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Did you get all the references in “MAMMAMIA”?
Recently, Måneskin has released their new single “MAMMAMIA”. It is still unknown if this song will compose the new album, but it is confirmed that the lyrics is filled with references to criticism and stereotypes the band faced after winning the Eurovision Song Contest 2021 - some of them even during the competition.
So, did you manage to get all the references in the song?
"I feel the heat, uh, I feel the beat of drums
Call the police, I'll do it, they've stolen all my fun
I'm breaking free, but I'm stuck in the police car
Oh, mamma mia, ma-ma-mamma mia, ah
Some minutes before Måneskin’s Eurovision victory, the media disclosed a frame in which Damiano appears leaning over the competition table, claiming that he was doing drugs during the event.
After their victory, there was so much fuss about it that EBU – Eurovision’s operator – opened an investigation about this situation and Måneskin members volunteered to do a drug test. The investigations verified that no illegal substance was used during or before the Event.
Måneskin members claim they have never made use of any drugs.
The verse says “Call the police, I'll do it, they've stolen all my fun. I'm breaking free, but I'm stuck in the police car. (...) They treat me like if I did something criminal. All eyes on me, I feel like I'm a superstar. I'm not a freak, I just thought it was carnival” (or an amusement park. Read as you wish).
This first verse talks about the feeling of being in the public eye, being constantly analyzed and treated as a freak – exactly as it happened after their victory, with no room for them to properly celebrate it.
"You wanna touch my body, I say you're not allowed
You wanna handle me, but I'm a bit too much"
This second verse might be interpreted in a somewhat unusual way. In an interview, Damiano shared that a dancer from another performing delegation approached him for a selfie and licked his face. When telling this story, he says "It was a bit too much".
However, the lyrics is in first person: “You wanna handle me, but I'm a bit too much”, and this is just one way of interpreting this phrase. And it is no secret that the world’s eyes turned to the beauty and attractiveness of Måneskin members on the stage, so "You wanna touch my body, but I say you're not allowed”.
At one of the main parts of the song, the verse that steals the show also refers to that fake news about illicit substances:
They wanna arrest me, but I was just having fun
They ask me why I'm so hot, 'cause I'm italiano
Off: can we say that we loved the shade?
Besides these cases, the main part and the song title say “MAMMA MIA”, a very famous Italian expression around the world, that dominates Hollywood when the subject is Italian ‘stereotypes’.
Victoria has confirmed that the song wants to ironize those situations they went through and the stereotypes held about Italians:
“We tried to have fun and not take this music so seriously [during the production]. It is an ironic single, and we had never done something like this. So, we have references to stereotypes and also a chorus with sexual content”.
Nevertheless, even for phrases with sexual connotation, we can find references to criticism, such as in the phrase “spit your love on me", that may be interpreted as a criticism to haters on standby, that always have words to be thrown or spit out against others – especially people who become famous.
The song was so successful that it figured Global iTunes Top 10 and was the week’s biggest debut on Spotify with 2.2 million streams in its first day.
Now we are waiting for a possible music video. Will we have a more ironic music video, or with many explicit scenes? Only time will tell.
See you next time!
Words: Juliana Galvão
Translator: Beatriz Truber