The Italian group Piqued Jacks were chosen to wave the flag of San Marino next May in Liverpool after having conquered the professional jury of ‘Una Voce per San Marino’ in its 2nd edition.
More than a hundred applications faced off in the different semifinals of the Sanmarinese preselection, all from different nationalities, including Spanish. Piqued Jacks managed to leave behind all those applications and achieve victory at the Teatro Nuovo in Digana in the second edition of the San Marino contest.
Get to know Piqued Jacks (Eurovision 2023 San Marino)
Piqued Jacks is an alternative rock band originally from Italy. The band was formed in 2006 and is composed of members Andrea Lazzeretti, known as E-King (vocals, piano, synthesizer), Marco Sgaramella, known as Majic-o (guitar), Francesco Bini, known as littleladle (bass) and Tommaso Oliveri, known as HolyHargot (drums).
The music of Piqued Jacks is a mix of alternative rock, indie and pop, with influences ranging from Queens of the Stone Age and Arctic Monkeys to The Beatles and Pink Floyd. The band has released several albums and singles since its formation. Piqued Jacks released their first two EPs, Momo the Monkey (2010) and Brotherhoods (2011). In 2012, they collaborated with Los Angeles producer Brian Lanese, who produces their third EP, Just a machine (2013).
Their music has been described as a blend of alternative rock, indie, and pop, with influences ranging from Queens of the Stone Age and Arctic Monkeys to The Beatles and Pink Floyd. The band has released several albums and singles since its formation. Piqued Jacks released their first two EPs, Momo the Monkey (2010) and Brotherhoods (2011). In 2012 they collaborated with Los Angeles producer Brian Lanese, who produced their third EP, Just a Machine (2013).
Three years later, their first studio album, Climbing like Ivy Does, was released, followed by an acoustic version in 2016 under the name Aerial Roots. Later, ThEd0g (drums) was replaced by Damiano Beritelli, who in turn was replaced in 2017 by HolyHargot. Months after the new addition, the band released their second album, The Living Past. They continued to achieve success until they had another change: in April 2019, Penguinsane (guitar) was replaced by Majic-o. In 2019, they won the award for Best Rock Band at Sanremo. That year, they were also awarded Best Rock Band at Sanremo Rock & Trend Festival, and their music video Eternal Ride of a Hearful Mind was considered Best Video during Rome Videoclip Indie Week and nominated for the same award at the Pasadena Film Festival (USA).
During 2019, they embarked on a tour of Italy, the United Kingdom, Canada (where they played at the Indie Week) and Greece (Music Showcase). In 2020, they were selected by MTV Italy to be part of their New generation platform.
Afterwards, they released different singles such as Safey distance and Every day Special in 2020, Elephant and Mysterious equations in 2021, and Everything south and Sunflower in 2022, while their fourth album named Synchronizer was released in 2021 and was produced by Julian Emery (Nothing But Thieves, McFly), Brett Shaw and Dan Weller.
In 2023, Piqued Jacks participated in the second edition of Una voce per San Marino, characterized by the variety and quantity of participating artists. They presented the unreleased Like an Animal, and on the final night, the jury crowned them as the winners, making them the representatives of San Marino in the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest, held in Liverpool.
«Like an animal» their song for Liverpool
The song refers to the search for a person at a party, with a clear sexual attraction and a feeling of hunting. The group describes the person they are looking for with animal similarities, such as “I can smell you like an animal” and “you have snake eyes”. They also describe how the person excites them, with a “biting tongue” and “hips that could paralyze”.
The song itself has a musical style of electronic pop with influences from funk and disco music from the 70s and 80s. The lyrics mainly focus on sexual attraction and the desire for physical connection between two people. The song uses animal imagery and metaphors to describe the animal nature of desire and passion.
Lyrics of «Like an animal»
C’mon, baby, come and find me
I can smell you like an animal (animal, oh)
And bring the party, aphrodite, and I’ll chase you on the dancefloor
You have, you have a snake eyes
And I get, I get butterflies, oh
You have, you have a snake eyes
With the hips, with the sex that could paralyze
And I get, I get butterflies
In my ears, in my stomach all the time
C’mon, baby, come and find me
I can smell you like an animal (animal, oh)
Bring the party, aphrodite, and I’ll chase you on the dancefloor
Oh, c’mon, baby, come and find me
I can smell you like an animal (animal, oh)
Bring the party, aphrodite, and I’ll chase you on the dancefloor, yeah
You have, you have a biting tongue
And it gets, it gets me so unstrung, yeah, oh
You have, you have a biting tongue
To tie me up and deviate my inner thoughts
And it gets highly dangerous
Like a drug in my veins, you are poison
C’mon, baby, come and find me
I can smell you like an animal (animal, oh)
Bring the party, aphrodite, and I’ll chase you on the dancefloor, yeah
Oh, c’mon, baby, come and find me
I can smell you like an animal (animal, oh)
Bring the party, aphrodite, and I’ll chase you on the dancefloor, oh
Oh, c’mon, baby (I can smell you like an animal)
Yeah, c’mon, baby
The way, she knows the way
The way to turn me on
The way (she knows the way), she knows the way (she knows the way)
The way to turn me on
San Marino’s participation in Eurovision
San Marino made its debut in Eurovision in 2008 with the song “Complice” performed by Miodio. However, they did not qualify for the final and ranked 19th in the semifinals. After this result, the Sanmarinese delegation decided to withdraw from the competition for a while.
After two years of absence, San Marino returned to Eurovision in 2011 with the song “Stand By” performed by the well-known Senhit. Once again, the song did not make it to the final and ranked 16th in the semifinals.
San Marino continued its path and its desire to advance in the competition in the following years. If there is a name that stands out in this path, it is that of Valentin Monetta, who, by internal decision, represented the Sanmarinese country up to 4 times. He managed to qualify his country to the final on one occasion. “Maybe” in 2014 was the song with which San Marino qualified for the final for the first time in history.
The latest participations have been the most successful for the country as they qualified for the final again with Serhat in 2019 (their best historic ranking) and Senhit along with American rapper Flo Rida. However, Achille Lauro, with his song “Striper”, broke that good streak in 2022 by failing to qualify for the final after being chosen by the small state in the first edition of Una Voce Per San Marino.