Claudio Baglioni
Niente più

"Niente più" means so much. It's the latest single (though technically the penultimate) by Claudio Baglioni, one of the most played songs on the radio, and it was on everyone's lips. But above all, it marks the end of the award-winning Q.P.G.A., the end of the story of Giulia and Andrea, the conclusion of a project the singer-songwriter revisited after forty years or perhaps never really abandoned.

I wanted to review the entire Q.P.G.A., but it would have been impossible because I wouldn't know where to start. So here I am, summarizing this single. Let me start by saying it's a classic Baglioni song, filled with emotion and beautiful words, all while maintaining that streak that has kept him from falling into banality for forty years. "Niente più" is a song that strikes, moves, and silences all the critics of Baglioni, from the varied "he's not doing anything anymore, he's just self-celebrating" to the ignorant "he's been singing the same songs for forty years, he should change his repertoire." Claudio has a vast repertoire, a great ability to speak the language of lovers, as written in his book and notably reflected in this song.

This song greatly enhances his reputation (it's the project itself that gives him a new light; Q.P.G.A. is truly a colossal work) and brings him out, if there was ever any doubt, of the dark tunnel of the recent years.

Returning to the song, the context is clear from the first verse. "Niente più" indeed talks about the life balance of Andrea, the male protagonist of the story, when, thirty years later, Giulia, his first love, resurfaces in his thoughts.

And from here the song starts, with deliberately crafted phrases and contradictions like "at the top and at the bottom you, first you and nothing more, nothing after and before", a sign of nostalgia for that love, knowing that of course he can't turn back time and couldn't start over, considering the age. It's precisely for this reason that the concluding verse nostalgically states, "if you come back here, don't return. We are arrows not to be turned, leaves on the avenue that you cannot return to their branch." Come back to the city, just don't ever ask about me. Let's not look back, it would only hurt us. We've fallen, let's not get up.

And it ends with a recommendation, "the past is salt, it dissolves to give flavor to the future. What was is not lost, don't lose what's beyond the wall!", which needs no comment. The past is the past; looking forward is essential if one doesn't want to fall into nostalgia.

In these phrases, one can easily relate, especially if in love. And at times we realize that nothing more is truly so much.