Nohis pre-listening report cards How annoying! it was the most voted song of Sanremo 2026. What do you think of Totonellapiaga? Elderly? «I thought what is it, a short circuit? The piece can be hated or loved with equal force, but Such a positive perception honestly struck me a lot».
Of the raceand therefore of the possible victory given the high expectations, Margherita Carducci aka Ditonellapiaga – «a name that I fought to keep from changing» – is more disenchanted. He knows that just one listen is one thing, while dealing with multiple performances will certainly lead to different reactions. «I worked very hard. How annoying! It’s a punch in the face, I realizeand maybe it will be great and maybe it will suck, but I’m sure that, inevitably, other songs with lower ratings will rise in popularity, it’s natural.”
One thing is certain though, and that is that she is very happy to go to Sanremo with a song that is “identifying, ironic, biting and will make people dance”. A song about always being out of place, a light and irresistible beat bed that hides the depth of universal feelings of inadequacy. That Conti accepted it, she says, she was not at all sure.
But thank goodness, because in trying the Sanremo card as a soloist (the first time was with Chemistry paired with Rettore, in 2022), Ditonellapiaga has not distorted itself in favor of the “Sanremo song”. On the contrary.
Toe in the sore. (Ilaria Ieie)
Ditonellapiaga: «I decided to marry the straight chest»
And what is its nature? «I always feel out of place. Too pop to be underground and too underground to be pop.” The place, or rather, the third way, that has been chosen, an alternative to not having a well-defined box (“In this panorama it is a problem”), is a place that reflects its identity completely. Starting from the extravagance of the name, which is indeed annoying and protected from possible “good” changes.
«I am not a project combed – she says ironically about Veronica Lake’s slap hair –, being polite is not in my nature. It’s true that I’m not the strongest of the punkabbestia, but that’s because I like the contradiction between a refined image and an uncomfortable message.». A contradiction that gains strength in the use of dance with a message, exposed or filigree. A construction that at the most dizzying heights of the genre he created dancefloor classics in which sweat mixes with the desire for liberation, with reclamation, with anathema.
The cover of the album “Miss Italia”. (BMG)
Sanremo 2026? «Ok, but the real goal this year was the driving license»
He even succeeds How annoying!a song in which Ditonellapiaga’s fast phrasing becomes energetic and explosive straight drum (on the Ariston stage “rearranged” in favor of the orchestra). With verses that will go viral as photographs of tasty moments of rebuttal to hackneyed questions. Mixed with sudden forays into the dark, such as the reference to the danger of drugs dissolved in a drink: «And tell me what you put in my glass/it tastes bitter and I don’t trust it because my head is spinning and the whole room and until it passes».
Which is more of a real fear than an annoyance. After all, the song, like the next album, Miss Italy (written together with Alessandro Casagni and out April 10th)were born from a crisis «in which I felt paralyzed by expectations of myself» (the growth of the singer-songwriter, born in Rome in 1997, was in fact progressive and unstoppable, with prestigious collaborations such as the one with Ornella Vanoni – «A giant, her death was first a cultural and then a national mourning»).
The gaze, therefore launched into research, produced a record which (“I am very pleased”, he says), does not talk about love: the topics are expectations and failures, the standards to conform to, the system that demands uniqueness and then sanctions it. Which condemns Miss Italia as retrogamous and then promotes beauty as a value, so to speak. In this sense, collaboration makes sense (sorry). – for the duets evening, Thursday 27 February – with Tony Pitonyartist and performer and critical mask with more than one controversy stuck to him.
Ditonellapiaga and Tony Pitony piano and vocals
The two artists will bring The Lady Is a Tramp – American standard redone like Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett, piano and voice. In contrast to the electro dance of How annoying! but mirrored in irreverence (Tramp is about an upper class woman who rebels against conventions). «Get ready – warns Dito – Tony has an incredible voice, total vocal mastery, knowing him was really good for me, we found each other and understood each other».
Post Sanremo (which was a 2026 goal but not like finally getting your driving license), in the immediate future of Margherita in art Toe in the sore (who knows that one day her name – we hope so – will not acquire the symbolic value of Strambelli or Mazzini, but also of Donatella from her friend Rettore) there is the debut in the film Night before exams 3.0 – sequel to Night before Brizzi’s exams signed by Tommaso Renzoni.
So are you interested in an acting career? «Before building myself in this reality in which the style I prefer is retro – I’m not a fan of authenticity in the sense of no look, no make up – I studied dramatic art, then I decided otherwise. But I really like trying my hand at other things.”
And then there are the concerts already announced, which will focus heavily on theatricality. Ditonellapiaga will perform live on November 27, 2026 at Alleanza in Romeand on November 30th at the Fabrique in Milan. Tickets are already available on TicketOne.
