“And then we ended up in the vortex.” Annalisa’s eighth album is a whirlwind tour through the tumult of a messy relationship. A decade-plus into the singer’s career, E Poi Siamo Finiti nel Vortice serves as a fitting global introduction to the world of one of Italy’s primedonne del pop – putting her mark on a style pioneered by the likes of Mina Mazzini and the late Raffaella Carrá.
E Poi Siamo Finiti nel Vortice is yet another reason why we boast that, sí, Italians do indeed do it better. Amid a glut of soulless pop vying for Spotify-friendly algorithms, Italy has given rise to some of the most melodious pop in recent years – priming the ground for Annalisa’s latest album, one that easily stands tall above others in the genre as a stand-out of the year.
E Poi Siamo Finiti nel Vortice appears engineered to transcend linguistic borders while providing proof beyond Laura Pausini and Måneskin of Italy’s continued rise in the global music market. This album tells the story of a good relationship gone bad, and we’ve heard that story before – but it takes on a new shine through this performer’s unique words and influences.
E Poi Siamo Finiti nel Vortice accessibility to non-Italian speakers is most apparent in “Sinceramente”, the lead single of the album’s digital re-issue, which Annalisa premiered in early February at the 74th edition of the Sanremo Music Festival. Her influences – drawn from Depeche Mode and Kylie Minogue are unmistakable as the boppone‘s bewitching refrain – “Quando, quando, quando, quando” – hooks you in with its incantation that transforms the pop song into an unshakeable earworm.
While one read of “Sinceramente”‘s translation reveals stark imagery like “crushing a cigarette in blue velvet”, Annalisa offered another interpretation while accepting the Global Force award at this year’s Billboard Women In Music ceremony: “[“Sinceramente”] is a love letter. But the message to share in the end is a deeper one. I claim my dreams, my way of life, my goals, my spaces, therefore I am yours only when I’m free.”
Since its release, “Sinceramente” has gone platinum in Italy and has charted across Europe, placing Annalisa in an S-tier of performers like Beyoncé and Ariana Grande in terms of biggest solo female debuts on Spotify of the year. In the relatively short time since its release, “Sinceramente” has become a cultural phenomenon, inspiring parodies, memes, dances – and even a televised appeal by Elly Schlein, the leader of the Italian Democratic Party, during a recent interview.
“Sinceramente” follows a TikTok-fueled renaissance for the established performer who had a commanding hold over the nation’s consciousness in 2023 with “Mon Amour” and “Bellissima” – another pair of slickly produced dance-pop gems that serve as narrative preludes to her current single. Like “Sinceramente”, both “Mon Amour” and “Bellissima” are carefully crafted songs whose infectious nature belies their bittersweet themes.
These touchstones, however, are only part of the story. Along with the break-out singles on E Poi Siamo Finiti nel Vortice are slower-paced tracks like “Ragazza Sola”, “Stelle”, and “Bollicine”. They showcase the performer’s softer, vulnerable side without getting too maudlin or departing from synthpop influences. By changing the tempo, Annalisa shares different chapters of the story she’s telling through the course of the record. Each part of the story, each song, builds upon the last. This album effortlessly coheres as a singular body of work – it’s much more than merely an assembly line of high-impact chart tracks.
As E Poi Siamo Finiti nel Vortice draws to a close, we’re still not free from the whirlwind, and neither is Annalisa. Set amid the backdrop of a beach, “Indaco Violento” leaves us as Annalisa sings about being swept back into another chaotic relationship dynamic – closing on the final couplet, “É cosi bello, violento / Indaco violento” or “It’s so beautiful, violent / Violent indigo.”
Never straying too far from its synthpop influences, E Poi Siamo Finiti nel Vortice doesn’t seek to reinvent pop conventions. It doesn’t need to. Annalisa adroitly balances authenticity and accessibility to present an album that connects. E Poi Siamo Finiti nel Vortice is a post-White Lotus era pop album for those of us who came of age as dating and romance got a whole lot more complicated. It’s an album for those who like their hyperbole somewhere in between Taylor Swift and Lana Del Rey but crave pop music that transports us somewhere else – perhaps along Positano, gazing out into the Mediterranean, meditating on our own indaco violento.
E Poi Siamo Finiti nel Vortice offers Annalisa’s compatriots a hometown heroine who can hold her own against international powerhouses. For the rest of us: It’s a wonderful introduction to an incredible voice in Italian pop music.