Gianna Nannini
Grazie

THE REVIEW

Like Paganini, Gianna Nannini does not repeat herself, so after the beautiful album "Perle," in which she revisited some historical tracks from her repertoire in an acoustic style, the Sienese rocker returns to the sound that made her famous.

The result is "Grazie," a collection of fine songs, but far from unforgettable, starting with the single "Sei nell'anima," a song so blatantly catchy and radio-friendly it could have been written by Ramazzotti (and that's not a compliment). "Possiamo sempre" is the most rock and hard-hitting track on the album, definitely the worst, where Nannini thinks she's back in the days of "America" and reverts to the stereotype of the rebellious woman that accompanied her during the first phase of her career. Things improve with "L'abbandono," a delicate ballad enriched by Will Malone's strings on a slow electronic beat. The title track is excellent, melodic, but not cloying, while the following "Le carezze" (the only track not written by the singer-songwriter) is a very peculiar song, dark, unusual for Nannini and thus well appreciated in this feast of the already heard.
Given the very personal subject matter, I expected "Babbino caro" to be a slow and emotionally rich track, but instead, it is a rough and powerful piece, where the music contrasts sharply with an introspective text in which the singer talks about the difficult relationship with her father. "Treno bis" is a short and pleasant acoustic interlude, followed by "Io," energetic and carefree, the first "summer" song of the year ("Come l'estate piena di luce tornerà la nostra storia"). Not very memorable is "Mi fai incazzare," whose music (and rhythm section) resembles too much that of a recent Snow Patrol song ("Somewhere a clock is ticking" from "Final Straw"). The last track, "Alla fine," is the masterpiece of the album and seems to be right out of "Perle," with powerful voice prominently accompanied by piano and strings.

In conclusion, a decent album, certainly better than the electronic "Aria" (2002) and many Italian albums of this period, but light years away from masterpieces like "Latin Lover" and "Puzzle."