratings
Local broadcast
Rai 1 and Rai Radio 2 brought the official broadcasts of the festival in Italy, with the latter featuring a special programming throughout the festival week and live commentary of the shows by Ema Stokholma and. The five evenings were also streamed online via the broadcaster's official online platform RaiPlay.International broadcast
Outside Italy, RAI airs the festival on its international channel Rai Italia and makes the RaiPlay broadcast available in all member countries of the European Broadcasting Union, since the festival, serving as the Italian national final for the Eurovision Song Contest, is broadcast on the Eurovision network; the live broadcast of the 2024 edition, as well as the availability of related videoclips, was expanded. In addition, the event was aired on a number of local broadcasters across different countries:Ratings
With an average share of 74.1% and a total of 14.301 million viewers, the 2024 final achieved the highest viewership values since 1995 and 1998, respectively.Incidents and controversies
False bomb alerts
During a gala organised by at Villa Nobel on 5 February on the occasion of the opening of the festival week, the local police received an anonymous call alerting about the presence of a bomb, and the venue was evacuated. However, the authorities failed to find any signs of a bomb threat. Most of the competing artists were reportedly present at the event. The following day, a similar alert for the Teatro Ariston also proved to be unjustified and the caller was identified shortly after; he confessed to in order to disrupt the competition, and was scheduled for prosecution.Legal actions
On 7 February, RAI's CEO Roberto Sergio announced that the broadcaster would take disciplinary measures against one of its journalists following a "denigratory tweet" directed at the physical appearance of contestant BigMama.Following John Travolta's guest appearance on 7 February, when his shoes were prominently featured in the televised images, Italian consumers association filed a complaint against RAI for aggravated fraud and covert advertising, as the actor had an advertising contract with the footwear brand he was wearing; the broadcaster opened an internal investigation. In addition to this, controversy arose surrounding Travolta's skit on that night, where he was seen performing the "Chicken Dance" next to Amadeus and Fiorello, and which was widely received as "humiliating" and "discomforting" for the actor; Travolta ultimately denied consent over the use of the related video sequence, forcing RAI to remove it as an excerpt from RaiPlay.