2024-01-27 23:02:17
“This is a piece that closes a circle of revenge and the message behind it and that I dedicated to myself is: don’t be afraid to believe in yourself, don’t believe too much in what others say, always have the projection you have of yourself in the future comes first.” The rapper BigMama, born Marianna Mammone, brings to the competition in Sanremo 2024 a very strong song ‘La rage non ti sufficient’, which is both a dedication to little Marianna and a universal message for those who fight against bullying, violence, inner darkness , and seeks strength and redemption, which must be found in the idea one has of oneself and not in the words of others. “If you get lost, follow me,” sings BigMama.
Bullying, physical and psychological violence and cancer (which BigMama calls this, without sweetening terms) marked the adolescence of this 23-year-old artist: “I suffered violent bullying, even from a physical point of view, even sexual violence, to appeal, nothing is really missing. And to make sure we don’t miss anything, at the age of twenty I discovered that I had cancer. I had 12 chemotherapies and now I’m fine and I also discovered that I look good with short hair. Let’s say that all these moments they helped me and still help me today to understand that if I want to do something I can. Having overcome all these things led me to understand that if I want to dance I dance”, as he sings in the Sanremo song which combines rap with dance and which reads: “if you want to dance, dance, you can’t disappear”.. “And I’m happy to be able to shout it on the Sanremo stage”, she adds.
The song tells of a change in the artist’s perspective: “For a long time I responded to hate with hate, my primary vector was anger. In my first lyrics you can really feel the anger. My first song talked about self-harm and suicide, thoughts that a little girl shouldn’t have. With this song I wanted to say: all this anger is of no use to you, anger is not enough for you, to feel better you can do more. My life changed when I realized that all I could transform these negative energies to feel better. I understood that I am beautiful as I am and that if you love yourself little, others will love you little, if you love yourself, others see it and treat you accordingly”, she says.
The message of the Sanremo song, he is keen to underline, is “for everyone, not just for minorities”: “Think about what you want to do when you grow up, think about how you want to do it and don’t think about everything around you “. ‘Anger is not enough for you’ was written straight away: “In one session, it was just a very quick outburst, almost as if I were going to apologize to my little girl: they say you can’t do it because you’re fat, you can’t do it because you come from a very small reality (BigMama was born in a small village in the province of Avellino, ed.), you can’t do it because you’re a woman, you can’t do it because you’re queer, and instead you believe in it anyway because sooner or later you’ll do something great. this song on the most important stage in Italy is exactly the answer I was looking for”, he proudly underlines. While he recognizes the editorial coherence of the Amadeus festival: “He really lets himself be guided by the piece as he says. I also sent a song last year but he didn’t like it enough. This year I presented two songs for Sanremo Giovani, one of the two it was the one I would have brought if I had then arrived among the Bigs by winning. But he liked this song and put it directly among the Bigs, avoiding the ‘meat grinder’ of Sanremo Giovani”, she states.
BigMama would like ‘Anger is not enough for you’ to be listened to not only by those who suffer the bullying but also by those who do it, “so that they can reflect on the fact that perhaps the little girl who bullies today will become the artist most loved by her sister tomorrow “, as he says in one of the songs he wrote in the past, ‘Formato XXL’.
At the first rehearsal with the orchestra she was overwhelmed by emotion: “I cried as soon as the violins started playing. That was the moment I really realized that I was in Sanremo and that I deserved it. After the announcement of my participation, there were those on social media who said that I didn’t deserve to be among the Bigs and unfortunately I still give too much weight to what others say. But the Orchestra’s applause made me understand that it wasn’t like that, that I was in the right place.” The biggest fear linked to participating in the festival? “Disappointing my expectations. But I’m preparing, I’m very studious”, says BigMama, who also made precise choices for the outfits and in line with the message she wants to bring to the stage: “Inclusive and queer brands, not those that they ask to fit into their sizes.”
On the evening of the Sanremo covers he will bring with him on stage Gaia, La Niña and Sissi, “three young women” with whom he will sing the iconic ‘Lady Marmelade’: “In the charts and in the rap scene there are men and then some women. For me, the stage presence of the women on that stage was fundamental. I wanted to demonstrate that three young women like me can do a lot and know how to tackle a stage of that magnitude. And I was also pleased to show the magic that is created between us, who are friends, on stage. And I chose a piece that we all sing together. It is not a random choice, because often, precisely because of the few places for women, there is great competition. And instead – I will say something that should be obvious but it isn’t – unity is strength”, he concludes.
(by Antonella Nesi)
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