Ermal Meta will present himself at Sanremo with a strong and uncompromising artistic project. In addition to returning to the festival stage, he is preparing to release his sixth album, "Funzioni vitali", an emotionally charged work, where pain is not softened and reality is not embellished.
His new song places the listener amidst the ruins of Gaza – although Meta never mentions its name directly. Trapped “between the walls and the sea”, he combines a familiar childhood lullaby with Middle Eastern sounds and the oud, thanks to a collaboration with Dario Dardust. At its center is the unjust death of a little Palestinian girl, nameless and faceless, with only small hands that until recently held a doll.
In an interview, Meta explains that he could have written about more personal topics, especially after the birth of his daughter Fortuna in 2024, but chose otherwise. He emphasizes that there are moments when it is necessary to talk about other people's children - about everyone's children. According to him, what is happening in Palestine is a humanitarian emergency visible to everyone. He refuses to do politics through music, but insists on a deeply human perspective: without softening, without masking, without distancing himself from what he feels.
The song reflects this insoluble pain with harsh lyrics: “I tried to rip out my heart / because without it, I don’t die / but I was afraid I wouldn’t feel anything anymore.”
Meta says that becoming a father – not only to Fortuna, but also to two girls he and his partner met in an orphanage in Albania and took into care – has profoundly changed his artistic and human sensibilities. His empathy has expanded, while his emotional “skin” has become thinner.
Although the direct inspiration comes from Gaza, he emphasizes that the song can represent any innocent child affected by wars. He goes further, saying that what is happening in Gaza should not be called a “war”: “It is a massacre.”
Speaking about Eurovision, Meta says there are different forms of protest: silence, boycott, or presence and direct speech. Drawing on Albania’s historical experience under dictatorship, he believes that taking to the stage with a song like “Stella Stellina” is a valuable act of resistance. He recalls the years of fear, the “re-education” camps, the fall of the Berlin Wall and the student protests in Tirana in 1990, emphasizing that freedom came because people took to the streets.
The album "Funzioni vitali" will be released on February 27 and contains short, intense and emotionally charged songs. After Sanremo, Ermal Meta will embark on a tour of Italian clubs.
