5 years after her last participation, Malika Ayane, one of the most refined and magnetic voices of Italian music, returns to the competition at the Sanremo Festival with the song Nocturnal animals written by Malika herself together with Edwyn Roberts and Stefano Marletta, who also composed the song together with Giordano Cremona, Federico Mercuri and Luca Faraone. During her career, Malika has participated in the Sanremo Festival 5 times: the first time in 2009 in the “New proposals” category with the song Like leavesthen in 2010 in the “Big” with I’ll start again from here who received the Critics Award and the Radio and TV Press Room Award in 2013 with the song And if thenin 2015 with the success Anow and here (Nostalgic present) who placed third at the Festival and won the Critics’ Award and the last time in 2021 with the song You like yourself like that.
The new Sanremo adventure officially inaugurates the relationship, born over a year ago, between the Milanese artist and the historic record label Carosello Records, in collaboration with MAST/Believe. At his meeting with journalists in Milan he starts right here, from the new label after many years with Sugar, then Warner:
«What I found with Carosello is a space that gives me the possibility, with my times and my ways, to build a musical work that is not just a product, but something authentic, which even after years is recognized as important. And I don’t forget Believe, who is on the team with us and does a fundamental job.” Malika returns with a new album after years in the theaters: «For me the theater was not an alternative, but an integration. It was the place that allowed me to incubate ideas during years when I wasn’t clear where I was going musically, or perhaps who I really was. And Sanremo has always been on my wish list, because it is an event that has given me so much right from the startwhere I feel at ease: there is the orchestra, there is a positive work environment, which gives the right anxiety. We waited for the moment when I was ready, because an opportunity like this, if you are not structured and centered, will chew you up and spit you out. It’s better not to waste it.” And the occasion was Nocturnal animals: «A song I immediately fell in love with. The main peculiarity is the theme written by Edwin, with whom I had already worked. This sound world sucked me in completely. OREvery time I listen to it it excites me more and more. It almost never happens to me with my stuff, because I’m usually very critical. Here, however, I always discover a new sound, a different guitar, a detail that emerges. It’s beautiful.”
Sanremo is a race and it is inevitable to ask her if she is aiming for the podium: « My relationship with the podium is well known, I know I will never win, but that’s okay. If after so many years we are still here talking about it, it means that the path makes sense. I’m happy to share this Sanremo with many different female voices, each with a precise identity: Arisa, Levante, Ditonellapiaga… And I hope the day comes when we no longer have to count how many women there are on stage. I expect to have a lot of fun from this Sanremo. The last Sanremo I did, in 2021, was without an audience, and it was a very strong experience: it brought the value of things back into focus. And this time I would like to live it lightlylike a party, giving this experience the importance it has, without fear. There’s also the fun of not being the center of everything, and that’s an amazing feeling.”
After Sanremo, however, there won’t be an album immediately: «Five years to make a record must lead to something intense, otherwise it would be a wasted opportunity. In recent years I have written a lot, with friends, with unknown people who then became friends. I don’t know what album will be released, but it will probably be released in autumn, also because we will go on tour and we need new songs.”
From the title of the song we move on to how Malika Ayane lives the night: «The night is part of my life in a very concrete way: between concerts at dawn, planes taken at impossible times, races that end when the sun rises. What if the Milan of my youth has changed a lot in terms of its venues. Many of the places I used to frequent no longer exist. I remember a clandestine place in Darsena, a container that you entered by climbing over: today it seems like science fiction, but that was the Milan of the night I lived in.” But it’s not just the Milanese nights: «I happened to go into clubs at dawn after the New York marathon and it was an almost mystical experience. If I had to think of a nocturnal animal, I would say my cat Marmitta: elegant when she sleeps, annoying for no reason when she turns around. It represents me a lot».
Three days before the 6 February ceremony of the Olympic Games at the Milan stadium, the “trick” questions arrive on how the national anthem should be sung and whether it is considered appropriate to participate in the event of victory at Eurovision: «On the national anthem I think there is no right or wrong way to interpret it. It belongs to everyone. The important thing is to sing it heartilyremembering the words, and being aware of the moment and the responsibility it represents. As for Eurovision, it is a complex issue. However, I believe that large stages can be opportunities to bring messages of inclusion and peace. Presence, combined with the possibility of communicating something positive, can make the difference. I try to focus on this: remembering that we are part of a gigantic world and that we have, every now and then, the possibility of directing it towards something a little better.”
Finally un memory of Ornella Vanoni with whom he shared the stage together with Simona Molinari, on the occasion of the jazz-symphonic show The Man I Love which in 2025 opened the “Jazz on Symphony” exhibition, conceived by Paolo Fresu and created together with the Teatro Comunale of Bologna.«He taught me freedom, lightness and to laugh a lot.”
