Last month, Rai confirmed that the festival will be held from Tuesday 1 to Saturday 5 February 2022. In addition, Amadeus will indeed be hosting once again, after confirming in a press conference last month that he had entered talks. Although the host will be the same, the broadcaster has teased changes ahead of next year’s festival. The latest change will see the Nuove Proposte category be dropped from the festival.
Previously, Artistic Director and host of Sanremo 2022 Amadeus outlined some potential changes ahead for the festival. These included a reduction of the number of artists competing in the Campioni category, shortening the run time and the return of a live audience.
The latest announcement, according to GDS, is the scrapping of the Nuove Proposte category. Instead, two artists will be chosen from the Sanremo Giovani (the newcomers festival) in December to proceed to the Campioni category, putting them in contention to represent Italy on home soil at Eurovision 2022.
30 artists will be selected from a submissions process to perform in live auditions for Sanremo Giovani, with each singer having to put forward two songs. 12 acts will make it through to the final of the Giovani category on December 15. Eight singers will be chosen by a Music Commission headed by Amadeus, while four will be chosen by the Area Sanremo process.
Previous Sanremo Giovani alumni include Mahmood, who won Sanremo in 2019 with “Soldi”, and went on to finish 2nd at the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest.
About Sanremo 2021
The 71st edition of Sanremo Music Festival took place between the 2nd and 6th March 2021. This was later than usual, having been pushed back due to the ongoing pandemic, which also caused other changes for the festival. For one, after weeks of exchanges between Sanremo’s Artistic Director Amadeus, the CTS and Rai, the festival did not have a live audience.
Despite the protocols, the festival went ahead with 26 participating artists. Alongside Amadeus and Floriello, the shows were co-hosted by Matilda De Angelis, Elodie, Vittoria Ceretti, Barbara Palombelli and Beatrice Venezi. Night one was opened with a performance of “Fai Rumore” by Diodato, who won the 2020 edition.
On night five, 26 became three, with Måneskin, Michielin and Fedez and Ermal Meta advancing to the superfinal. Ultimately, Måneskin triumphed with a staggering 53.5% of the vote. This success translated to Eurovision victory, winning the contest in Rotterdam with 524 points.
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