Sanremo 2020 artistic director Amadeus has announced the 22 acts that will compete at the upcoming edition of the Italian music festival. The line-up shows a modernisation of the format, which includes rappers and radio songs. Two remarkable performers are back in the race.
Once again, Sanremo will select the Italian entrant for the Eurovision Song Contest. Artists and their labels must confirm RAI if they want to participate in Rotterdam before the first night. In order to do this, they’ll be required to fill in a form and submit it to the Italian broadcaster before the festival. So, if the winner doesn’t submit the form, RAI will internally select the Italian entry from the other participants.
Amadeus chose the songs without knowing the identity of the singer(s) thinking of tracks that could be successful on Spotify. So, among the participants, there are some rappers, which are very popular in Italy. Former Italian entrants of 2011 and 2017 are also back in the race:
- Achille Lauro
- Alberto Urso
- Anastasio
- Bugo e Morgan
- Diodato
- Elodie
- Enrico Nigiotti
- Francesco Gabbani
- Giordana Angi
- Irene Grandi
- Le Vibrazioni
- Levante
- Elettra Lamborghini
- Marco Masini
- Michele Zarrillo
- Junior Cally
- Paolo Jannacci
- Piero Pelù
- I pinguini tattici nucleari
- Rancore
- Raphael Gualazzi
- Riki
The show Format
The format of Sanremo 2020 has undergone a few changes. Most notably, a jury made up of all the members of the orchestra will have a say on the third show, while they’re also completely getting rid of the expert jury.
- First and second nights (4-5 February):
- The 20 performers will make their first appearance, 10 per show. The voting for this show is fully up to the demoscopic jury (a jury selected by RAI that represents the Italian population).
- The 8 artists from the youth category will also perform for the first time. The demoscopic jury will decide which four of them will advance to the next show.
- Third night (6 February):
- The 20 artists will cover memorable songs from Sanremo’s past commemorating the 70th anniversary of the competition. The orchestra will vote this time.
- The 4 qualified youth artists will perform their entries once again. A combination of the televote, the press jury and the demoscopic jury will decide the two finalists.
- Fourth night (7 February):
- The 20 artists will perform their entries again. While the press jury will decide the results of that show.
- The 2 youth artists that had made it to the final will perform their entries. Once again, the televote and the two panels will decide the winner of the Youth category.
- Final night (8 February):
- The 20 artists will perform their entries for the last time. A combination of the televote, the press jury and the demoscopic jury will decide the outcome. As usual, the three superfinalists will be decided after adding up the votes of all shows.Â
- At the superfinal, the winner of Sanremo 2020 will be decided through the same voting combination, but, this time, the points will be reset. So, only the points of the superfinal will help choose the final winning entry.Â
You can read the full regulations here (in Italian).
How much are you looking forward to Sanremo 2020?