Thomas Heaven he has an obsession: namely the house. «I’m like Nanni Moretti in Dear Diary, who travels around Rome to visit homes. That’s what I did. Each of us uses our free time in the way we consider most appropriate: I spend hours on real estate sites”, says the 42-year-old Roman singer-songwriter, who wanted to title his new album simply Casa Paradiso. The album was released on Friday and is the fruit of a silent but radical revolution, which after two previous solo albums, Space Cowboy in 2022 and Sensazione stupenda in 2023, saw the former leader of Thegiorlisti change record companies (from Universal to Sony), promoters (from Vivo Concerti to Live Nation) and even the press office? The goal? Return to being, after the crisis of the last years, the golden boy of contemporary Italian songwriting, the one who has not made a single mistake from Completely to Don’t Be Afraid of him competing at the 2026 Sanremo Festival: “Statistically, sooner or later everything will end, Antonello Venditti, Stadio and Luca Carboni (also mentioned in a song) above all spring, which will be held in Rome on April 18 and 19: «They talk about stories of victory and defeat, of those who fled and those who stayed».
When did Paradiso win?
“Never. I’ve never been tempted to rest on my laurels and I haven’t felt like I have for a second.”
Even in front of 45,000 people at Circus Maximus in 2019, the peak of the Thegiorlisti phenomenon?
“I was so enchanted by the concert, by the euphoria, that I don’t remember anything. Not even the sensation. It was a strange moment.”
Ten days later he left the band. Have Thegiornalisti left a void in Italian pop music?
“I don’t miss it, but maybe some people do. I still represent them in some ways.”
The Beatles sang, “Boy, you’ve got to carry that weight on your shoulders for a long time.” Do you feel the weight of this band?
«Before, yes: it seemed like we couldn’t talk about anything else. Today I’m more relaxed.”
Wasn’t the birth of little Anna in April to partner Carolina Sansoni a triumph?
“It’s a gift. Like faith: it comes to you from above. An extraordinary experience.”
How has fatherhood changed you?
“I feel mature, I’m a dandy now. I enjoy it from the moment he wakes up to the moment he falls asleep.”
There are no songs dedicated to Anna: is that clear?
“It was born after I wrote it. In the future, it is inevitable that I will write it.”
Never win. Otherwise lose?
“Yes. Music, when you write it, is also born from pain and sadness. It takes a little sadness to start writing something.”
What’s wrong with his career?
«In 2019 I announced my first solo tour in the gym. Sales are underway. Then Covid broke out. He began his descent in a dark hour. I feel bad personally.”
Did the therapy help you?
“Yeah. And you’d think the first time I came to my therapist, I couldn’t even breathe.”
Do you feel like you are in purgatory or heaven today?
“In heaven. I have a newborn daughter, a wonderful partner, and a team that works for me like never before. And what’s more, there is this record.”
Who is Setak who duetted with him on “But how do rappers do it”?
«A friend of the singer-songwriter, Nicola Pomponi. We performed with our respective bands at a club in San Lorenzo that no longer exists, the Lian Club. Twenty years of friendship binds us.”
«I miss the dogs, both ours and mine Cani, the band», he sings in “Comunque splendid”: do you mean you miss the period of Roman songwriting where business had not yet entered your life?
«No, I really miss the band Niccolò Contessa: I had written the song before the reunion and I wanted to leave it. For me music has never been a business. Even when I recorded Riccione. I wrote it, under a different title, for Luca Carboni. But I felt it was too much: I apologized to Luca and kept it.”
Carboni mentions him in “Forse”: «Go on a big trip while listening to Carboni». Did you make him listen to it?
“Yes. He sent me a teary-eyed video. I will be his guest at a concert at the Palazzo dello Sport in Rome on March 12.”
Speaking of travel: is it true that you wrote this album on a scooter?
“Real. Around Rome. My favorite road is via Aldrovandi, which runs along the Bioparco. Baglioni lives there, in a madhouse. I asked him if he wanted to sell it to me. He refused.”
Why did he go to Baglioni’s house?
“In 2018 he wanted to take me to the Sanremo race. I was going to do this stupid song of our love. But I didn’t have the mindset. He was annoyed: “You did something stupid”.
It’s going to happen again in February: it’s going to happen, isn’t it?
«The people in my entourage looked at me threateningly (laughs)».
Seems like confirmation.
«They say I can’t answer: what should I tell you? We’ll find out soon. Currently, this is the only event that changes the fate of an artist’s recordings.”
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© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
