Giaka
Livido

I was unaware of the existence of the singer-songwriter Giaka until just a few days ago. Recommended to me by one of my various acquaintances working in the industry, I did some research and got closer to the modus operandi of the young artist, originally from Novara but a Bolognese by adoption for several years now.
Known more fully as Giaka Blank on various social networks, she has produced a series of singles—along with their respective music videos—completely independently, never actually releasing a full album. In this era of streaming music and the partial demise of the album concept (at least in its digital consumption), this definitely can’t be considered such an unusual or unorthodox choice. In fact, over the past few years Giaka has written several songs, recording and releasing them as she went. One in particular struck me for its ability to highlight her personality and a rather captivating musical verve. Far catchier and more energetic than some later ballads, the chorus of Livido (2023) gave me a few intense moments of sensual euphoria.
I say sensual because the clip produced for the song displays an utterly unrestrained boldness. Giaka puts herself out there without false modesty and sings of an existential restlessness that seems to affect every aspect of her relationships. It reflects, moreover, a personal past that I hear was quite tormented. The lyrics become a mirror of doubts and regrets where pain, tears, and anger take center stage, generating a sort of self-destructive spiral that, nonetheless, has its own vital charge.

Sai che odio tutto dentro di me
So distinguerlo ( un caso clinico )
La depressione si esprime per me

And even in her dealings with others, the approach is tense and conflict-ridden.

Tu ci provi e non ci riuscirai
Del mio cuore aimè, cazzo te ne fai?

The track opens with a restless piano intro and then builds up to the central riff of the chorus—if not particularly innovative (there are echoes of a lot of ‘90s pop-rock), it nonetheless gets lodged in your head immediately.
Giaka dances and flirts in an almost claustrophobic scene with red and purple lights, bares her claws—and not just metaphorically—to express her anxiety and her desire to react. And the erotic undertones are far from subtle: even though the original version of the video—directed by Eugenio Pranzo—was censored and banned from YouTube and other social platforms for being too explicit. I had the chance to view it separately, and I can say that compared to Giaka, artists like Elodie, Rose Villain, Gaia, and Annalisa seem like schoolgirls, not to mention that what they offer is always a more glamorous and glossy kind of eroticism. The exact opposite of this Livido, which is filled with shadows, blurry and shaky images, scratched-up colors, spontaneous movements. In Giaka’s case, it has to be said that nudity and eroticism are not provocations for their own sake, or some attempt to sensationalize sex just for the audience, but rather an intrinsic element of the song and its mood. And this is something Giaka manages to interpret with grit and emotion even in the steamiest scenes (autoeroticism, etc.). Watching her other videos, in fact, I found poetry, a bucolic or urban melancholy, and an intimacy that has nothing provocatively sensual about it.
So, a genuine talent like this is more than welcome, even in an already overcrowded Italian scene full of female faces and names jostling for attention. At the very least, Giaka does everything herself, musically speaking, and even though the production sometimes reflects a less-polished approach (occasionally, the lyrics are drowned out by the music, for instance), overall I find myself appreciating a song like Livido much more than recent, truly generic, mass-produced retrodance tracks like Annalisa’s Esibizionista.
There is also an indie-pop scene in Italy that can offer talented artists left on the sidelines by a monopoly born of ruthless marketing. Giaka Blank has many thousands of followers, but I wonder how much more room she'll find on a scene so constructed and the result of serious investment in management and PR firms.

Rating: 3 stars as encouragement. In any case, I’ve found myself humming the song for a couple of days now...