Ditonellapiaga
Camouflage

THE REVIEW

Early February 2022, Sanremo Festival: the previous year, Rome as a musical backdrop had roared back after several years with the victory of Måneskin, "discovered" on X-Factor by a certain Manuel Agnelli, and once again drew pleasant attention thanks to a song in the competition, an (Electro)Pop track initially ignored by most, including insiders, but destined to keep making waves especially due to the already notable songwriting skills of its "creator," one Margherita Carducci from Rome’s Prati district, aka Ditonellapiaga.

Her presence next to one of the "sacred monsters" of Italian Pop from the Eighties, none other than Donatella Rettore, on that Ariston stage immediately caught my eye because, although at first she seemed to me like a kind of "alien" landed from who knows which planet in the solar system, I instantly noticed her already recognizable stage presence and originality as she performed her "Chimica" with flair and charisma. The song ended up in sixteenth place in the competition, but in my opinion, it already had all the makings of one of the smash hits of that year (and beyond, considering its current nearly 10 million views on Youtube).

The track is also one of the cornerstones of the first project by the then-24-year-old (soon to be 25) Roman singer-songwriter, curiously named Camouflage, a term borrowed from French meaning "disguise" or "camouflage," to highlight not only the "dual" nature of Margherita/Ditonellapiaga, but also the two main features of her artistry: theatricality and versatility.

The first element is found starting from the opening track, "Morphina", a song marked by a pounding meter and by a Pop/Dance sound (with several Eighties Acid House elements) that plunges us into the classic late-night Club atmosphere of the capital (and beyond), where you can only let your imagination soar.

On the same level, there’s "Prozac", another intense Pop/Dance song where the electronics perfectly match the singer-songwriter's already considerable ability to imagine a neurotic world where a woman obsessively talks to herself in an attempt (truly futile, in reality) to escape her own mental woes, mainly induced by the excessive use of antidepressants that are, in fact, literally ruining her life.

Another equally wild track, but based on "Latin" rhythms, is "Repito", where Ditonellapiaga again puts her theatrical and acting skills to use, performing in a rhythmic, rapped style but always well-tuned, singing about a nightmare she had of supposedly killing a man (perhaps an ex, who knows), only to then talk to a sort of imaginary mirror, trying pointlessly to exonerate herself for the crime ("Giuro sì per davvero / Giuro che non lo so / Giuro che lì non c’ero sì / Giuro sul corazón / Giuro sì per davvero / Giuro che non lo so / Giurami che mi credi porque no te lo repito").

The versatile side, on the other hand, emerges in several ballads on the album, starting with the "indie pop" gem that is "Spreco Di Potenziale", the first song written for the album in September 2021, with a melancholic yet enveloping mood that could easily be included in the catalog of one of the many American pop singer-songwriters of the past twenty years, like the excellent Sara Bareilles of "Bottle It Up", to whom the track in question may bear a certain resemblance in some respects.

Also noteworthy, with a pleasantly jazzy/R’n’B undertone to her voice, are "Non Ti Perdo Mai", with a chorus written by her friend/colleague Filippo Uttinacci, aka Fulminacci, and other ElectroPop ballads like "Come Fai" and the very sweet "Dalla Terra All’Universo", which show how our friend Margherita already masterfully navigates multiple styles and genres with her beautiful voice, never losing a sense of naturalness and brightness.

Another track worth highlighting is "Vogue", another Pop/Dance clubbing song with the chorus entirely written in French, which in my opinion is another of the album’s high points for that languid yet sensual atmosphere that her voice uniquely conveys here.

"Connessioni" and "Altrove" are two more excellent tracks where you can perceive a marked R’n’B/Soul influence from the likes of Amy Winehouse and Alicia Keys (especially in the latter track), for example.

The closing is entrusted to the playful "Carrefour Express", where between spoken word, singing, and (very well) acting, young Margherita imagines a relationship with a guy who's actually already taken, which leads to nothing in the end, yet with a dash of final irony—the other key signature of this singer-songwriter who, though still somewhat artistically unripe, is already more than able to make her mark compared to so many other colleagues with their "plastic" Pop made for quick numbers.